NAMPA, Idaho — Each pallet stacked at Mother Earth Brewing in Nampa holds 8,196 aluminum cans — and right now, filling those cans is getting more expensive.
Chris Baker, director of brewing operations at Mother Earth Brewing, said tariffs on aluminum have made the can itself one of the priciest parts of the entire beer-making process.
"And the fact that it's at the end of the life for the beer, it's actually one of the highest priced items, like part of the entire package as far as making beer," Baker said.
WATCH: A cold beer can do a lot — but at Mother Earth Brewing, the can itself is getting more expensive before there’s even beer inside
Baker said 12-ounce cans cost around 11 to 12 cents before COVID, jumped to 20 to 22 cents during the pandemic, then dropped below 10 cents after that. Now, he said, they're around 13 cents and climbing.
"In the last three months it's gone up like again 3 cents a can or roughly 30%, yeah, around there," Baker said.
It's not just cans. Mother Earth also uses imported hops for some beer styles, including German-style pilsners.
"It's a pivot in the types of hops we're using to look at more of American-based hops and looking to flavor match," Baker said.
Baker said the brewery is working to source domestic ingredients wherever possible to manage tariff pressure.
Rising diesel costs are adding another layer of difficulty. Even beer Mother Earth ships to Southern California each week is seeing fuel surcharges, cutting into the brewery's bottom line.
"And that is therefore decreasing our margins," Baker said.
A warm winter is also raising concerns. Brewers keep a close eye on water availability, and Baker said the brewery's move from Southern California to Idaho was partly driven by drought conditions.
"We brewed in Southern California a long time and when we moved the main part of production to Idaho, a lot of it was because we were in a really bad drought," Baker said.
For now, Baker said the reservoirs look pretty good — but the financial pressures are adding up. Cans must be purchased by the truckload, and as prices continue to climb, one truckload of pallets could go from $25,000 to about $43,000.
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