The cost to produce brewing barley has gone up as much as 38 percent, while in Europe the price of brewing barley is projected to be up as much as 50 percent. (Only about 10 percent of the barley grown in the world is of the quality required for brewing.) The price of hops, essential for craft beer and the increasingly hop-infused styles we love, are reported to be up by 30 percent due to heavy summer rains, decreased production and the desire on the part of the big brewers for high-alpha hops. Growers are turning away from the low-yield and more fragile noble hops that give craft beer its signature aromas and flavor.

A 25 percent fuel-related increase is expected for glass bottle prices. Combine these cost increases with a 12 percent hike in freight-related costs, and it adds up to major beer-price hikes for the remainder of 2007 and for early 2008. Obviously, prices are going up. What's a beer lover to do?

Consider just how inexpensive the best beers in the world are. Wine lovers pay extraordinary sums of money for what the "experts" tell them is the best (and usually the scarcest). Even a mediocre chardonnay goes for $10 or more, whereas some truly great beers can be had for less than that. In the face of scarce brewing resources and increasing prices, the good-beer enthusiast needs to prioritize expenditures and be prepared to allocate more money to the object of his/her passion.

Our brewers are fearful of an uncertain economic future and need to feel the love from supporters who understand the current situation and are willing to step up and pay for the quality and character they demand.

At a time when craft beer sales are surging and beer drinkers are enjoying ever-more-flavorful and assertive beers, there simply is no other option than to pay more for your beer. The survival of the industry may hang in the balance. This is still a great time to be a beer lover, but bargain pricing may be a fond memory for some time to come.

Michael was the first journalist to take the subject of beer to an art form. His early work rhapsodized the pub culture found in the great beer bars of England and heralded the existence of the classic beers of the world. These works and the many more that came during his prolific life left an extraordinary legacy. To know beer is to read Michael Jackson.

Michael's relationship with the Celebrator began when founding publishers Bret and Julie Nickels contacted him about the magazine's impending launch in January 1988. His first contribution to the Celebrator was an interview with Bret and his attendance at a beer dinner hosted by Klaus Lange of the Seacliff Café and Vest Pocket Brewery in San Francisco. His was the cover feature for the June/July 1988 issue.

Also in that issue is a picture of Michael attending a beer dinner, surrounded by early beer pioneers from the San Francisco Bay Area including Mark Carpenter, Anchor Brewing; Judy Ashworth, Lyon's Brewery of Dublin; Steve Norris, Home Brew Company; Brendan Moylan, then with an import company; Ken Vermes, Scottish & Newcastle; Ed Chainey, beer distributor; and Celebrator staffers, including Bret and Julie.

Michael's comments on the dinner give insight into his manner and passion for beer:

"It exceeded my expectations of a very special and spectacular meal. The idea of using beer as both an accompaniment and ingredient in food is something I've been trying to promote myself."

We at the Celebrator Beer News are saddened by the loss of such an influential and forceful presence in the good-beer movement. Michael brought a journalist's energy and ethic and a poet's heart to the subject of beer. The good beer story started with Michael Jackson, and his legacy will be inherent in all that is to come from those inspired by his great work. We at the Celebrator and all those who love great beer have lost a friend and champion.

Has anyone traveled more extensively or written more eloquently on the subject of beer than Michael Jackson? His astounding life work is a resource for any true beer traveler. To read Michael on a particular brewery or location is to be immersed in the history, culture and idiomatic peculiarities of the subject as well as the beer. He has the journalist's eye toward factual reporting, the anthropologist's ability to surmise antecedents, and the poet's ability to make words speak to each other to see what they have to say to one another.

No one man can cover the vast and constantly changing world beer beat, but Michael seems to have taken a pretty good shot at it. Others who have excelled at beer travelogue-ing in the King's English include Tim Webb (especially in the environs of Belgium and Holland), Roger Protz and our own Stephen Beaumont. From them you may expect more than where to stay and what to drink. You will derive pleasure and inspiration absorbing their considered evaluations, and you will have the benefit of their time spent in pursuit of beery perfection.

As this issue was going to press, we learned of the sad passing of a worthy beer traveler who dedicated much of his later life to the pursuit of great beer and beer culture. John White was a fit and energetic 62 when he died of heart failure. His travels are well documented on his website, whitebeertravels.co.uk. Raise your glass and give a smile to his memory.

Scan data from Information Resources Inc., the company that tracks retail supermarket data, indicates craft beer sales are up by a stunning 17.8% for 2006, a better performance than any other alcohol beverage category. With over 1400 breweries producing richly flavored "craft" brewed beer around the country, it should be noted that over three quarters of those sales came from the top 50 craft brewing companies. There is a lifestyle change at work here and people really are choosing "better beer" for their social and recreational imbibing.

“Beer made by small, independent and traditional breweries is definitely an American success story,” states Paul Gatza, Director of the Brewers Association. “People are trading up and that is what is creating such strong demand for craft beer."

The craft beer segment in total now amounts to 6.7 million barrels of wonderful, flavorful, life-enhancing beer per year. Total craft beer industry sales have grown 31.5% over the last 3 years and early 2007 indicators point toward accelerating sales growth.

There is no geographic lock on the production of craft beer but California is home to seven of the top craft breweries. Colorado has five and Oregon and Wisconsin each host four of the top producers. The rest are spread around the country. Good beer is seemingly everywhere.

And you, gentle reader, are the cause of it all. Your casual interest in unusual beers, your curiosity in brewing your own exotic brews, your insistence on quality and flavor, your dogged tenacity in seeking out new breweries, your proselytizing — letting others know of your beery preferences — all serve to raise the good beer bar and enhance the appreciation of the very best that today's brewers have to offer. We hope you are proud of yourself.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg uncorked a feud recently when he endorsed wine drinking while listening to music in the park yet banned beer consumption at a Brooklyn beach fundraiser for 9/11 victims. The city’s open-container law bans alcohol in parks and beaches — subject, of course, to the wine-loving mayor’s whims. The press had a field day with headlines like “Beer Bums vs. Wine Snobs” and “Class debate about beer-wine rules ferments.”

Recently, Oregon’s state liquor authority, the OLCC, ruled that the Oregon Brewers Festival, soon to celebrate its 20th anniversary as a family-friendly event, would no longer be allowed to have anyone under 21 on site during the event. Naturally, the OLCC still allows persons under 21 to accompany parents to the state’s many wine-tasting events.

This outrageous discrimination against beer drinkers needs to be addressed at every level! Start with your local media: Write letters to the editor or call radio and TV stations to object to such liquid abuse of the equal protections of the law guaranteed by our Constitution. Call or write your legislators and let them know what you think of the absurd dual-standard treatment beer enthusiasts are getting.

Beer has half the alcohol of wine and much less than spirits. It is, in moderation, known to provide many life- and health-enhancing contributions — perhaps more so than wine, according to recent medical research. “The wine people have made a very impressive marketing ploy. I think it’s a snow job,” says Dr. Norman Kaplan, a hypertension specialist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “Most people are convinced if you are going to get any benefit, it’s going to be from red wine.”

Beer drinkers need to be as proactive and vigilant as wine drinkers in getting the “good beer” message to the media and before the public. Beer drinkers need not, and should not, settle for less.

Craft-beer growth as a percentage has exceeded that of imports for two years straight. The large brewers are now quite active in the import and craft segments, looking for brands and properties that will contribute to their growth and stockholders’ equity. Anheuser-Busch has been the most active, as one would expect of the country’s largest brewing enterprise, with new “craft-style” beers and new extensions for its legacy brands. A-B’s extensive network of distributors, numbering some 600 around the country, were once limited to A-B’s in-house brands (if they wanted to maintain best relations with the brewing giant).

Now the brewer is providing a cornucopia of brands and imports, with new acquisitions and distribution deals being announced at a frightening rate. Toward the end of 2006, A-B announced a distribution deal with InBev that included brands such as Stella Artois, Bass, Hoegaarden, Beck’s, Leffe and many others. Just recently, the brewing giant shocked the beer world by seemingly putting its longtime trademark dispute on the back burner and agreeing to distribute Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar’s (Budweiser Budvar) Czechvar Premium Czech lager in the U.S.

As America’s beer tastes continue to change, as our awareness of health and sobriety issues mediate our beverage choices, craft beer’s allure as the better beer choice is manifested in our purchases. Continued long-term research suggests that moderate drinking can lower the risk of a fatal heart attack by 30 percent or more. Those of us already familiar with the flavor rewards of great beer are sharing this information with friends and family, contributing to an ever-expanding universe of good beer choices and good beer drinkers. Indeed, 2007 should be a great year for great beer.