With the increased demand for beer since the pandemic first began, Maritime craft brewers are concerned about can supply.

“I put another order in for five pallets a couple weeks ago expecting a six-to-eight-week delivery, and I just yesterday was told it was going to stretch to a minimum of 10-12 weeks just because the supply chain is just so overloaded,” says Marc Melanson, owner of Flying Boats Brewing in Dieppe, New Brunswick.

COVID-19 is playing a vital role with product in the industry with the closures of businesses turning to shipments as their form of delivery to their customers. Brewers are filling more cans then they are kegs, an issue that was not present before the pandemic.

“Cans are getting pretty scarce at this time,” says Serge Nadeau, co-owner of CAVOK Brewing Co. in Dieppe.  “There’s a lot of people that are bringing a lot of products home, whether it be sodas, beer,” Nadeau says.

Another problem is most brewers work with an “on-demand” supply and don’t have months of product stocked up and saved for a rainy day in case of a shortage.

The Canadian Craft Brewers Association says the threat of aluminum tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump is where their concern currently lies.

“Even just the threat of that changes market dynamics, and that’s what we’re worried about. In 2018, it caused a real havoc and disruption in terms of the supply available to us in Canada,” says Rick Dalmazzi, the Association’s Executive Director.