While rising costs and post-pandemic consumer trends have caused many Michigan microbrewers to close for good, those that are staying open are doing so by adding beverages beyond beer and leaning heavily into their roles as community gathering places.

Craft beer today looks very different from the boom of the 2010s, when it seemed like a new brewery was opening every week, and all they needed was a new IPA to bring in customers.

The industry began to show signs of slowing before the COVID-19 pandemic thanks partly to competition from the emerging cannabis market. Last year, however, marked the first time in recent memory where the number of breweries began to shrink across the U.S.

Small brewers and economists are forecasting that there are still rough times ahead as the market adjusts,

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