Mainebiz

W O R K F O R M E / S P R I N G 2 0 2 3 50 W hile not all Maine b e e r b r e w e r s are feeling the squeeze of the ongoing, nation- wide carbon dioxide shortage, others have altered their produc- tion processes to more efficiently use the gas. Carbon dioxide is often used throughout the beer-making process, whether to aid in car- bonation, pressure-assisted tank decanting or clearing oxygen from tanks. Given that it's one of the greenhouse gasses blamed for the climate crisis, it may seem counterintuitive that there isn't enough carbon dioxide floating around for breweries to use. But while some companies are pulling the gas out of the atmosphere to mitigate climate change — and some of that is used for beverage carbonation — atmospheric carbon removal isn't currently mainstream. In- stead, Will Gentry, the president of gas supplier MaineOxy, says most of the carbon dioxide pro- vided to breweries is a byproduct of three activities: petroleum refining and ammonia or ethanol production. And those activities slowed during the pandemic, meaning less available captured byproduct for the brewing in- dustry, he explained. "Now we're telling our custom- ers to have enough on hand for six to eight weeks, so if there is a shortage, you can actually get through it and you'll have enough product to get to move ahead" with beer production, Gentry says. Once supplies began tighten- ing, companies like MaineOxy had to reduce their clients' allocations and charge more for what was delivered, too. Gentry declined to share how his company's year- over-year carbon dioxide charges changed, citing business competi- tiveness concerns. However, the producer price index published by the U.S. Bu- reau of Labor Statistics shows that carbon dioxide prices within the industrial gas manufactur- ing industry consistently rose throughout the pandemic, soar- ing in the summer of 2022. Numerous Maine breweries told Mainebiz that their prices have shot up, with some feeling the pain more sharply than oth- ers. In an email, Patrick Rowan, owner of Woodland Farms Brew- ery in Kittery, suggested that the matter has reached levels of "price gouging." "We've seen our CO 2 prices quadruple in the last 24 months, and we've been rationed twice to 50%" allocation from before the shortage, says Rowan, using the formulaic shorthand for carbon dioxide. To navigate the challenge, has forced his team to get "seriously creative" and "generally watch every last drop we use" to navi- gate the new terrain. David Love, the sustainability manager of Maine Beer Co. in Freeport, says their carbon diox- ide prices have been contractually locked in. But while they were "one of the luckier breweries, where we never ran out of CO 2 ," their allocation and the regularity of deliveries diminished. Side By Each Brewing Co. in Auburn was paying roughly 46 cents per pound of carbon dioxide in the fall of 2019, "before COVID and all the madness started," ac- cording to owner-brewer Ben Low. A year later, the cost had risen to 53 cents per pound, in- cluding a force majeure charge. Now, they're paying 66 cents per pound — even with the force majeure charge dropped. "That's almost a 50% increase, which is a lot, and the other charges associated have gone up as well," Low says, detailing other charges on his carbon dioxide invoices he says have tripled, such as delivery. "It's a pretty big price hit." 'I'm not scared anymore' The shortage has lasted so long that some brewers, like Fogtown Brewing Co. in Ellsworth, switched providers for more reliable deliv- eries. At first, the shortage didn't affect Fogtown strongly because the pandemic lock-down mea- sures prevented it from opening their doors. We've seen our CO2 prices quadruple in the last 24 months, and we've been rationed twice to 50%. — Patrick Rowan Woodland Farms Brewery P H O T O / T I M G R E E N W A Y CO2 shortage VEX BREWERS continues to Higher carbon dioxide prices are forcing Maine breweries to get creative B Y B R I D G E T R E E D M O R A W S K I Patrick Rowan, owner of Woodland Farms Brewery in Kittery, says the firm's cost of carbon dioxide has quadrupled. T e c h n o l o g y

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