Leading Scottish Wholesaler Dunns Food and Drinks has warned the UK could see bottled beer stocks plunge as the price of glass bottles jumps by 80%.
The warning comes after beer experts in Germany said the country could face a glass bottle shortage this summer due to rising production costs, with small and medium-sized breweries expected to bear the brunt of the impact.
“It won’t be long before the glassware shortage hits UK consumers. Our wine and spirits suppliers from around the globe are facing ongoing struggles that will have a knock-on effect,” Dunns Food and Drinks operating director Julie Dunn said
“As a result, there could be less variety in the bottled beers we see on UK shelves.”
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Dunne continued: “I expect that while some breweries will convert to cans to ensure consistent supply, others will look at this as devaluing the brand, so will inevitably pass the additional cost onto beer drinkers.
Some brewers in Scotland have already taken action to combat rising production costs. Edinburgh-based brewery Vault City Brewing, will switch to predominantly can-only releases from next month.
Vault City co-founder Steven Smith added: We started introducing cans to our release schedule in January because of rising costs and challenges with availability.
“This was initially just for our session sours and supermarket range, but because production prices are so high we’ve decided to make all our beers can-only from June, with the exception of a few special releases each year.
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