RED ALERT FOR THE AMBER NECTAR

That most refreshing of drinks, a cold beer, is in peril from global warming

Climate change has caused temperatures to soar across the globe and wreaked financial and social havoc this year thanks to the massive hurricanes that have hit the US and elsewhere. Furthermore, a recent report has said that if we don’t do something drastic, in less than a decade we’ll have no chance of stopping global warming.

You might think a cold beer is the best way to stave off the increasing heat, but new research shows that even this age-old comfort may be affected by climate change.

A study reported on in the journal Nature Plants examined the impact of extreme weather on the production of one of beer’s key ingredients, barley, and found that the production of the crop will be drastically affected by climate change over the course of the next 80 years. This will mean significant increases in the price of beer as the supply struggles to meet demand.

According to the research, barley production in key brewing countries such as Ireland, the Czech Republic and Belgium will be hit by drought and other extreme weather conditions. In the study’s worst-case scenario, the cost of a beer in Poland will rise to five times its current level.

The researchers have also predicted that the amount of beer available will be reduced by a third in the Czech Republic, Ireland and Belgium. They say that 25% fewer beers will be served in the UK and a 14% reduction is predicted in the US. Globally there is expected to be a 16% drop in beer production.

Currently beer production only uses a sixth of the world’s total barley produced, with most of the crop going to feed livestock. But, as the research points out, in times of difficulty, the feeding of animals is prioritised over beer production and so the result will be a drastic reduction for brewers, “ultimately resulting in dramatic regional decreases in beer consumption and increases in beer prices”.

So why not just switch habits, you may ask. Ah well, it turns out that it’s not just barley that’s in peril. Other “luxury items”, such as tea, coffee and chocolate, are all at risk thanks to our failure to do anything about the problem when we had a chance to find a solution.

It’s been argued by scientists previously that the production of the crops necessary for the brewing of beer played a fundamental role in the development of humans from a group of nomadic hunter-gatherers to agrarian city dwellers.

How fitting, then, that the potential end of civilisation as we know it should be signalled by a threat to the very thing that made it possible in the first place.

It’s enough to make you think, wring your hands and head off to the pub to drink as many beers as you can before you can’t afford them anymore.