Breweries in Iowa Dealing with Aluminum Shortage

According to CBS2, "Brewery owners across Eastern Iowa said overall sales could be better but they can't keep canned beer stocked."

The problem is not the brewing of the beer, it's finding cans to put the beer in. Local breweries are struggling to get aluminum cans because of the shortage that is going on since the pandemic started.

One of the reasons is more people are choosing to drink at home now. That means less people drinking keg beer and more people are drinking beer in a can. Aluminum is at a very high demand right now and the shortage could also impact the soft drink world as well.

The CBS story said that beer sold in cans accounted for 50% of beer sold in 2010 and 60% of beer sold in 2019. Those figures came from the National Beer Wholesalers Association.

Another reason for the shortage is the success of seltzers. Most of these new drinks come in a can and it seems like everyone is drinking them these days.

Local bars here in Cedar Rapids are also feeling the pain of the aluminum shortage. It's been impossible for any bar in the last three weeks to order tall boys of Coors Light. There's also a handful of other brands that are currently not able to be reordered.

Let's hope this problem can get fixed and our local breweries can continue to sell beer. It's been bad enough for them with everything going on with the pandemic, they don't need any more problems to deal with.

To read the full story from CBS2, visit this link.

[Source:CBS2]