Merseyside breweries could be at risk as costs soar

A local brewer tells us the price of key components has ‘rocketed’

Collaboration of Merseyside breweries who made a beer with Kyiev's Varvar for Craft Beer Expo
Author: Rebecca RedicanPublished 28th Oct 2022
Last updated 28th Oct 2022

A Liverpool brewer says inflation means the cost of making ale has become ‘astronomical’.

Import and raw material costs have been rising, with the price of Co2 alone increasing by nearly three thousand percent.

Dominic Hope-Smith, Director and Cofounder of Carnival Brewing Company said they've also recently had a ‘really shocking announcement’ around cleaning chemicals.

He said: “Caustic is an absolute key component to brewing, we use Caustic to clean our fermentation tanks.

"We believe it’s factory shutdowns, leading to raw ingredient shortages and then supply and demand issues that have led to the cost shooting up.

"It’s around a 200-300% increase in the cost of that chemical, so that’s hit us hard.”

Carnival started off life in a kitchen in Liverpool after a fundraising event at the Clearview Carnival in 2017.

Dominic says even with rising costs, they're trying to do all they can for their workers.

Dominic said: “The recent increase in national insurance meant that our staffing costs as well.

“With the cost of living crisis we’ve had to look at increasing staffing costs as well because our staff have to be able to live in the current climate and be able to make ends meet.”

The cost of Co2, malted barley and cardboard for delivery have ‘rocketed’

With the increase in the price of making ale Dominic said they "don’t want to see Liverpool's scene to wither away."

He added: "My clarion call if you like to our customers is just do what you can to support businesses like us. Liverpool has a really buoyant good brewing scene.

"So much money was spent on things like furlough, keeping businesses going, Billions were poured into it, if the Government pulled that life support and this didn’t work all of that moneys gone and wasted”

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