• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

Craft Brewing Business Craft Brewing Business
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment & Systems
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Sun King explains to its customers why its placing new labels on printed cans

March 2, 2022Keith Gribbins

The can shortage continues. To be more correct, the everything shortage continues, but aluminum packaging in particular for craft breweries is becoming a strangle point in the supply line. The shortage has many factors. It actually has deeper roots than the pandemic, starting nearly a decade ago as beer packaging has steadily shifted away from bottles to favor cans. Aluminum manufacturers were barely keeping up with demand pre-pandemic. Read our previous article on it.

But our new COVID economy has amped up demand for cans in multiple beverage industries (especially small breweries, which shifted heavily to packaging when pubs closed). Intensifying all these factors, Ball Corp., the world’s biggest manufacturer of aluminum beverage cans, announced last November a new minimum order requirement for aluminum packaging — five truckloads per SKU for printed cans for non-contracted customers. That’s a minimum order of one million cans, folks. A lot of breweries use/used Ball. Plus, Ball announced it would no longer warehouse inventory on behalf of customers, begging the question where are small breweries going to store one million cans? In summary, it’s tough to find cans right now.

Indianapolis’ Sun King Brewing is feeling the can pinch, so they’re being innovative. If you’ve purchased a Sun King beer lately, you may have noticed a printed label placed over another one of its brands. The brewery explains:

Sun King has been labeling old cans intermittently for the last year or so due the shortage. We have been forced to be as resourceful as possible, which means using every available can we have in order to keep our beers on the market. While it may look a little odd, it has no effect on the flavor of our award-winning craft beers.

To make matters worse, our long-term can supplier announced at the end of 2021 that they were raising their minimum order of printed cans from one truckload (or 200,000 cans) to five truckloads (or 1 Million cans) per label/design. This new policy favors large breweries, brewery groups, and beverage companies who can afford not only to purchase such large quantities, but who also have floor space to store large quantities of cans. As a result, Sun King has gone from working with one can supplier to five-plus suppliers, each with their own minimums and label requirements.

If you have come across a Sun King beer that was labeled over, please know that there is nothing different or wrong with the beer inside. We have not attempted to relabel a different beer; It is because we are doing everything possible to overcome adversity and keep our beers flowing!

To explain any sticker shock, Sun King produced the excellent video up above. I love its clever detective vibe. It’s worth noting Sun King has an awesome video production team and an awesome YouTube page, which you should subscribe to right here.

Alas, the can shortage looks to continue. Like computer chips, lumber, steel and food of all sorts, aluminum packaging is listed on everyone’s Top Shortages of 2022 list. Breweries will need to work hard and be innovative. Sun King shows us a good example of both here.

Get samples of these 100% recyclable fiber can rings made from sugarcane and bamboo
Save the cans hardywood craft brewery recycle
Bill reintroduced to bring transparency to aluminum price reporting
Craft Beer Cans
Assessing the new (ongoing?) can shortage
Crushed-1
Labeling affects recyclability of your aluminum beer cans

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • Higher learning: Eastern Washington University and No-Li Brewhouse launch Craft Beer Certificate
  • Texas’ Bishop Cider is in explode mode, acquires two breweries, expanding to seven locations
  • Athletic Brewing earns Certified B Corp status as it celebrates four years
  • 2022 Beer Branding Trends Part 2: Beyond Beer

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • 2022 Beer Branding Trends Part 2: Beyond Beer
    May 23, 2022
  • The-IBA-TeamIBA hits milestone – 1 million bbls of buying power – what’s next for the co-op?
    May 19, 2022
  • 2022 beer branding trends part 1: reinvention
    May 17, 2022
  • satisfaction surveysAre brewery employees happy? Depends on the department
    May 16, 2022
  • Male hand closes hatch of brewery tankUnfiltered: Do I need to clean tanks between transfers?
    May 11, 2022
  • Hard seltzers: Achieve high alcohol fermentations in a clean and neutral way with the proper nutrient aids
    May 9, 2022

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2022 · CBB Media LLC

Posting....