Brash Brewing Company's label on a can from Southern Star Brewing.

An aluminum can shortage slammed the beverage industry last year and continues to plague supply chains this summer. In Houston, beverage makers are being forced to innovate to avoid running out.

“All the breweries were forced to switch to packaged product," said Bryce Baker, the co-founder of 11 Below Brewing Company, referencing the period in 2020 when on-premise drinking stopped during the shutdown. "So there was a huge increase in demand for cans and a big can shortage.”   

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Yet the pandemic is only partially to blame for the problem. Aluminum can plants were already nearing capacity before COVID-19. The National Beer Wholesalers Association reports that the percentage of beer that ends up in cans increased from 50% to 60% between 2010 to 2019, according to CNN.

That number skyrocketed to 67% in 2020, according to the National Beer Wholesalers Association, meaning two-thirds of all beer is going into cans..

Over the last decade, cans have also become more popular in other beverage markets. So, when the pandemic shifted beer consumption from kegs to cans, aluminum can facilities reached a tipping point.

Cans from Galveston Island Brewing with label maker in background.

Mark Dell’Osso, founder and owner of Galveston Island Brewing, started hearing rumors of a can shortage in summer 2020. He tried to order extra cans “to shore up what (he) needed,” but the can supplier told him to order his normal amount, assuring him there was no shortage.

But when Dell’Osso went back to the same company for his next order in winter 2020, “there were no cans. Buyers couldn’t even take an order in December.”

Ultimately, he says the freeze on cans lasted a month or two, which he attributes to a “widely known fear of the shortage” and people over-ordering cans.

While American can manufacturers struggled with the shortage, some turned to overseas markets. The Can Manufacturers Institute estimated that two billion empty cans would be imported in 2020.

Can manufacturing began to catch up to demand in spring 2021 only to once again drop to critical lows this summer. Dell’Osso says the situation took a turn for the worse because we’re in the peak of summer, "when can demand is at its highest.”

Stacks of blank aluminum cans awaiting labels at 11 Below Brewing Company.

Baker knows that 11 Below Brewing was “real lucky to not run out of cans. We’ve had cans arrive and be getting beer filled in them in 20 minutes. That was the closest we’d ever come.”

When their luck ran out, local breweries found other creative ways around the shortage through strategic planning, labeling their own cans and sharing their stockpiles.

Brock Wagner, owner and founder of Saint Arnold Brewing Company, initially managed by keeping large inventories of cans on hand, he said. However, as the can freeze made stockpiling impossible, the brewery was forced to begin managing its supply chain "actively and on a daily basis" in order to avoid running out of cans.

Dell’Osso says he's learned to be more strategic and plan in advance. In the past, Galveston Island Brewing paid for cans 14 days prior to delivery, but now, its lead time has stretched to 14 weeks. The business has to set aside between $20,000 to $40,000 about 3.5 months in advance, "which is a lot from a small business point of view,” Dell'Osso says.

Wagner found another solution when he began buying silver unprinted cans and labeling them in-house, a process he described as "labor-intensive.” Saint Arnold’s already had its own labeling equipment, but it was only for small, special release beers.

Saint Arnold's H-Town beer in cans from manufacturer (left) compared to cans labeled in-house (right).

Once the company started using it for more of its own beers, Wagner discovered “there’s a big difference between doing a couple of thousand cans that way and doing 50,000 cans that way. So it’s logistically quite the challenge.”

A label maker was also a vital part of Southern Star Brewing’s ‘candemic’ survival plan. Its CEO, Dave Fougeron, notes that its machine is “not a good labeler, but it’s better than most people have ... The machine came from China with no instructions, so we sometimes have to do it by hand.”

Fougeron says the cans labeled in-house “might not always be the prettiest, but we can at least bring product to the market.”

Thankfully, most customers have been understanding about the cans looking different, he said. But the business did receive one complaint from a customer who said they threw a bunch of beer in the cooler, and when the ice started to melt, the stickers came off of the cans.

Baker said that as getting printed cans became even harder, 11 Below Brewing Company started doing blank cans and putting labels on them to give them flexibility. Ultimately, the company's label machine and ability to have a drive-thru saved it "from financial ruin," Baker said.

Meanwhile, breweries that didn’t have label makers began scrambling to buy them. Dell’Osso shared that Galveston Island Brewing ordered a label machine in late 2020, but the delivery date kept getting pushed back and he finally received it in early 2021.

Saint Arnold Brewing Company's label maker.

When strategies and labeling failed, some breweries turned to each other for help. Fougeron says Southern Star Brewing “shared some cans that we didn’t have any use for anymore” with Brash Brewing. “They wrapped their labels around our cans.” Fougeron had talked about selling it to them but ultimately just gave it to them, he said.

When Dell’Osso heard about the exchange of cans, he was happy to know that Houston brewers were willing to help each other out.

“It was a good deal to see that camaraderie.”

But two other problems are exacerbating the aluminum can shortage.

One is the truck driver shortage. Wagner says there aren’t enough truck drivers.

"We’ve had containers basically full of our cans at the plant, but no drivers available to bring us the trailer. So, that has caused some delays.”

A lack of storage also inhibits breweries’ ability to build up their can supplies. Dell’Osso’s can manufacturer produced an overrun on Galveston Island Brewing’s latest order: He ordered 204,000 cans, but they printed 244,000 cans.

When Dell’Osso went to buy the extra cans, he was told that the factory couldn’t store them past the end of July. If he doesn’t take them by then, “they will destroy them.”

Dell’Osso’s warehouse is full. He is building an expansion to the brewery where he plans to store cans. However, the building won’t be done until August.

During a can shortage, Dell'Osso has 40,000 cans he would “love to buy,” but nowhere to put them. This is his “biggest challenge, knowing that they will destroy (his) cans.”

After grappling with the can shortage for over seven months, brewers face an uncertain future. 

"If we can get through Labor Day, then we’ll be okay," Dell'Osso said.

Brewers are hopeful that lower demand in the fall coupled with new manufacturing plants will help balance out the shortage. Ball, the world's largest manufacturer of metal beverage containers, has invested $300 million to build a new aluminum can plant in Pennsylvania set to open later this year.

Wagner knows the shortage is temporary, but the big question is, "how temporary is it?”

“More plants (will) open and the supply chain will all correct itself, but right now it’s a bit of a mess,” he said. “Will we go through this again next summer?”

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