As if the hot weather hasn't done enough, now it's coming for the gin.
Soaring temperatures across the UK have already dried out our gardens, caused us to run out of summer clothes and put cheese and onion crisps at risk.
And now it’s coming for another one of our loves.
Bottles of gin could increase in price, due to slow barley production. Beer and whiskey could also be affected, as they are both made from the grain too.
Farmers have warned that this summer’s extreme heat has damaged the barley crop, so they are having to harvest whatever is salvageable three weeks early.
After being planted later than usual this year, due to the freezing conditions we saw just 4 and a half months ago, the crops already had a late start.
And now that they’re being harvested three weeks early, traders warn that this year’s yield could be down by almost a third on last year, which means prices could go up as early as this autumn.
‘The price of grain has shot up dramatically over the past four weeks because the heatwave has hit crops all over the world,’ Jonathan Arnold from Robin Appel Ltd grain traders told The Sun.
‘It's already around £40 to £50 a tonne more expensive than it was this time last year.
‘I wouldn't be able to say how much prices of the alcohol will go up by but they undoubtedly will.
‘Of course, the price of raw materials is only a fraction of the cost of a pint - duty and taxes make up most of the cost so it's not all down to the price of barley.
‘Those costs will be decided by the brewers.’
We’ll have to wait until September to know that real effects on drink prices, as the crops are currently being harvested.
We just hope it’s still affordable.
The hot weather is what makes us actually need the gin and with above average temperatures forecast until October, we’re going to need it to get us through.
Possibly the only pro of this heatwave is that we can sip on as many ice cold G&Ts as we want without judgement. Please don’t take it away from us!
