By This Measure, Hops Aren't So Expensive
I would like to draw your attention not so much to this post as the accompanying picture--a jpeg of an 1892 New York Times article. It reads in part:
Hops varied in price in 1882 from 20 cents per pound to $1.25 per pound. Since then, there have been variations within a single year from 50 cents to 10 cents, from 40 cents to 9 cents, and from 35 cents to 8 cents.A buck and a quarter in 1882? That's a lotta Mittelfrüh! Adjusting for inflation, that would work out to over $25 a pound in 2006 dollars. On the other hand, 9 cents was pretty good--just $1.81. Still, if you figure the average price was around a quarter in the 1880s, that would work out to $5.41 in today's dollar--roughly the place the price will probably end up stabilizing in the next five years.
The hop year begins in September. In August last the price was 12 cents. The year started with the price at 13 cents, since which time it has steadily advanced.