MILWAUKEE — Brewing batches of beer at home is a booming industry.
“Orders have been through the roof. Usually summers are our dead time," Ben Caya, the owner of Spike Brewing said.
Spike Brewing has seen a 50 percent increase in business since the pandemic started. They've had to ramp up production to keep up with demand.
Caya attributes the increase in homebrewing to people having more time on their hands and homebrewing being mentioned as a good 'quaran-tivity' back in April.
IT'S A HOMEBREW BOOM 🍺
— James Groh (@JamesGroh_) September 23, 2020
Homebrewing has become real popular since the pandemic began pic.twitter.com/72nxQDhQNv
“Pinterst, Yahoo News that have talked about top 10 things to do during quarantine so home brewing was actually on there," Caya says.
It’s not just more people brewing beer, either. Home beerbrewers are brewing bigger batches of beer too. Caya said hobbyists have been upgrading their gear to produce more and better beer.
Overall, getting into homebrewing isn't too expensive. Beginning kits cost around $70. However, the ones at Spike Brewery are a little more expensive.
Caya didn’t think this increase in business would ever happen. In fact, he thought business was going to tank back in April.
“Planning for literally 50 percent reduction in revenue and planning on how we can accomplish that without letting anybody go," Caya says.
Fortunately for him, business has been better than ever with no decrease in sight.
Places you can get homebrew equipment are:
