So there are Senate hearings going on this week on whether or not the London Metal Exchange and other banks worked behind the scenes to hold aluminum supplies, driving up costs. Big banks allegedly behaving in underhanded ways—what is this, 2008?

Says MSN Money:

Tim Weiner, a global risk manager at MillerCoors, told the committee Tuesday that banks including Goldman Sachs (GS +0.01%), JP Morgan Chase (JPM +0.19%) and others gave warehouse owners approval to sit on huge stockpiles of aluminum, create artificial shortages and leave prices "inflated relative to the massive oversupply and record production."

MillerCoors, a U.S. joint venture between SABMiller (SAB) and MolsonCoors (TAP -0.63%), puts about 36 million barrels of the 59 million barrels of beer it produces each year into cans. As overhead goes, Weiner says, metal is the company's riskiest investment.

According to the article, "the cost of a six-pack jumped from $3.92 to $5.05 between 2001 and 2011, the last year for which information is available." Canned-beer drinkers, rise up! The affordability of your television-side digestif is at stake!