Whoa man! The recession is like totally upon us! What am I going to eat for dinner? I think I will head to the local store and stock up on some shrimp, fettuccine, Now & Laters, Miller High Life and some pasta sauce. These wonderful staples represent the foods that the Nielsen research company identified in a recent study as the most recession proof foods. In order to find out exactly which goods rank the highest on Maslow's hierarchy of needs during a recession, the researchers looked at the performance of certain food goods during past recessions.

During this study they also found out which items are the most susceptible to a tanking economy. These include items such as pop, eggs and cigarettes, as well as food storage items and plates. I can definitely understand the drop off in cigarettes and pop but the egg avoidance in particular stands out as a shocker. Since eggs seem like an excellent source of low cost protein I can only guess that the downturn could be attributed to more people foregoing breakfast or switching to store brand dry cereal, though cereal doesn't show up as a recession proof good.

While I do find the selection of goods which weather a recession well surprising in some areas, I can get behind the fact that when times get tough, people can rationalize an item such as beer as an escape or even picking up a king size candy bar as a cheap meal replacement. We haven't altered our food intake significantly in any of these areas. Since it is summer time we have been "feasting" on cheap chicken and sales on beef products for grilling at our local stores. We have also been eating more salad, which can be had pretty cheap, and lunching on any leftovers.

Has the economic downturn affected your diet yet? What foods will you run to and what will your holdouts be?

The recent upward surge in commodities prices has left no corner of the globe untouched. That includes the bastions of the beer drinkers.

Changes in global climate, a decline in hops growers and a recent fire in a hops storage facility have worked in concert to reduce the world supply of that most important of beer brewing ingredients. According to a story published by Wired, these events have breweries both large and small adjusting their beer making processes and ingredients in an effort to curb rising brewing costs. The Wired story quotes brew master Donald Gortemiller as saying, "When hops were $2 a pound, compared to $20 or $30 a pound now, it didn't matter. We'd throw them into the boil at various times. That was an inaccurate way of doing things. We're modifying recipes and using about 20 percent less hops."

Walletpop blogger extraordinaire, Bruce Watson recently brought to light the mounting concern over hops deficiencies in the brewisphere. He wrote: "I imagine that the hot nights of a post-global warming future will be particularly unbearable without the benefit of a nice cold one." Bruce has vowed to do everything he can to "Save the Ales." For my part, I have chosen an alternate strategy to Bruce's proactive beer saving efforts. I have surrendered my boarding pass to what was for me; "The one way aluminum train to Stupidville."

Believe me when I say that my self imposed abstinence from beer will leave plenty of the cold foamy beverages for the rest of you to share and enjoy. Let's just hope that the remaining hops growers are the people who are benefiting from these unfortunate beer ingredient price increases.

Bad news for beer drinkers: rising fuel costs and a rise of more than 300% in the cost of hops have led to a year over year increase of more than 4% in the cost of beer at retail.



Check out the video from MSNBC for more color.

Here's a quick tip: if a 4% increase in the cost of beer is enough to impact your financial situation, the rising cost of beer is probably the least of your worries. Please seek help immediately.

File this on under "incredibly obvious million dollar ideas that you wish you'd thought up first."

Having met more than a few true-blue beer hounds in my day, I realize that I am, at best, a novice beer connoisseur. That having been said, I have a few definite preferences, and there's nothing like being able to mosey up to a bar and order my favorites. Unfortunately, however, I often find myself staring down the barrel of a two or three item beer list and wondering if I've somehow been magically whisked away to Mogadishu. Seriously, I understand that not everyone will have Double Black Stout, but can't we do a little better than PBR, Budweiser and Miller Genuine Draft?

Well, my salvation has finally arrived.

Last month, Eric and Will Stephens, a pair of brothers, launched Beermenus. Basically an online restaurant and bar database, Beermenus allows users to check out the beer listings of hundreds of New York watering holes. Visitors can search by brand, restaurant, or neighborhood, and can compare prices at numerous places. They can then check out the restaurants' websites and get directions through Google maps.

Unfortunately, the site is still a little small, offering listings for only 170 bars. Worse yet, it only deals with bars and restaurants in Manhattan, and doesn't even really offer much above 96th Street. On the bright side, though, the brothers Stephens are already working on extending their database, and have plans to explore New York's other boroughs. Ultimately, they want to create Beermenu listings for other cities as well.

In the meantime, I have a friend in San Diego who might be looking for a million dollar idea...

Bruce Watson is a freelance writer, blogger, and all-around cheapskate. Living in Southwest Virginia, he had a friend whose "moonshinemenu" site was a real hoot. It wasn't quite internet-ready, as it was carved on the trunk of a tree...

I try not to be too much of a global warming preacher. In my personal life, I recycle, walk a lot, take public transportation, and generally do everything in my power to reduce my energy usage. However, there are few things that annoy me more than holier-than-thou eco-Nazis, and I decided a long time ago that I would never, ever become one of them. I refuse to lecture people about light bulbs, yell at them for throwing away recyclables, make snotty comments when they keep the fridge open for too long, or pick up any of the other endearing little habits that dedicated green warriors seem inclined to inflict upon the rest of us.

Part of the reason that I don't like talking about global warming is the fact that it's somewhat difficult to explain its effects. Frankly, there seems to be a rejoinder for every argument against global warming: as people often point out, summers that are a couple of degrees hotter don't seem like that much of a big deal, unless you're a kid or a really old person. For that matter, while rising water due to the destruction of the polar icecaps will be a really big problem for people in coastal regions, most of the world isn't coastal. Beyond that, the death of thousands of different species of aquatic life isn't really all that big a deal, unless you're a really big fan of fish; for the rest of us, there will always be cows, chickens, pigs, deer, and other land-based life forms that we can consume.

However, I recently discovered something that beautifully illustrates the dangers of global warming, a far-reaching, catastrophic problem that affects every one of us, and my just be the key to explaining why green living is so important:

GLOBAL WARMING IS DESTROYING BEER.

Even under the best of circumstances, weddings are difficult affairs. Between the emotionally explosive brides and/or bridesmaids re-creating Ophelia's scenes from Hamlet and the unsure, second-guessing bridegrooms who are contemplating a quick move to a country without extradition, there are the cast of Tennessee Williams extras, including the over-protective daddy, the twitchy mother of the groom, and the various friends and family who are wondering if they will ever have a special day.

But enough about my wedding.

All kidding aside, emotions run high at weddings, which is where alcohol comes in handy. I'm not advocating a Romanesque, bacchanalian free-for-all, but even the best wedding is improved with a little liquid lubrication; for the worst wedding, it can be the crutch that keeps the whole thing from falling into an abyss of despair, recrimination, and permanent estrangement. The few dry weddings that I've attended have had the air of forced jollity, as if everyone was trying really hard to pretend to have fun. We kept saying things like, "See, we don't need alcohol to have fun," "Wow, this grape Kool-Aid tastes terrific," and "Maybe you'll be old enough to drink at your second wedding, Lurleen."

On the other end of the spectrum, of course, there's the massive boozefest, in which the bride and groom blow tons of cash (sometimes theirs, more often daddy's) on a well-stocked bar featuring everything from staples like rum and vodka to exotic horrors like kumquat schnappes and vodka made from scorpions. Of course, there are always a few people who have to try everything, after which they dance like Crispin Glover with a stomach cramp and end up falling asleep under one of the tables.

One of the big problems with alcohol is getting a good selection without overdoing it.

Gas price increases I can live with (reluctantly), but I admit to a bit of panic at news that the price of beer may be on the way up, too. According to the Arizona Republic, a shortage of hops and barley have taken the fizz out of the beer industry, falling especially hard on the micro-breweries that don't hold long-term contracts with supplies.

The shortage is, surprisingly, an offshoot of the gas crisis. As the move to convert the nation to bio-fuels gained traction, many farmers were attracted to the high prices paid for the corn used to make ethanol. This led to the conversion of hops and barley fields to corn, resulting in a short crop of suds ingredients. This year, brewers are looking at a 10-15% shortfall, which is squeezing prices and may leave some smaller producers without.

Brewers of beers such as India Pale Ale, that use a lot of hops, may be forced to look for substitutes or raise prices. Since these beers are most popular with drinkers with discriminating palates, sacrificing quality doesn't seem like an avenue to success.

I'm stocking up on my Sam Adams lager, just in case. There are some sacrifices just too great to consider.