Millions of kegs of beer are going stale

Millions of kegs of beer have gone stale as venues and bars closed down across the country, Bloomberg reports. While some companies have found creative ways to turn the beverage into natural gas for electricity generation or into hand sanitizer, a majority of it will ultimately be dumped—a college fraternity’s worst nightmare. In addition to losing revenue, the beer industry is faced with other challenges like finding environmentally safe ways to dump the liquid while trying to prevent theft. (Ed. note: Let the people drink for free!) During the pandemic, the consumption of cocktails has surged but since beer has a shelf life of 90 to 180 days, losses could reach $800 million to $1 billion. As for the agricultural sector, global malt demand will likely drop over the next couple years, leaving farmers who have already harvested for this season with no option but feeding it to livestock.