Stolen kegs have beer makers feeling tapped out

“We’ve heard there are people out there that will drive around just to look for kegs,” he said.

Molson Coors Brewing Co. is studying its thefts and working with distributors to keep better track of kegs, said Al Timothy, vice president for government affairs. The Denver-based brewer saw its keg losses double from 2005 to last year. The company has about 800,000 kegs in circulation at any time and did not want to say how many kegs it expects to lose this year.

“The bottom line is it’s a big problem,” Timothy said.

Metal prices are high across the world now, partially because of increased demand caused by a spike in construction in growing economies, said Chuck Carr, spokesman for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc., a trade group whose members run about 3,000 facilities in the U.S.

The price scrap yards pay for stainless steel has steadily grown for a year, peaking at about $1.50 to $1.70 a pound last month, said Marty Forman, president of Forman Metal Co. in Milwaukee. But that has dropped to about 50 to 70 cents a pound recently, which could provide some relief to frustrated brewers, he said.

Most empty barrels weigh about 30 pounds.

Still, Forman has heard from upset brewers like Lakefront Brewing Co., asking what can be done to prevent disappearing kegs.

Russ Klisch, president of the Milwaukee-based craft brewer, said it sometimes takes years before brewers know that a keg has been lost.

“You never really know who has them or where they’re going,” he said. “But I heard a lot of them were ending up at different scrap yards.”

The scrap industry’s Carr said they’re in the process of reminding dealers not to accept stolen goods, including kegs. Dealers have an easier time figuring out who owns kegs, he said, because brewers’ named are stamped right on them. Buyers, he said, should know if something doesn’t add up.

The Beer Institute supports legislation in states that require, for example, scrap metal buyers to ask for identification from would-be sellers of kegs, among other items. Ten states so far this year have passed such laws, including Colorado, Indiana, Kansas and Virginia.

Another option is to raise keg deposits, which are set by either states, brewers, or distributors and wholesalers. Brewers charge their own deposits when they sell kegs to distributors and wholesalers, sometimes as small as $10. Then customers pay their own deposit for kegs. Michigan recently tripled its keg deposit to $30 for the average keg-buyer after getting pressure from brewers upset by the thefts.

But Becker said raising deposits is a last resort, because it could deter drinkers. They hope to curb thefts through awareness.

“We don’t want to point fingers. We want to make it reasonable for people but at the same time, we want it stop,” he said.

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