Barley (Hordeum vulgare), a vital crop to the food and beverage industry, is highly vulnerable to unstable conditions on the climatic horizon. An article in this special issue of Physiologia Plantarum by Mahalingam and Bregitzer (2019) describes the impact that individual and combined stresses linked to climate change could have on the agronomic source of one of our favourite libations, as well as offering achievable solutions that will be needed if crop yield and quality are to be maintained.