It's costly to drive to the cottage, host a barbecue and do much of anything these days.

One might just be tempted to crack a brew. But alas, that mainstay of summer has become pricey, too.

In Ontario, a six-pack of Heineken costs $13.30 this month versus $12.65 last July, while the same sixer of Mill Street Tankhouse Ale is 3.3 per cent higher this year.

Expensive malt and higher costs of aluminum and energy have some brewers opting to jack up in-store prices. And the icing on the cake is that brewers may not find enough hops, which offer flavour and aroma, of the right variety to meet demand next year.

After years of hop surpluses, last year's harvest was small due to poor weather and farmers replanting hop fields with high-priced corn, while stores of hop extract petered out.

"Over the long term, it will create a situation that's not sustainable for some of the brewers," said spokesperson Andre Fortin of the Brewers Association of Canada.

And the microbreweries say they are the ones feeling the pinch.

Owner Ken Woods of Oakville's Black Oak Brewing Co. said the price of his specialty hops "went through the roof" this year, increasing by 400 per cent.

The Brewers Association says the price of malt has risen from $192 per tonne in January 2006 to $387 per tonne this January, due partly to the high cost of U.S. corn, which affects the cost of barley.

John Romano began Burlington-based Better Bitters Brewing Co. as a craft brewery three years ago and has yet to see any real profits.

Romano keeps deliveries to each city to one day per week and has worked every weekend this summer at events rather than pay staff.

He says the "little guys" are feeling the effects of high input costs because they use malt, barley, hops and yeast, and do not use the corn syrup or rice filler found in mainstream beers.

The microbreweries have yet to raise prices across the board, waiting for the big guns -- Labatt and Molson -- to call the shots.

"We're working long and hard to keep our prices down," Romano says, admitting he should pass the cost to the consumer, but is afraid he'll lose his loyal base.

The main players are feeling the squeeze, though it remains to be seen whether they will raise prices or pursue cost-containment.

"Although we have no plans to raise prices at this time," says Labatt's vice-president of corporate affairs, Charlie Angelakos, "we will continue to monitor rising commodity and inflationary costs and assess pricing accordingly."

Summer may be the prime time to market light beers that are low on ingredients, which is what Ascot Marketing Ltd., a consulting company specializing in the beer industry, says the larger breweries will do.

Ascot's president, Bob Scott, says the average light beer contains about 30 per cent fewer ingredients but has the same in-store price as regular beer, allowing brewers to recover some input costs.

rpenty@thespec.com

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