Rob Hardin / Chief Photographer / rh124104@ohiou.edu

Photo Illustration

As beer costs have risen nationwide in the first half of 2007, retailers in Athens are holding prices steady and absorbing more of the increases than ever before, but they say higher prices could be on tap. 

Consumers could pay more per bottle, pint or pitcher as vendors strive to keep their profits because of increased gas and ingredient costs for manufacturers and distributors. 

A growing national demand for ethanol and the resulting shift in grain production has increased the costs of malting barley, a key beer ingredient, and higher wages are doling out another blow to profits in all stages along the production line.

“It’s getting pretty monotonous, and we can’t really raise our prices as fast as they do,” said Tom Van Dyke, manager of The Pub, 39 N. Court St. It has been three years since The Pub raised prices for bottled beer, and the standard 25-cent spikes in the cost for draft versions have been few and far between, he said. 

Since customers react even to small differences, the business model for bars and restaurants does not allow for frequent price changes each time a company raises the price of a six-pack by a couple dollars, he said.

Joel Schechtman, who owns The Blue Gator on Court Street and Skipper’s Bar and Grille on West Union Street, does not remember his last price hike on beer but expects that price increases at the production level will eventually trickle down to consumers.

“There’s only so much cushion that bar owners and restaurant owners can take,” Schectman said.

Down the street from Skipper’s, at The Union Bar and Grill, bartenders plan to avoid increasing prices at least until the end of summer, “but we hear it’s coming down the line,” said bartender Sean Collins.

The same holds true for Pawpurr’s Bar on Court Street. There, beer prices change only after the owners do some serious number-crunching and analyze the profits, which are “still doing well” for now, manager Matt Lawson said.

Students who opt for backyard partying instead of bar-hopping might also see increases during the next year as local wholesalers eye a keg deposit increase to deter renters and metal thieves from reselling the steel drums to scrap yards for small profits.

“It’s a huge problem (in Athens County), and on a national scale, it’s even worse,” said Kurt Strickmaker, marketing manager for Kerr Distributing Co. in Athens. “They’re stealing kegs to go make an extra $10.” He declined to say exactly how many keg thefts the company has experienced.

Such theft has become a significant concern in Ohio, especially for the manufacturers that stand to lose the most from keg thefts, said Bob Tenenbaum, a spokesman for the Wholesale Beer and Wine Association of Ohio.

As a distributor, Kerr charges a $10 deposit for each keg to cover a similar deposit it pays to the manufacturing companies that own the keg. When a keg is stolen or sold for scrap, the renter loses his $10, but the manufacturer loses the cost of the keg, which can be $100 to $150, Strickmaker said.

 Distributors in other states charge up to $30 for a deposit, and Strickmaker expects to see similar increases in southeastern Ohio within about 18 months.

 Yet, even if prices or deposits increase, he sees the demand for beer holding out.

 “People are willing to spend more to have affordable luxuries,” he said, “and beer is really an affordable luxury.”