Michigan Craft Breweries Get Creative Amid Can Shortage

Michigan businesses sure had a fresh can of struggles opened on them this year and our state's craft breweries are among those who have been consistently creative in facing it all.

According to the Detroit Free Press, "The U.S. is experiencing an aluminum can shortage and it's only a matter of time before microbreweries begin to feel the effects."

There are multiple factors that CAN (wink, wink) contribute to the shortage like the fact dine-in service at restaurants or bars was not available so people were drinking more out of cans at home but then were not able to return them.

All those cans just piled up in people's garages or wherever they keep their cans and when they were finally able to return them, there were limits on how many they could take back at a time.

Bobby Vedder, certified Cicerone with Powers Distributing, told Detroit Free Press that while using bottles could be a good alternative, it's a challenge because most of a craft brewery's branding is based on cans.

Michigan breweries like Grand Haven's Odd Side Ales and Ypsilanti's 734 Brewing company explained their individual situations in dealing with the can shortage that is most likely reflected by many others'.

Odd Side Ales says their last can shipment from Ball (Beverage Packaging) will come next week and from there they have had to make do by buying cans from other breweries that happened to have extras and are planning to make the switch to glass bottles.

734 Brewing is also planning to switch to glass bottles and have already been using 64-ounce growlers for to-go orders to conserve their cans.

"We're quickly running out and it's not looking like anyone will have any in the near future," said Patrick Echlin, one of the partners at 734 Brewing Company.

Ball Beverage Packaging of North and Central America, as the Detroit Free Press cites USA TODAY, released an emailed statement saying they are short on some of their can styles and companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi have also been having issues right there with the beer industry.

As we move into this latest shortage to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, let's all just hope a beer can shortage doesn't turn into a beer shortage or we are all screwed...

Who ever would have thought we would see the day there was a shortage of cans here but they join the ever-growing list of things we took for granted before COVID-19. Here are a few more: