For a year fraught with global financial disaster and universal economic uncertainty, the world of beer had its own share of upheavals in 2008.

But those changes don't mean that much to regular craft beer enthusiasts in the Treasure Valley.

For us, beer year 2008 was pretty decent, except for the very noticeable price increases for your favorite sixers, some of which went up by $1 or more.

This was attributable to a worldwide hop shortage, rising grain prices and $4 gallons of gas. Funny how the prices seem to remain high, even though gas is now down to about $1.50 or so.

The hop shortage was good news for Wilder-area farmers, who planted more acres and made more money. For drinkers, the lack of certain varieties of hops - such as Simcoe - led to some subtle changes in beers. (Has anyone else noticed how Rogue's Brutal Bitter isn't quite as good anymore?)

Boise's own Sockeye Brewing had to change its IPA recipe because of the lack of hops but rebounded with an excellent alternative, the Widowmaker.

But the good news is that all four of our Boise brewpubs - The Ram, Sockeye, Highlands Hollow and TableRock - remained open in 2009 and all produced tasty brews.

We had our first local beer contest in recent memory - The Treasure Valley Organic Homebrew Challenge - where Boise homebrewer Travis Schaff bested 20 of his comrades and won the grand prize for his delicious Birkenstock Pale Ale.

The really cool thing about the contest - put on by the Boise Co-op, The Ram, Sockeye, Brew Connoisseurs and Nampa Brewers Center - is that Schaff's beer has been brewed by Josh King at Sockeye and is scheduled to be put on tap at Bittercreek Alehouse on Jan. 9.

Rumor has it that the homebrew contest might be bigger and better this year, so we'll just have to see what happens.

In other Idaho news, Victor-based Grand Teton Brewing Co. keeps producing awesome beers. The brewery is also for sale.

If anyone has $3.5 million handy, this would be a good investment. I talked to the Grand Teton folks at this year's Great American Beer Festival, and they assured me the brewery won't close no matter what happens.

In the year's biggest national beer news, the U.S.'s biggest and most iconic beer producer, Anheuser-Busch, was purchased by Belgian/Brazilian brewing conglomerate InBev.

The result of the two biggest brewing companies in the world joining together?

One massively huge beer company that dominates global beer sales.

What does this mean for the average beer drinker?

Not so much.

Anheuser-Busch still will sell about 50 percent of all the beer consumed in the United States.

Its biggest competitors remain SAB/Miller and Coors, two companies that joined together earlier this year to create Miller/Coors. So there you have it- a bunch of huge companies got bigger, so they can compete against each other.

In the meantime, this leaves the Boston Brewing Co. - the maker of Samuel Adams Boston Lager and about 20 other beers - as the country's biggest independent brewer.

You have to give Anheuser-Busch some props for finally putting its brand on a beer with some taste - the Budweiser American Ale, a pleasantly malty amber ale dry-hopped in the Pacific Northwest style with Cascade hops that debuted this summer.

Patrick Orr: 373-6619.

Patrick Orr's beer column runs the first Friday of the month.