Spinnaker. The crisis I was refering to was one of supply with at least one distributer refusing to take on new customers. If you have a supplier for hops that you're ok with then i'm sure you're all set, they can't increase in price anymore (I hope) they've already doubled and in some cases trebled in price some time back.
It's expected that the acerage devoted to hops will be increased over the next 3 years so prices should stabalise (it's probably too much to expect them to come down in price) and as long as mother nature plays ball the shortage will soon be over.
Smith.
Aah good old Warwickshire, the world's economic temperature probe. Don't tell them in Wall St that the good restaurants in Warwickshire ars noticceably quieter. The ripple effect could be disasterous for the markets and the world economy as a whole!
Gordon Ramsey was also saying on the radio that takings in his restaurants were down so perhaps Warwickshire isn't such a bad barometer of public spending.