Climate change threatens EU beer

Immediate adjustment actions are necessary to stabilize the beer sector, wrote the authors of the study from Switzerland, Great Britain and the Czech Republic in a study published in the journal Nature Communications. Decrease in yield and quality For the study, scientists evaluated data on yield and alpha acid content in beer hops from 1971 to 2018 from major growing areas in Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovenia. In the approximately 50 years from 1970 to the present, the annual hop yield per hectare has declined on average by approximately 200 kilograms. The alpha acid content in hops, which was used to measure quality in the study, decreased by 0.6%. Their content is responsible for the bitter taste of beer. Further declines in yield and quality are expected Scientists involved in the study expect yields to continue to decline by about 4 to 18 percent by 2050. and a decrease in the content of alpha acids by 20 to 31 percent. Scientists expect the biggest declines to occur ...