A large canning company is changing the way it works with small breweries.

In the past ten years, many changes have taken place in the craft beer industry. First of all, the New England IPA boom has made all our hop beers hazy. Then, the enthusiasm of hard soda seemed to make everything clear. But another huge change is the packaging of our beer. For generations, "good" beer has been bottled, but now, almost all the trendiest breweries sell canned beer. Canned food currently accounts for approximately 60% of the volume of independent process packaging; ten years ago, this figure was close to 5% or less.

Cans have many advantages over glass, but due to industry consolidation, aluminum tariffs, and the recent pandemic, the relative sudden surge in interest in cans has also led to supply problems for many years.

As with almost everything, the pandemic has pushed up costs for canners—and at this time more drinkers have been drinking beer at home instead of going out. Bart Watson, chief economist of the independent brewery trade group Brewers Association (BA), said that in the past year, canned beer not only accounted for a larger share of craft beer sales, but also The overall sales of packaged beer have also soared.

Now, this tight aluminum can market may further affect craft breweries: According to reports, Bauer, one of the largest canners in the United States, is increasing its minimum order level, a move that may force small beers that work with them The factory looks for other options for it. Can supplies.

Last week, BA reminded its members that for non-contracted customers’ printing cans, the minimum order quantity for cans will be increased to five trucks per SKU (ie, per product). The Denver news website Westword reported that the previous minimum order was only one truck and the minimum order increased from 204,000 cans to 1,020,000 cans. In addition, Bauer will obviously no longer keep inventory for customers, which means that the storage of all these cans now falls on the lap of the brewery.

Bob Pease, President and CEO of BA, said: “If these changes are accurate and extensive, they may change the entire beer landscape for small independent brewers.” “Most breweries cannot order or order for each SKU. Store 1 million cans."

Another option for breweries is to work with smaller tundish distributors (this is where the smallest breweries have switched to their cans), but for breweries that work directly with Ball, making this conversion can be very costly. The big impact includes new fees, such as paying for these additional brokerage fees and switching to printed labels.

"For the affected brewers, this will be a real challenge, mainly in terms of pricing," Watson told me via email. "They will be squeezed between the largest brewer whose supply/pricing will not change much, and the smallest brewer who also won't change much. These brewers face the difficult choice of falling profits or raising prices. "

Patrick Crawford, co-founder of the Denver Beer Company, told Westword that this was the choice they would face. "It tripled our expenses," he said. "It would be cheaper to buy five trucks of cans and send four of them back to the recycling plant. [...] This means that the brewery will have to increase the price of six cans by 30% to be able to continue doing business."

Therefore, for consumers, Watson said, don’t be surprised if you see price increases for certain brands early next year. This is not all. "Based on the short time frame of this announcement, there may also be some usability issues with spring or other small brands, and brewers cannot find new canned supplies fast enough," he continued. "Finally, consumers may see changes in the packaging of some brands: brands that were previously in printed cans now have shrink sleeves, labels, and even bottles."