Summary
U.S. barley farmers face mounting financial pressure as Trump’s tariffs spark fears of losing key export markets.
Canada, the top importer of U.S. malt barley, has already imposed retaliatory tariffs, and Mexico may follow. Farmers warn that rising fertilizer and chemical costs, combined with declining U.S. beer consumption, threaten their survival.
Breweries may absorb or pass higher costs to consumers, potentially raising beer prices.
Experts say tariffs could devastate barley exports, with industry leaders calling them a major blow to struggling American farmers.
All of that shit, in the US, is made with malt
A lot of the mass produced beer brands are made with a mix of barley malt and rice. And while other low-alcoholic beverages have traditionally been made with a malt base, many of them (especially alcoholic seltzers) are just fermenting cane sugar syrup these days because it’s cheaper and has less flavor to cover up.
Malt what?
Malt liquor? Alcohol made with malted barley…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malt_liquor
In other countries, things like “Smirnoff Ice” actually contain vodka. In the US, they can’t do that for whatever reason, so it’s all malt liquor plus flavoring. Which is why they all kind of taste the same in a subtle way.
I guess most of them probably contain high fructose corn syrup, so maybe not completely wrong about the corn.
Edit: Actually, just peeked at that wiki page and I guess corn is often use in addition to malted barley. TIL.