Roll Out The Barrel

Back in the day, JB and I would team up with a neighborhood kid and collect aluminum cans for recycling. We'd go out scavenging the local roadways and public trash cans. When our neighbor's dad came back from his annual Canadian fishing trip with his buddies, we hit the mother lode. These guys used to pound beer by the case, usually Schmidt. We had our own homemade can crusher and would usually build up quite a stash before cashing in. When times were good, I think we received something like twenty-three cents a pound for our efforts. Which went a long way towards Marathon candy bars and Tahitian Treat pop.

Today's Wall Street Journal reports that kegs are now a hot commodity in the recycling world, especially among thieves:

With beer kegs, the crime spree began in the United Kingdom, where more than 250,000 wobbled out of circulation last year, according to the British Beer and Pub Association. Last fall, thieves scaled a chain-link fence and made off with 430 kegs in a single night from a storage yard belonging to Empire Distributors Inc. in Charlotte, N.C. The empty kegs had contained Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada and Pyramid brand beers. "I don't know why they didn't just ram the fence down," says Hank Bauer, Empire's sales manager. Empire is now locking its kegs in a warehouse to keep them safe.

Kegs are a tempting target, not only because they contain quality stainless steel, nickel and chrome, but also because they are easy to carry and can be readily found in storage sheds, behind liquor stores, or right under the counter of a neighborhood bar. For microbrewers, which sell about half their beer on tap in brew pubs, keg pilferage from their customers' taverns is so bad that even bartenders can't be trusted. Warren Dibble, chief financial officer of Boston's Harpoon Brewery, suspects that some tavern owners are letting employees sell empties on the side "as part of their compensation."

With rising metals prices, it's not a bad fringe benefit. Just a few years ago, scrap yards paid only about $5 a keg. But prices are as high as $21 now in some parts of the country.

$21 for a keg? An EMPTY keg?

The cost of a new keg, meanwhile, has also tripled, to about $90. That's a headache for specialty brewers like Kansas City's Boulevard Brewing, which started in 1989 to brew Belgian-style pilseners and ales. The 40,000 kegs in Boulevard's inventory represented more than 20% of the brewer's fixed assets in 2004.

That is a substantial investment for any brewer, especially those of the micro variety. An investment that is apparently in imminent danger:

Mr. Mullen's brew pub on Roe Boulevard has been hit three times since November by keg thieves. To keep from losing any more empties, Mr. Mullen has invested heavily in security. He has installed a concrete divider like those highway crews use to divert traffic, and upgraded to a heavier, cutter-proof chain to string through the handles of about 15 kegs stored each night behind the restaurant.

He hopes that will help him on Friday, when he expects St. Patrick's Day revelers to empty at least 50 kegs that he'll have to guard through the weekend. "It's the Super Bowl of keg theft," Mr. Mullen says. "They'll be out that night for sure."

That's about the same number of kegs that Terry Keegan estimates will be consumed on St. Patrick's Day at his fine establishment. Hopefully, his plans for keg security are in order. Keg-guarding sounds like a perfect job for Marty "Wayne" Newton.