CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Like a lot of items during COVID-19, aluminum cans are now hard to come by.

Brad Shell is the owner of The Unknown Brewing Company in Charlotte. He said in May suppliers started increasing their prices for aluminum cans.

“We are packaging stuff, but with all the charges that have gone with it you are pretty much packaging for nothing,” Shell said. “We are just breaking even.”

He said so far he hasn’t increased the price of his beer.

“If this is a short term thing we will probably just have to eat it,” Shell said. “If it’s a long term thing then we will probably have to change our pricing.”

Shell said he is considering other options of packaging the beer.

“There was a brewery in Raleigh that was filling milk chugs, so we will find a way to get beer into your stomach if you come on out,” Shell said.

His biggest worry is that the increased prices for aluminum cans could continue even after COVID-19 is over. Shell said another solution to the shortage is to build more manufacturing facilities to produce enough cans to meet the demands.