Aluminum Shortage Putting The Hurt On Minnesota Brewers

Can you ever remember a time in your lifetime where there was such a shortage on things?  Toilet paper, cleaning supplies, food and of course our own patience.

There seems to be a big demand for aluminum and it's causing problems for Minnesota brewers. You can brew the beer but you have to have a container for it, right?  Fulton Brewing CEO Ryan Petz says aluminum is in pretty short supply.

“Fulton and a lot of other brewers, beverage companies are experiencing shortages,” Petz said. “Now we’re looking at periods in the future where we know that we’re gonna not able to have the container that we need to put the beer and the seltzer in for weeks on end.”

With a lot of companies switching from plastic to cans, there is great pressure on the aluminum industry that was already stressed.  COVID just amplified the problem. More people are buying canned beverages at stores.

“Suppliers just can’t keep up, they just can’t turn on the capacity. To see, you know, half of that equation being really, really threatened and struggling because we can’t find the container, it’s pretty scary because … we need that to be healthy in order to survive,” Petz said.

Fulton Brewing has shifted one of their beverages from cans to bottles. “We’re literally every day, multiple times a day, coming up with new ideas and new ways to approach the problem,” Petz said. “And we haven’t solved it yet.”

(WCCO)

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/11/17/aluminum-shortage-throws-another-2020-curveball-to-minnesota-brewers/

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/11/17/aluminum-shortage-throws-another-2020-curveball-to-minnesota-brewers/