http://www.axios.com/2022/09/19/beer-shortage-co2-supply-issues
U.S. beer shortage looms with gap in carbon dioxide supply
John Frank
The supply chain crisis and an extinct volcano are spurring a new beer shortage.
“We’ve been running delivery to delivery for the past few weeks, and we are certainly concerned about the supply,” Aeronaut Brewing’s co-founder Ronn Friedlander told Axios Boston’s Mike Deehan.
Brewers across the country are reporting production delays in getting beer to the market and drafting contingency plans to switch to nitrogen.
Nightshift Brewery outside Boston shut down a facility after being told their carbon dioxide supply was “cut for the foreseeable future, possibly more than a year.”
Beer makers — particularly small, independent craft brewers — are struggling with inflation and supply chain troubles.
“It’s become a struggle to keep the doors open,” one brewer recently told Bart Watson, an economist at the Colorado-based Brewers Association.
The other side: A handful of brewers are insulated from the shortage because they use innovative technology to capture natural carbon dioxide from the brewing process and store it for future use.
Denver Beer Co. in Colorado uses reclaimed CO2 and sells extra supply to a cannabis company for use in the grow houses.
What’s next: Beer prices have risen less than the broader food and beverage market, but that could change as the rising cost of inputs — whether CO2 or grain — leads to a more expensive pint.
