Collaborations like the one between Belgian brewer Jean-Marie Rock and Boulevard's Steven Pauwels may prove more important in light of recent news from Belgium about a possible looming beer shortage amid protests over job cuts and declining beer sales.
The past two weeks have seen angry picketers stacking crates and blocking incoming ingredients and outgoing crates at the headquarters of Anheuser-Busch InBev in Leuven, Belgium. Reuters reports that the brewery blockades are expected to end today.
AB InBev, the world's largest brewer, is in the middle of a massive reorganization as it attempts to deal with declining beer sales. The country could be seen as an indicator of what the future holds for the beer industry.
Two stats in particular from Time Magazine's coverage stick out. Belgian beer sales have apparently dropped 20 percent between 2000 and 2008. At the same time, there's been a spike in exports, with 37 percent of the beer produced leaving the country in 2000, compared to 57 percent in 2007.
It makes you wonder whether, over the next decade, the beer-brewing world could look different -- topsy-turvy, similar to the way a Budweiser can be the most expensive beer at a street-side cafe in Paris. Could America be known for producing the world's "best" beer instead of just consuming it in great quantities? Only time and hops will tell.
[Image via Flickr: rutger de moddertucker]
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We already are producing the best beer in the world. When compared against the mass produced import beers, our micro and craft beers are better than anything coming across the pond. Now, I'm sure there old recipes in small villages and hamlets across Europe that will rival our beer and exceed many of our beers, but they are not being exported to our shores. The Trappist beers from Belgium are a good example. All this talk of beer is making me thirsty, There's a Ska Modus Hoperandi in the fridge waiting to be cracked...
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