Written by Scott Oakley —Right Proper Brewing Company is a family-run business and a beloved fixture in Washington, DC’s craft beer scene. For 12 years, they’ve combined hospitality with small-batch brewing, running both a popular restaurant and a manufacturing brewery. Located in Northeast DC, their production facility brews just over 5,000 barrels annually – sitting at the lower end of what’s considered a microbrewery.
Thor Cheston, co-founder of Right Proper Brewing, explained his role: “My focus is on the manufacturing: I manage beer production, packaging, and distribution.”
Around 80% of their brewery’s revenue comes from wholesale distributors, who supply bars, restaurants and grocery stores, including Giant Food, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods. While they sit right within a bustling community, operating in DC comes with higher costs, particularly with rent, real estate and property taxes.
Right Proper Brewing has been hit hard with aluminum tariffs. “We go through about 2 million aluminum cans a year. If prices go up 50%, even conservatively, that’s 6.5 cents more per empty can. That adds $130,000 in cost, which exceeds our annual cashflow,” Thor outlined.
This extra cost threatens their ability to repay a $1.3 million federal loan, which had helped consolidate their commercial debt during COVID. Thor saw some irony in this, noting: “the federal government is making it harder for us to pay back the money we owe to the government.”
Passing cost increases onto customers is tough, especially in retail. “We can adjust prices in our taproom, but not in the grocery store market. If we raise our shelf price by 50 cents, we risk losing our entire market share,” Thor explained.
Thor understands that the effects of tariffs are felt across the market: “where the aluminum comes from doesn’t really matter – it’s a global commodity. Prices rise across the board. People say, ‘Can’t you just buy American aluminum?’ But if everyone does that, demand rises and the price goes up anyway. It’s just basic economics.”
Despite these cost pressures, Thor remains resilient. “This is small business life – it’s constant. We survived COVID. Every year there’s something new. This year it’s tariffs.” “The sea is never calm,” he outlined, “you can’t wait for perfect conditions. The nature of running a small business is solving problems as they come up.”
2025 marks the 8th consecutive year that Right Proper Brewing’s sales have increased. They are planning to open a new brewpub later this year as well as a modest production expansion. The looming threat remains aluminum prices but, as Thor made clear, “we’re continuing to push forward.”