Here we go! What’s already happening in Germany is hitting home rather quickly. Picked-up from a BA thread this morning, USAToday reports that beer prices are rising rapidly.

Retail prices for beer at supermarkets and other stores were up 3% in May from a year earlier, the biggest increase in 2½ years, according to the latest data from the Labor Department. That’s higher than the inflation rate for the overall economy, and a bigger gain than in prices of liquor and wine bought to be consumed at home. …

The gains are in part a result of rising costs for malting barley, one of the main ingredients in beer. But a variety of other costs are increasing for brewers, including for other grains, glass, cardboard, energy, transportation, insurance and labor. …

Nationwide, average barley prices have risen 17% since the beginning of the year to the highest in 11 years. The increase is partly because farmers are devoting less acreage to the grain in favor of more lucrative crops, especially corn.

Prices for corn have jumped in response to strong demand for the grain to produce ethanol, a fuel alternative blended with gasoline.

Why not subsidize grapes? We hear there’s a ton of land in Sonoma and Napa just waiting for barley fields. (We kid, we kid.)