Drafting the craft beer industry into the Made in USA movement

An Allagash Brewing Co. tee made in the USA by CAMP Collection of San Francisco.

My wife, Sara, and I visited my native Maine for a week this month, our first trip there in more than two years.

We had a wonderful time reconnecting with family, walking along the coast, eating lobster rolls and Italian sandwiches, and taking in the ever-burgeoning craft beer scene in Vacationland. We visited 10 breweries in five days, some familiar (Baxter in Lewiston and Allagash in Portland, for instance) and others new (Sacred Profane in Biddeford and Cushnoc in Augusta).

The beer didn’t disappoint (when does it, really?). The same can’t be said for the brewery merchandise, however, particularly relative to its country of origin.

Let me be clear: In Maine as in Pennsylvania and across the United States, the craft beer industry is one of the great entrepreneurial and cultural successes of our time. Breweries have breathed new life into communities near and far and created a much-needed sense of community in these polarizing times.

I wrote this in 2019, upon the introduction of our Pennsylvania Craft Beer Tee:

Stay Apparel Co. sells T-shirts, but we derive as much inspiration from the craft beer industry as from other clothing brands.

The bond that successful craft brewers have with their customers is something that any startup company should want to emulate.

And craft breweries consistently give back to their communities. At Maine Beer Co. in Freeport, the company motto, “Do what’s right,” appears even on a tabletop napkin dispenser. A wall display touts more than $1.5 million worth of nonprofit giving, to everything from animal protection to land preservation, since the company’s founding in 2009.

But in its retail store, Maine Beer isn’t doing much right by American workers. Save for a plastic water bottle and maybe some stickers, Made in the USA is hard to find.

Turning over a mesh baseball cap reveals a message: “Thank you for drinking our beer. You enable us to continue to do what’s right: Like care of our Earth and the creatures that live on it. Like care of our staff, and to keep making better beer.” The label also notes the hat’s recycled content.

Just below that, a tag reads, “Made in China.”

Holding to a higher standard

An Allagash hat made in Bangladesh.

At Allagash, we found several American-made products, including a T-shirt made by CAMP Collection in San Francisco; soap produced nearby by The Casco Bay Soap Co., and dog leashes made from recycled bike tubes by Cycle Dog in Portland, Ore. (Allagash is where we first discovered Cycle Dog, which made our Stay dog collars and keychains.)

But we also noted a baseball cap made in Bangladesh and a chamois shirt (a collaboration with Maine icon L.L. Bean) made in Sri Lanka.

Of course, importing (only 3 percent of apparel sold in the United States is made here) isn’t unique to the craft beer industry. It’s just that I hold the industry to a higher standard because it has done so much for the betterment of society.

On Wednesday evening of our visit, we participated in a Maine Public Broadcasting “News and Brews” trivia night hosted by Rising Tide brewery in Portland. Our team (Sara, me, my sister Lisa and brother-in-law Joe) finished third. For that, we each won Maine Public-branded knit hats.

To my delight and pleasant surprise, the hats were made in the USA by Cap America of Fredericktown, Mo.

I pay close attention to such things, just as the craft industry pours over the ingredients and production of its beers. I wish it would do the right thing and take a similar approach with the sourcing of products for its retail stores.

Because no matter how much I love domestic craft beer, I’m not buying a hat made in Bangladesh nor a shirt made in Sri Lanka.