The Scotsman consumer affairs editor reports that supermarkets and corner shops now account for almost a third of all alcohol sold in Scotland, compared with only a fifth 25 years ago, according to the beer industry. Forty-one per cent of Britain's beer is now bought in shops and supermarkets, compared to 33 per cent in 2000 and 30 per cent in 1986.
The shift away from bars has been driven by loss-leading supermarket prices – which have left beer cheaper than water – and the smoking ban, which has led to more consumers drinking at home.

Asda recently slashed the price of its own value-brand beer to just 22p for a 440ml can following similar moves from Tesco and Sainsbury's. It puts the price of beer at 50p a litre (around 28p a pint). Own-brand water costs between 56p and 92p a litre, depending on the store, while own-brand cola costs between 56p to 65p a litre.

The difference between "on-trade" pub and "off-trade" shop-shelf prices is now so wide that it would be cheaper for many pub owners to buy their alcohol in supermarkets than from their own suppliers.

Meanwhile in South Yorkshire

Residents in Rotherham blighted by anti-social behaviour have penned a 400-name petition against plans for a new cheap alcohol outlet in the area.  Locals have the support of councillors in their battle against plans by 'Job Lot' to open a shop on Canklow Road, Canklow, Rotherham. Residents fear that another off-licence will further fuel vandalism and anti-social behaviour, which they already partly blame on drunken yobs.  A 400-strong petition has been handed in to Town Hall this week.

One of the petitioners added: "The policy of only allowing 18-year-olds to enter will not have any effect because it that age group who seems to be causing the problems.
"There is extensive criminal damage in the area with several premises being attacked and we believe many incidents are linked to people being drunk."

Following on from an earlier post regarding the shift in crop growing  to green fuel crops, there seems to be a groundswell of fear regarding the effect this will have on the price of hops.  If less hops are grown then it follows that beer prices will rise.   This post below from Nunc Scio the media, culture and politics blog shows how this fear is now spreading outside of the usual beer community. 

Thanks to what I can only assume are a series of global warming calamities- Australian drought, European hail storms and American heat- the world supply of hops is at an all-time low. Enter the grim arithmetic: you need hops to make beer. When you run out of hops, you run out of beer. And the existing beer gets way more expensive. As much as 10 per cent more expensive, in fact.

Conclusion: all kinds of bad news.

Apparently, brewers may have to discontinue certain kinds of beer, and look for hops alternatives to continue making others. Brian Titus, president of Halifax’s Garrison Brewing Company, had this to say:

“It’s bordering on disastrous actually. If you don’t have hops then you don’t have beer. So maybe you find something that smells similar but doesn’t have the same taste profile and it doesn’t have the same bitterness.”

In other words, find something that tastes nothing like beer. Super duper.