Why Are Keg Prices On the Rise?

Keg prices are on the rise. This is due, in part, to many state efforts to regulate kegs and increase taxes on beer itself. Many home brewers have know this for years, as Cornelius kegs, also known as soda kegs, are becoming harder and harder to find at the prices they used to be. Regular regulation-sized beer kegs are also becoming harder to find. As industrial production is almost at its end in America, home brewers and kegerator fans alike are feeling the pinch.

Keg registration laws may also contribute to the increase in keg prices. Beer keg registration is a state-by-state legal requirement for kegs to have identification labels or tags applied when the kegs are sold. The government wants to know when and where the beer will be served, who bought it, and where it is going. In order to fund programs like this, states and some localities are taxing the beer itself.

Not only kegs, but also the beer contained within them are subject to tax attack in many states. In the state of Oregon, for example, there have been recent attempts to tax beer substantially. Representative Ben Cannon sponsored a bill last year which would increase the $2.60 tax on a barrel of beer to nearly $50. Such a tax increase would clearly increase the price of any keg of beer substantially. Such taxes are being proposed in Washington state as well as Kansas. Currently, 26 out of the 50 states have beer keg registration laws. Here is a list of the states that have beer keg registration laws. Each state may have slightly different regulations:

1. Arkansas
2. California (seven or more gallons)
3. Connecticut
4. District of Columbia
5. Georgia
6. Idaho
7. Indiana
8. Iowa
9. Kansas
10. Kentucky
11. Maryland
12. Massachusetts
13. Michigan
14. Minnesota
15. Missouri
16. Montana
17. Nebraska
18. New Hampshire
19. New Mexico
20. New York (four or more gallons)
21. North Carolina
22. North Dakota
23. Ohio
24. Oregon (six or more gallons)
25. Rhode Island
26. South Carolina
27. Vermont
28. Virginia
29. Washington (four or more gallons).

The more beer that is taxed and kegs regulated, the more we will see the hobby of home brewing growing exponentially. Who wants the government to know where their party is? Furthermore, what business is it of the governments to regulate beer to this degree?

Cornelius kegs, or soda kegs, are the five and six gallon beer kegs that have been used by home brewers for many years to make quality home brew at a small scale. Almost since Soda kegs were first manufactured, home brewers have been re-purposing them to the effect of making beer. But soda kegs have not been used by the soft drink industry since bag in box technology came along. The bag in box way of making soft drinks has changed the way most commercial sodas are served. Now, all new soda kegs are produced exclusively for the home brew hobby, and most of the big lots of soda kegs left over from the days when all commercial soda machines used them are gone. Most used or re-conditioned soda kegs have been bought, sold, and rebuilt a few times.

Years ago home brewing kegs were $15 and carboys could be had for $5. Now, a reconditioned Cornelius keg goes for between $40 and $60, and six-gallon carboys are seldom to be found for less than $25. Brewers used to find five and six-gallon glass carboys set out for bulk collection on trash day on a regular basis.

Another effect of living in post-industrial America is the lack of a support network to sustain manufacturers of any type that still have factories in this country. Without the large amount of plants and factories that the U.S. once sported, the infrastructure of maintenance and knowledgeable and skilled industrial workforce has diminished greatly. The result is that any manufacturing still done in this country has to deal with all such problems in house. In addition to this, environmental concerns add immense difficulty to such ventures - which is a big reason why so many manufacturers have left the U.S. for the third world.