Amid Aluminum Shortage, Brewers Get Crafty
2020 has brought a lot of uncertainty to the brewing industry so far thanks to COVID, but many brewers have learned to adapt and salvage enough business to keep things above board. The latest hurdle many brewers big and small will have to overcome is the impending shortage of aluminum cans.
Due to a few factors, brewers, wineries, soda manufacturers and other businesses are putting more beverages than ever into aluminum cans, and the supply simply cannot keep up with demand.
So how does a brewery looking to enter in the canning world get a start? How does a regional powerhouse keep their new lineups going strong? Let’s find out.
Getting into the Game
For Storybook Brewing, here in Colorado Springs, surviving the shutdown meant getting creative about how they were going to get their product into consumers’ hands. Breweries around the state and country were finding that crowlers were instantly a hot commodity—many resorted to other means, filling mason jars and other reusable containers—so Storybook went old-school with flip top bottles. It was a stop-gap measure, and Storybook knew it wouldn’t be their magic beanstalk.
Overall, though, sales took a huge hit, with restaurants and bars not buying any kegs almost immediately. For Storybook, the closure of Tap Traders hit them the hardest, as it was one of their largest accounts. As keg sales became nonexistent overnight, Pete Kilman at Storybook kept hearing how liquor stores and grocery stores were up 40-50%, and knew that Storybook needed to adapt or wait it out. Needless to say, waiting wasn’t an option.
Thanks to a retirement account that wasn’t performing well anymore, Pete ordered a canner from Twin Monkeys, and while he waited for the canner to be manufactured, he spent his time getting the rest of things in order for this new adventure. After contacting numerous can suppliers, Pete found many were running months behind on production and prices were skyrocketing as a result. He wasn’t in the position to bring in an entire tractor trailer of cans, nor could he float a smaller run at the prices they were quoting.
Could there be a brewery that has recently shuttered due to COVID that has any unused cans? Pete knew there was a chance, but it took getting in touch with a few labeling companies to find the right fit. Soon, Pete found a brewery in Austin, Texas that had closed down at the end of April. Storybook was now the proud owner of 50,000 unused cans.
The only problem, each of those cans was printed with the closed brewery’s information…so Pete and the Storybook crew painstakingly shrink wrapped all the cans with a Storybook label and added a fun line of information, so eagle-eyed consumers could know what went down:
“These unused cans were relabeled for environmental responsibility.”
To start, Storybook will have Pinky The Raspberry Gose and Java Dragon Porter available, but they plan on offering fan favorites like The Last Strawberry, Whoa Blackberry Bam and others in the near future.
For Storybook, it’s a foot in the door and a huge new step for a brewery who only started selling beer outside the brewery in the last few years. If you’re able to get your hands on some of these, tear off the label when you go to recycle it, and marvel at the underlying dragon Pete calls his “destiny.” It could be said: “one brewer’s trash is another brewer’s treasure.”
It would be ‘rude’ not to
For regional powerhouse Ska Brewing, the aluminum can shortage looming meant getting creative if they wanted to continue pushing out beer.
For many reasons, during a year, millions upon millions of aluminum cans go unused, thanks to misprints, errors in ordering and forecasting or just sitting there filled with old inventory. Ska Brewing saw that as a chance to reduce their overall environmental impact, while ensuring they could continue putting out delicious brews while the can industry catches up.
It’s certainly not going to be the clean look we’re known for, but at the same time, we’re also known for our creativity, and the benefits of this creative solution far outweigh the disadvantages.
Dave Thibodeau, Ska President and Co-founder
Starting this week, you may notice a slightly different look on some of the mainstay Ska brands. Remember Rudie, Ska’s session IPA that didn’t fare too well? Well look for those cans to make a return, filled with other Ska goodies, and sporting a new jacket of sorts.
If what they’re calling the “Candemic” lasts well into 2021, Ska’s ready to source old cans and run labels indefinitely.
So, if you’re a brewer looking for cans, or a recently-shuttered brewery needing to get rid of some old inventory, let’s get together to help the entire industry.
