MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis beer makers are keeping their eye on a carbon dioxide shortage gripping the country but so far are not experiencing any supply problems.
Those in the industry fear a national shortage of CO2 could lead to a national beer shortage.
“I saw that come up on the news two or three months ago,” said Paul Cottam, the general manager of High Cotton Brewing Company. ” To be honest, It’s not had any impact at this point, but it’s something that’s on my radar.”
Carbon Dioxide became a concern after one of the country’s largest production sites in Jackson, Mississippi, was contaminated by an extinct underground volcano.
“We get all our gases from Nexair. He is our Concourse neighbor,” said Will Goodwin, the co-founder of Crosstown Brewing Company. “They assured us that we wouldn’t have any supply interruptions.”
He said Nexair told them there might be some kind of regional supply shortage, but they plan to take care of the beer suppliers first.
“They said instead of waiting until we were almost out to fill us up, they may have to come and fill us up when we are a quarter depleted just to make sure they top us up,” said Goodwin.
The owner of Ghost River Brewing Company and Taproom also uses Nexair and said he hasn’t had any issues purchasing getting CO2.
“Prices have gone up just like anything else. It’s just standard inflation, but nothing out of the ordinary,” said Bob Keskey. “We’ve had no problems.”
Richards Rhodes, the owner of Hampline Brewing Company, said he is not concerned about the months ahead.
“We are smaller than some of the players in the market, and we are not being impacted at all. So, we are very fortunate in that regard,” Rhode said.
Local brewers said it appears the Memphis area is in good shape right now.