In Ohio, 62 beer breweries across the state directly employ 1,780 Ohioans. Brown’s office released a county-by-county inventory of the breweries in Ohio that depend on aluminum for production. Although not every brewery listed in the report has packaging operations at its facility, each brewery listed depends on aluminum for production.

On the list of Ohio breweries was the Portsmouth Brewing Company, on Second Street in Portsmouth — but Emily Eldridge, of the Portsmouth Brewing Company, said they only package their beer in bottles, not aluminum cans. She said she was unaware that banks control aluminum markets, and aside from their steel brewing barrels costing more than they used to, she hasn’t noticed an increase in the price of aluminum.

Brown was joined Wednesday by Mary Jane Saunders, General Counsel for the Beer Institute, the trade association representing American brewers, beer importers and suppliers, who discussed the issue and its impact on the industry.