The craft beer industry has been on the rise over the last decade. But coming out of the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation, it’s been down 9-10% nationally. But some local brewers are taking a team approach.
Inflation has hurt a lot of local brewers in Washtenaw County. The cost of ingredients and even packaging like cardboard and aluminum cans have spiked at times.
Tony Grant is the CEO of Northern United Brewing Company, based in Dexter. He says the friendly competition and the sense of community is the secret to success for local brewers.
“There’s a bigger opportunity is for us to behave as a group and a community and really try to compete with the big macro houses and I think that spirit of collaboration and us versus the world has been baked into everybody’s DNA in this industry … especially here in Michigan”
With inflation starting to trend downward, Grant says optimistically, by the spring, the industry could be back to as close to normal as they’ve been in a long time.
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