As the cost of living continues to rise, the war in Ukraine could possibly require individuals to pay more for their beer.Â
“Ukraine accounts for about 20% of beer’s usage of barely. It’s one of the top five global producers of barley, so brewers particularly at a global level will be watching supply and price of barley,” said Jim McGreevy, president, and CEO of The Beer Institue. He added, “so we have a real focus on the consumer – and that goes into how we price the beer.”
Many brewers have not been able to adjust to higher costs, with the exception of major brewers like Molson Coors. Craft Brewers stated that customers who buy their beer at grocery stores are very price-conscious, and in return, brewers are being very careful about how much they increase the price.Â
“It’s really hard for us to absorb price increases in raw materials without passing that along to the customer,” said Andrew Gierczak, vice president of MobCraft Beer.
In Milwaukee, beer prices are holding at St. Paul Fish Market. However, bartender Paul Johnson stated that some other bars in the area have already raised their prices about 50 cents on a glass of beer, and about one dollar on-call drinks.
“Like maybe 50 cents a glass on beer. Maybe a dollar on-call drinks and stuff like that. But nothing too crazy,” said Paula Johnson, a bartender at St. Paul Fish Company.
Amid the price increase of beer, it has not stopped the number of sales, displaying that people are still continuing to buy the beer despite the price increase.Â
“Never. I’ve been drinking beer since I was too young to drink beer. I’ll continue,” Paula Kennedy stated.
Aaron Vrhovnik added that “It’s like everything in life. It just keeps flowing. And That’s just the way it is,”.