I haven't read too much into this, the misses is more stressed than I am about groceries etc, but do you all think the new tariffs will impact beer costs? Even if made in the USA, cost of ingredients etc? (NO POLITICS) speculation.
Have no idea, but local breweries have indicated they expect it will (according to local news stories).
A lot of barley and aluminum comes from Canada, so raw materials and packaging costs would be expected to go up. Even if your favorite brewery uses US malt, the global price in malt is bound to go up, so, expect to see higher prices. Aluminum was already in somewhat of a shortage. This is the 4th time as an adult that I'm going through an economic crisis (post-9/11, 2008, COVID, now). It's getting old. Not including '92 and Dot-Com burst, because it was pretty easy to recover as a teen cutting grass and washing dishes. I feel sorry for the kids just starting out that will just expect this to be the norm.
Here is a link to a thread I started last weekend on the subject. The thread was locked within a few hours and was put into Beer News. It answers many of the questions you are wondering. https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...-already-reeling-from-changing-tastes.680343/
Googled this video. A short interview with the founder of Port CIty Brewing on potential impacts to his brewery anyway. Aluminum, barley as @MrOH mentioned above.
The new tariffs will increase costs of nearly everything. This isn’t 1890, it’s a global economy based off international trade. Tariffs increase the cost of importing goods, historically these costs have almost ubiquitously translated to higher costs to consumers. Contrary to misinformation spread by ignorant politicians, promoted by propaganda machines masquerading as news organizations, and accepted by the stupidity of the masses, the cost of the tariffs is NOT absorbed by the importing countries but ends up being absorbed by end consumers. Do you think companies that are being charged 25% tariffs are just going to decrease the cost of their product by 25% in essence to keep consumer costs the same. Absolutely fucking not. This is not hard to understand people. Tariffs leads to increased costs of goods. Tariff is literally a synonym for tax.
Heard all this before… I predict complaining will continue and higher prices to come in BEFORE anyone is impacted…people engaged will profit and play the blame game. Seriously
They certainly will if Trump doesn't rescind the tariffs....the, seemingly constant, lingering threat of them may anyway. But definitely, if they aren't rescinded. Same for pretty much everything. Even things that aren't being tariffed and are produced domestically. They'll see the foreign product raise the price by 25% and they'll raise by 20% to increase profit margins while still being the cheaper option.
Costs (in general) will no doubt be impacted one way or another due to this evolving global tariff war, but the exact impact on beer remains uncertain as most retaliatory tariffs have yet to be announced, plus where costs will increase, what will be absorbed, and what will be passed on to consumers are unknowns, but I'm sure people are crunching some speculative numbers as I type to cover multiple scenarios.
The market has always recovered (not to say it's guaranteed) so don't worry too much. Something like this would have happened no matter what. The S&P/Dow were parabolic for the last few years and math is math. It had to come down. Tarrifs were just the match to light the tinder pile. This is where the real money is made, though. Everything will be at a major discount and you can start setting yourself up real nice for the future. Not financial advice Whoops. Forgot this was a beer forum. I hope prices don't go up much more. It's already an expensive enough habit, and it keeps getting more so. The next few years will be pretty unpredictable imo
Beer costs will go up. Except for "On Sale" items, I've personally never seen beer prices go down. Oops. A 5 year old has the car keys now.
These tafiffs are a political move. To discuss them, politics are the framework of it all and cannot be ignored.
Hope the car keys are for an existing purchased car... and you're not at the dealership... because yikes.
Tariffs have always existed and in and of themselves aren't bad or good. The way they're being used right now by the US is bad though...in my opinion at least. I feel bad for any domestic company right now. Do you build manufacturing in the US? Can you even do that? Do you just wait to see how this plays out?
Brewers association has been covering this, see the multiple articles linked on their home page. https://www.brewersassociation.org/ Not sure how politics can be avoided as this is a political economic series of actions, but good luck
If you like Belgian beer buy them now. I read that Brewery Huyghe said that Delirium is one of the most expensive import beers on the USA market and with the new tariffs it will be too expensive to sell. So they shipped a few containers a week ago. I wonder what Cantillon will do. They limited the local market because of "flippers".
Even if the beer is 100% brewed in the US and cans/bottles are manufactured in the US, that company would most likely just raise the price to be competitive anyway.
