Even if planters consider 2014 the worst year for the production of malt in the U.S., beer makers said prices of the drink would likely not go up.

Montana and Idaho, the two biggest barley-growing states in the U.S., and other parts of western United States were flooded due to heavy rains in August. That left farmers and maltsters attempting to save a large part off their crops.

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Fifty percent of Montana's crops and 85 percent of Idaho's were flooded, which caused barley to germinate in the field and presented problems to maltsters because they want to control germination under special conditions in their plants.

Germination in the fields often cause the death of barley kernels at unpredictable rates, which would render the crop useless for malting and brewing, said Malteurop North America Manager Mark Black. His company, which has 27 farms in 14 nations, is the biggest malt producer in the world.

He explained, quoted by AP, "We need to control that germination to get enzymes available and active for brewers. It has no value other than feed at that point."

To manufacture beer with higher alcohol content such as bocks and hefeweizens, brewers need more malt, according to Sean Tobin, head brewer of Lewis and Clark Brewing Company based in Helena.

In 2014, the industry used almost 120 million bushels of malt barley in the U.S. for brewing and malting. Scott Heisel, vice president of the American Malting Barley Association, said it is too early to predict the volume of crop that will become useful only for feed because of the flooded barley fields.

To meet production schedules and maintain prices, MillerCoors Brewing Materials Manager Wade Malchow said they diligently use much of the crop they have and the shortage would be imported from other countries.

Malchow said the challenging weather conditions won't likely have any effect on their pricing structures. The same assurance was provided by smaller brewers. They added that beer drinkers would probably be unaware there was even a problem with barley harvest.

Tagsbarley, malt, beer prices