I am a journalist in the Hudson Valley NY area writing about Beer | Food | Fun (mostly beer) as The Katonah Beer Man. My writing is engaging and humorous and informs folks in an educational and accessible manner, e.g. Eduction Entertainment

My longer form (900 word) articles are published once per month to 25k print readers and Instagram. I've been working on improving my Instagram presence and the course gave me good guidance .

Here is my April 2025 article on the Effect of Tariffs on The Craft Beer Industry, let me now what you think:

Hope Springs Eternal (?) - Craft Beer Industry Tariff effects

Tariffs

Global tariffs have me a bit worried about domestic craft beer prices and the industry as a whole. Digging in a bit, here are the areas of “CraftBeerOnomics” concern:

Cans & Kegs: Beer Marketer’s Insights reports: “Trump Administration Slapping 25% Tariffs on Canned Beer Imports and Empty Can Imports from Across the Globe”. Ok, you may be thinking “I don’t drink much imported beer delivered in a can” and “What would I do with an imported empty can?”. The facts are most aluminum cans come from Canada, China, and Mexico and those cans are used by U.S. Craft Breweries to put your fave bevvies into!

Continuing your dialogue, “KBM, that won’t affect me because I only drink draft craft”. Alas, Convenience.org indicates: “nearly all steel kegs used by U.S. brewers are made in Germany, so a tariff on finished steel products raises the cost of kegs.”

Hops: Per Em Sauter (Craft Beer Expert) “Hops imported from Australia and New Zealand would be more expensive directly effecting related U.S. IPA costs.” Further, Washington Beer Blog aptly points out “(U.S.) exports a lot of domestically grown hops world-wide. Retaliatory tariffs would increase costs for those overseas customers”

Barley: Washington area Wtop news reports: “(Port City Brewing Company uses) a very specific strain of barley that grows in the cold climate of Canada and will have to raise prices of a six pack from $12.99 to $18.99.”

Conclusion

Higher costs for cans, kegs, hops, and barley = Higher consumer costs.

On the semi-bright side, tariffs could trigger a boost toward drinking USA Craft Beer vs. imports, which the industry certainly needs but will consumers accept an increase in cost?

(I am not an economist, yet) but if these tariff challenges for U.S. Craft Beer are any kind of proxy for small U.S. businesses in other industries, the scope of pain could be quite broad.

Recall the Ferris Bueller movie’s classroom scene when the teacher discusses the implementation of the 1930 Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act: “.. in an effort to collect more revenue for the Federal Government…. Did it work? Anyone? Anyone? Buehler? ......... No, it did not work… and the U.S. sank great into the Great Depression”

#HandsOffOurCraftBeer!

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John Bart

The Katonah Beer Man - Beer | Food | Fun

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