Three Cheers for Jim Koch!
For years, I’ve not been a huge fan of Jim Koch (head of Samuel Adams). He’s popularised decent beer, which is good, but IMHO he’s been more marketing than anything else. But now I read that he is selling ten short tons of hops at cost to other craft brewers. This is an amazing act of generosity: on the spot market those hops could fetch many times what he’ll be selling them for.
There are some economic implications, of course. Basically, what he is proposing is a blend of first-come/first-served and rationing, both known inefficient methods. But while the free market is the most efficient mechanism in the long term, right now the hop shortage has a very real chance of destroying many small brewers. Koch’s action is like tossing a life preserver to a dying man: sure, it’s best to teach him how to swim, but right now the important thing is to save his life.
