COVID-19 impacted a lot of “life as we knew it.” And that includes the beer industry. Hard hit by the pandemic, breweries around the state are looking for things to turn around as the state has reopened. Legislators in Lansing recently reaffirmed July as “Michigan Beer Month”. Those involved are hoping it’s a new beginning.
“Like so many businesses, it was devastating for our industry.”
That’s Scott Graham, the Executive Director for the Michigan Brewers Guild. He says the last year has been difficult for Michigan breweries. He says help from the federal government, what he now calls a “life-line”, kept many businesses from going under.
“That helped people hang on, so we did not see a lot of breweries close. Thankfully. But I feel like they’re hanging on, hoping to rebuild, coming out of a really challenging situation.”
Graham adds as the recovery continues, breweries are facing the same problem many in the service industry are facing right now… which is finding enough employees to handle re-opening with success. Graham says Michigan ranks number 6 in the nation as it relates to the number of breweries, micro-breweries and brewpubs. And beer and breweries have a big impact on the state’s economy, including agriculture and the tourism industry.
“Tourism is greatly affected by breweries. We see people come to the state, just to come to the breweries and visit a bunch of breweries and certainly Grand Rapids, the Grand Rapids area and southwest Michigan are has many, many brewereies, it’s a great place to visit.”
The hope now is that “Michigan Beer Month” celebrations will draw more attention and get local residents to join in and support. Beer month usually culminates with a summer beer festival, but COVID switched things around. The festival will now be in August.
Graham says they’re celebrating local beer with two festivals this time around--the first will be August 14th at LMCU Ballpark in Comstock Park and the second will be held in Traverse City, August 28th.
