'It's a tough spot to be in,' says brewmaster concerned about tariff on aluminum

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — A 25% U.S. tariff on all steel and aluminum imports is coming up on March 12.

This has caused big concerns in the beverage industry, which relies on aluminum for cans. In February, the Aluminum Association, a group that represents aluminum production and jobs in the U.S., said that the U.S. sources two-thirds of primary aluminum from Canada every year, and that even at full capacity, U.S.-based smelters “cannot produce nearly enough metal to meet demand.”

Brent Schwoerer, the owner, founder, and brewmaster of Engrained Brewing Company said that he expects to see an increase in their 4-pack beers.

"It may be up to a dollar in cost increases, we're proposing for these 4 packs."

Even beyond the recent tariffs, Schwoerer said that other brewmasters have been seeing an increase in various costs over the past two years.

"First, with the grain that we buy, the barley that buy to make the beer, and now we're seeing it more on the material side," said Schwoerer. "So the problem we've been seeing is we haven't taken much price. On the beer side, we haven't taken much price. And so we've been absorbing those costs as producers, but that can't go on forever."

One 16 oz aluminum costs the brewer 25 cents. After the tariff, that increases to 32 cents.

Schwoerer said hat he's been absorbing the cost as much as he can to avoid raises prices.

"These tariffs are probably going to be kind of the end of the line for us to be able to continue to absorb costs. So we might start to see that dollar for a 4 pack price start to translate to the consumer in the marketplace," said Schwoerer.