Droughts in the US and Europe have led to a 40% decline in the global crop harvest. That's at a time when so-called craft beers, which rejoice in names like Blind Pig and Hop Zombie, are enjoying a surge in popularity. Craft beers use around six times more hops than conventional lager. Prices for speciality hops have remained elevated, as craft brewers use between four to 10 times more hops than the average lager produced by international beer groups. The value of such hops f

According to the Colorado-based Brewers Association, craft beer must be small, independent and traditional. “Small” means the brewery distributes no more than six million barrels of beer a year. “Independent” means that less than 25 percent of the brewery is owned by a non-craft beer brewery (like Anheuser-Busch InBev). “Traditional” means that the majority of the brewery’s output consists of “beers whose flavor derives from traditional or innovative brewing ingredients and t