KENNESAW, Ga. — The tariff tension has triggered concerns among the state’s craft breweries as they face the specter of higher prices for aluminum and steel.
With the Trump administration imposing a 25% tariff, brewers could be left with a bitter aftertaste.
“That’s the No. 1 choice for packaging is aluminum for almost all of our craft breweries these days,” said Joseph Cortes, the executive director of the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild.
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The U.S. relies heavily on imported aluminum, with roughly half of it coming from other countries – and the biggest supplier is Canada. Cortes said tariffs on aluminum and steel imports could drive up the cost of beer at the state’s roughly 165 breweries.
“These tariffs would have negative downstream effects once that starts hitting pricing,” he said.
It’s not so simple, he said, to rely solely on U.S. manufacturers.
“It’s not a switch that can be flipped that you can shift all of that demand and all of that production here in the United States,” he said.
Joe Uhl owns Horned Owl Brewing in Kennesaw. He said tariffs are just another tough thing to swallow after inflation has already made parts and ingredients more expensive.
He’s “not losing sleep” over tariffs yet.
“They’re not a concern of mine at this point,” he said. “Ask me again in the next six months or a year, I might say something different.”
Cans, kegs, equipment – they’re all made with aluminum and steel, so breweries are bracing for some kind of impact. Cortes said he knows of several breweries that have bought cans in bulk to get ahead of the tariffs.
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