Following Oskar Blues: 52 small craft brewers now serve beer in a can

   Above: As far as you can see! New cans line up for filling at one of America's first canning
   microbreweries. Below: Oskar Blues canning line at their original location in Lyons, Colo.
   Lids float on top of foam and then sealed with spinning mechanics. Far Below:: Erin Glass,
   Brewers Association Membership Coordinator on tour at the Oskar Blues Brewery taking it
   literally and enjoying brewery fresh beer out of a can. Photos by Charlie Papazian

Seven years ago the Oskar Blues Brewery in Lyons, Colorado, made the newswire with the announcement that it was the first small craft brewer to put beer in a can.  Now there are 52 craft brewers (and counting) that can beer.  There was a buzz in the brewing community because of a number of reasons. 

Most canning lines were designed for high volume and speed operations.  Packaging at a rate of 2,400 cans per minute is an eye boggling.  In 2002, Oskar Blues painstakingly filled their beer cans two at a time and sealed on a table top machine one can at a time.  There’s was a nano size operation in the world of beverages.  This was the humble prototype system that was to pioneer the path for other craft brewers. 

Canning systems and equipment are expensive.  Can manufacturers require minimum orders in the hundreds of thousands..  For years there was no micro size canning equipment available. Most large craft brewers were probably hesitant to embrace the idea of craft beer in a can.  Would beer drinkers buy into the idea that great craft beer could emerge from a can?   It was done in the late 1980s when using existing canning lines, Wisconsin’s Hibernia Brewing Company took over the Walter’s Brewery and put craft beer in a can.  The endeavor failed.

The decision to put craft beer in a can was a significant risk no mid size craft brewer was willing to take. It took some gutsy play calling by entrepreneurially minded companies.  The Ball Corporation, Cask Brewing Systems and the tiny brewpub in Lyons Colorado came together to make it happen.  The three companies assessed the opportunity for very small brewers. To take their beer to market in cans was both exciting and risky. For Ball it was an investment in the long term future of canned craft beer. Together they invested on the can-do attitude of America’s smallest brewers. They gambled that micro sized canning systems had a future despite the negative image which beer in cans have had in the United States and elsewhere.

What are the key considerations for brewers: glass versus cans? 

Glass packages offer excellent beer quality. It offers. Perceived elegance of beer in a glass bottle is favored by consumers. Glass is heavy. Shipping costs are based on weight.  Glass breaks.  It does not offer a complete barrier to flavor impacting light. Per unit cost is expensive, though minimum orders are not prohibitive.  Air ingress happens through the bottle cap/glass interface.  Glass most often requires labels and machines to put the labels on the bottle.  Glass provides a lower rate of heat transfer than aluminum cans.

Can packages offer excellent beer quality.  The can aluminum is coated so metal never touches the beer.  Per unit cost is low for large volume orders, but small orders can be a prohibitively expensive for microbrewers. Cans are light and reduce shipping costs.  Cans do not shatter when abused.  They can be taken where glass is prohibited.  They offer complete protection from light.  They offer a complete seal.  They expose beer to temperature fluctuations more quickly than glass. The image of beer in a can has a history of perceived inferior quality.  Craft beer in cans could be perceived as unique, distinctive and a specialized niche market.

The gamble paid off.  Oskar Blues is headed to produce over 30,000 barrels of canned beer this year while 51 other small craft brewers have also taken to putting their cans of craft beer in the hands of beer drinkers. 

Their challenge will be to overcome the negative image of beer in cans perceived by many beer enthusiasts.  The can association with mass marketed beer, budget beer and/or perceived inferior quality is no small challenge.  Small brewers will endeavor to put full flavored and quality beer into cans.  The experience out of the can will have to speak for itself. 

Hear National Public Radio story, Craft Beer In A Can? A Gutsy Move Is Paying Off.     It starts out with “[pfffst sound of beer can opening] This sound has never been associated with top flight beer…”

Watch Bud Light Lime’s commercial and then read Advertising Age story In Juvenile Bud Light Lime Spot, This Butt's for You.  The commerical has image makers shaking their head in dismay.  The lead in scene: “I got it in the can for the first time last night, I loved it…”   Advertising age says, “That ad sparked wide recriminations about how lowest-common-denominator advertising turns the product into a commodity indistinguishable by any measure other than whose proprietor has lower standards.”

Read about craft beer in cans celebrated by Food and Wine, Celebrating Craft and Canned Beers   

52 craft brewers can their beer (brewery websites found at Brewers Association’s brewery website locator)

• 21st Amendment Brewery
• Anderson Valley Brewing
• Arctic Craft Brewery
• Big Sky Brewing Company
• Blue Mountain Brewery
• Bohemian Brewing Company
• Breckenridge Brewing Co
• Buckbean Brewing Company
• Butternuts Beer & Ale
• Caldera Brewing Company
• Carolina Beer and Beverage
• Coastal Extreme Brewing Co
• Cottrell Brewing Company
• David's Ale Works
• Four Peaks Brewing
• Harvest Moon, Belt
• Heiner Brau, Covington
• High Noon Saloon, Leavenworth
• Kettlehouse Brewing Co
• Keweenaw Brewing Company
• Mammoth Brewery
• Maui Brewing Company
• Micro Packaging Solutions, Flagstaff
• Milwaukee Ale House, Milwaukee
• Mudshark Brewing Company
• New Belgium Brewing
• New England Brewing Company
• New South Brewing Company, Myrtle Beach
• Northwoods Brewpub and Grill
• Old Capitol Brew Works
• Oskar Blues
• Pete's Place, Krebs
• Prescott Brewing Co
• Pug Ryan's Steakhouse & Brewery
• Rochester Mills Brewer, Rochester
• SKA Brewing
• Sleeping Lady Brewing Company
• Sly Fox Brewing
• Southern Star Brewery, Conroe
• Spilker Ales
• Steamworks Brewing
• Stone Coast Brewing
• Surly Brewing Company
• Thunderhead Brewing Co
• Tommyknocker Brewing Co
• Top of the Hill Restaurant & Brewery
• Ukiah Brewing Company
• Uncommon Brewers
• Upslope Brewing
• Warbird Brewing Company
• Wynkoop Brewing Company, Denver