The Climate Change of Drink

PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC — What do Czech lager and South American Arabica have in common?

Both, as it turns out, might well be victims of climate change in coming years, if not sooner — most likely sooner in the case of the famed Czech brew affectionately known here, and indeed around the world, as Pils. Yes, it's not just polar bears and penguins confronting global warming head on; it's human taste buds as well. Climatologist Martin Mozny suggests that the Czech Republic's Saaz hops crop — the fodder for the lager that keeps the brewery in business and most Czechs lit — is at serious risk due to higher temperatures during the growing season.

Coffee is sometimes quoted as the world's second most traded commodity. Such a classification is quite difficult to assign: It's not the second most ubiquitous commodity, nor is it even a true commodity. It is, though, at least a $20 billion industry, and it is furiously traded on the New York ICE exchange. And most importantly, the industry finds itself complicated by changes in our weather patterns.

In Costa Rica, coffee growers have been forced to plant at higher and higher altitudes in recent years; this fall's crop in Columbia is expected to be down substantially due to heavy rainfall. July's harvest was down by nearly a third compared to last year. Brazil, the world's largest producer of coffee, is expected to lose 10 percent of land used for coffee by 2010, and a third by 2070, as higher altitudes are required for successful growth. Coffee futures, traded in New York, have risen 19 percent due to the volatility.

Coffee won't be going extinct, but higher latitudes and altitudes will put substantial strain on the 20 million small, often poor, family-run farms that produce beans.

Mustering the capital to buy more arid, stable-climate lands is likely to be out of the question.

Urquell, if you haven't been introduced, is a bright and clear pour, gold and solid at that. It lands with a heavy head. It's as Czech as Budweiser is American, as British as one would consider Bass Ale. It's a staple of the European beerscape. Many recognize the taste for a hint of honey and pangs of pepper. Together, the tastes, brought out by alpha acid, which comprises only 5 percent of the best hops, yield a unique, gentle bitterness to the palate.

Monzy's study focuses on that variable: Since 1954, the alpha acid level has dropped 0.06 percent each year, he's found. That means the hops have lost roughly two-thirds of their acidity since the study began. The culprit: warmer temperatures.

The Czech Republic and the children of the Pils plant aren't alone in this plight — the beer churning regions of both Germany and Slovakia are, not surprisingly, facing similar troubles. In France, 50 winemakers took to Le Monde to urge President Nicholas Sarkozy to take action on climate change, writing that their wines were already heavier in texture, and that “the jewels of our cultural heritage, French wines, elegant and refined, are today in danger.”

And while I, typically a vodka drinker and a novice to the Czech Republic, can't compare the brew for diminished excellence, I can offer this: It would be a tragedy if it were lost. The horror may not be comparable to the famines or devastating tropical storms global warming will churn, but it's doubtful, I contend, that those disasters will garner the First World's attention the way a vanished classic beer or a wildly inflated latte might. Call me a cynic. Cheers, and salud.

Brian Till, one of the nation's youngest syndicated columnists, is a research fellow for the New America Foundation, a think tank in Washington. He can be contacted at till@newamerica.net. To find out more about the author and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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