Wednesday, May 25, 2022

"Extremely Tense" Beer Bottle Shortage Emerges Ahead Of Germany's Oktoberfest

This is not good news, but the connection to Oktoberfest is a bit strained.*

From ZeroHedge:

The world's largest beer festival, "Oktoberfest," situated in Munich, Germany, is four months away, and the country's energy crisis has sparked a beer bottle shortage. 

Germany is Europe's largest manufacturing hub and faces exorbitantly high energy costs, rapid inflation, and a breakdown in supply chains, pressuring energy-intensive glass manufacturers. This economic backdrop alone could unleash stagflation

Holger Eichele of the German Brewers' Federation told the German newspaper Bild the beer bottle shortage would impact small- and medium-sized breweries the hardest. He described the situation as "extremely tense" as the rising cost of production and logistics problems plague breweries. 

"If you don't have long-term contracts, you currently have to pay 80% more for new glass bottles than you did a year ago. Some breweries are threatened with idling, they may soon be without bottles," Eichele warned. 

Bild found the shortage of glass bottles is due to the soaring cost of fossil fuels, such as natural gas and diesel....

*I thought most of the beer hall and biergarten brew was on draught.
There was a similar scare in 2012: 
(It's a recipe for disaster)
From NBC's Bottom Line blog:
Beer brewers in Munich may not be able to supply enough beer for the annual Oktoberfest beer festival, local newspaper Munich TZ reported, but the problem is not a lack of the alcoholic beverage.

Instead, Heiner Müller, manager at the Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr brewery told TZ, brewers do not have enough bottles to supply the festival. He called on drinkers to return their empties.

"Dear Munichers — bring back your crates. We need our empties,” Müller said....MORE
At Munich's Burgerbrau Keller in 1923 Herman Goering was at least able to say to the assembled putschers:
"Shut up. You've got your beer, haven't you?"
And related:
"Is the End of the German Beer Industry Near?"
Nein.
From Knowledge@Wharton....