Beer Industry Resources
12.7.08
Craft Beer in a Can?
I recently read an article about craft breweries canning their products which was pretty interesting. I was skeptical at first, but then tried a few, and I have to say I was impressed.
Besides, you shouldn't drink our craft beer out of the bottle anyway, so what's the difference with a can? The container should hardly matter. One benefit is that there is zero chance for getting skunked (no light penetration). Also, they can be brought where glass cannot (pool side, the beach, public parks, camping grounds--I wouldn't be surprised to see some offered on airlines in the next few years).
People used to fight the composite plastic wine bottle 'cork' too... some still may, but most analyses find it's actually better at protecting the wine, and reseals better. And wine in a box--yup, that's come a very, very long way as well. And did you know that Trader Joe's 2-Buck Chuck (retails for $1.99 for a 750mL bottle) accounts for about 1 out of every 12 bottles of domestic wine purchased in America? So, there--shattered 3 misconceptions about wine--needs a cork, must be in a bottle, and must be expensive... people are coming around to questioning everything and just going with what tastes good (and what's economical, particularly these days).
A similar thing is going on with canned beers. Trust me, we're going to see more and more canned beers, without a doubt. The misconception that micro or good beer needs to come in a bottle is just due to the fact that when micros started, canning lines were only produced for MASSIVE scale brewing operations, and bottling lines available at the time could accommodate smaller production scales. But a few years back a company in Canada created a canning line that would accommodate the canning production scale of micro and regional breweries, for a cheaper price than most intro bottling lines, and now it's taking off... consider the trade off just in how much glass weighs--to get it to the brewery before filling, and to distribute when filled... riding on trucks every step of the way, eating up gasoline... So, cheaper to acquire the line, and cheaper to move around the product.
Here are some beers with good distribution that you can probably find locally. Buy one or more of these and taste them for yourself.
All canned, all from Oskar Blues Brewing Company (Lyons, CO): Old Chubb, Gordon Ale, Dale's Pale Ale.
Anything from Surly B.C. (Minneapolis, Minnesota, I believe)
Anything from Steamworks B.C. (Durango, CO)--their Steam Engine Lager I've had from the can.
The only true issue with canned right now is you can't "can condition" due to pressure issues/cans bursting--but for most of what we run stylistically in the domestic clubs, this is not a problem. Other reports (metallic taste, etc.) are no longer a problem. Plus, canning has permitted more start up micros to actually get their products out, as canning lines are finally cheaper at the micro scale than bottling lines, meaning more true micros are getting their products out, in the can format.
Besides, you shouldn't drink our craft beer out of the bottle anyway, so what's the difference with a can? The container should hardly matter. One benefit is that there is zero chance for getting skunked (no light penetration). Also, they can be brought where glass cannot (pool side, the beach, public parks, camping grounds--I wouldn't be surprised to see some offered on airlines in the next few years).
People used to fight the composite plastic wine bottle 'cork' too... some still may, but most analyses find it's actually better at protecting the wine, and reseals better. And wine in a box--yup, that's come a very, very long way as well. And did you know that Trader Joe's 2-Buck Chuck (retails for $1.99 for a 750mL bottle) accounts for about 1 out of every 12 bottles of domestic wine purchased in America? So, there--shattered 3 misconceptions about wine--needs a cork, must be in a bottle, and must be expensive... people are coming around to questioning everything and just going with what tastes good (and what's economical, particularly these days).
A similar thing is going on with canned beers. Trust me, we're going to see more and more canned beers, without a doubt. The misconception that micro or good beer needs to come in a bottle is just due to the fact that when micros started, canning lines were only produced for MASSIVE scale brewing operations, and bottling lines available at the time could accommodate smaller production scales. But a few years back a company in Canada created a canning line that would accommodate the canning production scale of micro and regional breweries, for a cheaper price than most intro bottling lines, and now it's taking off... consider the trade off just in how much glass weighs--to get it to the brewery before filling, and to distribute when filled... riding on trucks every step of the way, eating up gasoline... So, cheaper to acquire the line, and cheaper to move around the product.
Here are some beers with good distribution that you can probably find locally. Buy one or more of these and taste them for yourself.
All canned, all from Oskar Blues Brewing Company (Lyons, CO): Old Chubb, Gordon Ale, Dale's Pale Ale.
Anything from Surly B.C. (Minneapolis, Minnesota, I believe)
Anything from Steamworks B.C. (Durango, CO)--their Steam Engine Lager I've had from the can.
The only true issue with canned right now is you can't "can condition" due to pressure issues/cans bursting--but for most of what we run stylistically in the domestic clubs, this is not a problem. Other reports (metallic taste, etc.) are no longer a problem. Plus, canning has permitted more start up micros to actually get their products out, as canning lines are finally cheaper at the micro scale than bottling lines, meaning more true micros are getting their products out, in the can format.
