Cans – not just for PBR anymore
Cans are quickly becoming the new “it” vessel for craft beer. With all the benefits of aluminum cans, it’s easy to see why!
Back in 2002, Oskar Blues had the revolutionary idea of putting all of their distributed beers in cans. The idea of putting delicious, high-quality, full-flavored craft beer in cans was ludicrous at the time.
But since this trendsetting move, many other breweries have jumped on the canning bandwagon — New Belgium, Sly Fox, Brooklyn Brewery, 21st Amendment, and Maui Brewing just to name a few. More and more breweries continue to join the revolution, some putting only a few of their beers in cans, others canning them all.
There are dozens of reasons to choose cans over bottles. Last week, in my interview with Sly Fox brewmaster Brian O’Reilly, we talked about some of those reasons, all of which benefit the brewery, the consumer, the environment, and even the beer itself!
Cans are the perfect vessel for retaining the quality of the precious brew they contain. The double seam of the can has a better seal than the single seam of a crimped bottle cap, which protects them from oxygen. Plus, cans have less head space than bottles, which means less room for oxygen to get in at packaging time. And the aluminum material is impervious to light, preventing the resulting skunky off-flavors of light-struck beer. All of these factors result in better quality, better flavor, and longer shelf life.
Some people worry that the aluminum material can affect the flavor of the beer — not so. Modern aluminum cans contain a water-based polymer lining that eliminates any chances of a metallic taste entering the beer.
Not only do cans dispense a tastier brew than bottles, they’re also much easier for the consumer to handle. They’re lightweight and durable, there’s no need for any special opener, the tabs stay with the container unlike bottle caps, and they can be brought to places where glass is not allowed.
On the brewery side of things, cans are much easier to ship and store, both empty and full. They’re light, unbreakable, and stack like a dream.
 |
| Cans stacked a mile high on pallets |
 |
| Two six-packs of cans are only slightly taller than one six-pack of bottles |
 |
| Six-packs stacked four high |
 |
| Single cans can be stacked, whereas single bottles cannot |
But most importantly, cans are much friendlier to the environment than bottles. Because they are so lightweight, it requires less fuel to ship them. Aluminum cans are infinitely 100% recyclable. Plus, using recycled aluminum requires 95% less energy and produces 95% fewer emissions than when cans are made from raw materials. And because cans are so easy to recycle, they’re the most recycled package in the world!
Now you might be wondering, are there any drawbacks to canning? There are a few. Once the cans are ordered, the brewer is committed to the number of beers of each type they will put in those cans, since the package and the label are one in the same. And then there’s the small matter of actually purchasing a canning line… It’s a bit of a commitment.
And it’s a little easier to mistreat cans than bottles. I was at a beer store recently where I noticed cans being stored on their sides. This increases the surface area of beer that’s touching air. Now, if the cans were purged with CO2 prior to filling, this isn’t much of a problem.
 |
| Cans stored on their sides… Possibly a bad thing |
And as the cashier rang up our six-packs of cans, she shook them up and bumped them onto the counter with a fair amount of force. Since she wasn’t worried about breaking the packaging, she was more willing to flail them about.
Plus, there’s the whole stigma that comes along with beer in cans. Recently, Bon Appetit published an article titled The Beer Can Revolution. The author spoke of the bad beer stigma associated with the can, and actually did a side-by-side taste test of beers that are packaged in both cans and bottles. And guess what, cans won!
The benefits of canning far outweigh the disadvantages, and more and more breweries are realizing this. Below is a short list of breweries I found that package some or all of their beer in cans. What other breweries are there that I’ve missed here? What do you think about the beer can stigma? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Yes we CAN!
21st Amendment
Big Sky Brewing Company
Bohemian Brewery
Brooklyn Brewery
Buckbean Brewing Company
Caldera Brewing
Mammoth Brewing Company
Maui Brewing
New Belgium Brewing Company
Oskar Blues Brewery
Rochester Mills Brewing Company
Sly Fox Brewery
Southern Star Brewery
Steamworks Brewing Company
Surly Brewing Company
13 Comments to “Cans – not just for PBR anymore”
Leave a Reply
Also New England Brewing from Woodbridge, CT… cans of the Sea Hag IPA, Atlantic Amber, and Elm City Lager availible.
If consumer acceptance can be achieved for Stelvin closures on wine bottles, then the same can be achieved for beer in a can. The means of effecting it is education, both at the distribution level and for consumers.
One important strategy is to push the notion that “those in the know” agree that cans are superior to bottles. The average consumer wants to be (and thinks they are) one of “those in the know”, and their opinions will conform.
Surly cans readily state that the beer inside is meant for a glass! To me this hits two important points.
1) It insinuates that beer snobs (the Surly guys) not only embrace cans, but they reject bottles.
2) It reminds consumers that no bottle (or can) is as good for your beer-drinking experience as using a proper glass.
I too was skeptical on cans when I was undereducated and that’s what took me so long to try Surly. Glad I saw the error or my ways!
(And Surly doesn’t necessarily reject bottles, they Bottle Darkness and are rumored to be bottling Surly Smoke & Surly Four but point taken about embracing cans)
What are the environmental differences between re-use of glass bottles and the recycling of cans?
[...] [...]
As enviro pointed out above, the re-use of the bottles does provide a handy benefit. Since I homebrew, I’ve stayed away from beer in cans and beer with screw tops; not having to buy bottles for every batch I brew is a handy bonus to getting tasty craft beers!
However, after reading this, I think I shall make a point to grab a couple canned beers on my next trip out. My old prejudice against the cans will take a backseat and I’ll give them a shot!
Also, out of curiosity, does anyone know what the energy required to make a 6 pack of cans vs a 6 pack of bottles is? I’m not sure there is much difference, but there might be.
Agreed, I definitely love buying craft beer in bottles for the purpose of removing the label and using it for homebrew!
I found the following info on this site: http://www.co.grays-harbor.wa.us/info/pub_svcs/Recycle/WhenYouRecycle.htm
How much energy is saved by recycling glass?
Recycling one ton of glass saves 1.2 tons of new raw materials. It saves the equivalent of 860 kilowatt hours of electricity or 18% of the energy needed to form new glass.
How much energy is saved by recycling aluminum?
Aluminum is the biggest energy saver of all, saving 64,300 kilowatt hours per ton of recycled material. That is a savings of 96% of the electricity needed when compared to using bauxite ore.
Recycling aluminum saves more energy because aluminum production is extremely energy intensive. According to http://www.slate.com/id/2186219/ (unfortunately bereft of references), the environmental impact of bottles versus cans is dependent on factors like distance from the factory to the brewery and from the brewery to the consumer. Kegged beer has less impact than bottles or cans.
Drink local draft as much as possible!
Fun with math time! Note: Due to variable distances between recycling centers, breweries, manufacturers, etc all the math is done without figuring transportation costs.
Creating one ton of glass takes (roughly) 4778kWh to create, while one ton of aluminum is 66979kWh to create. This makes glass (in terms of kilowatt hours) 62201kWh cheaper than aluminum to create new. Let’s remember that number.
Recycling one ton of glass is 3918kWh, where as aluminum is 2679kWh to recycle. Aluminum comes out ahead in this one, being 1239kWh cheaper than recycling glass.
What does this all mean? Barring transportation costs and other factors (such as how much energy is required to operate canning/bottling machines, how much energy is required to create the polymer lining in cans, how much energy is required to gather raw materials for each, etc) a ton of aluminum cans will become more energy efficient the 51st time they are recycled.
I’m not saying that this means that cans are a bad idea! There are other virtues that stack the odds (pun intended) in their favor, and might outweigh the increased energy costs. However, just something to keep in mind.
Also keep in mind:
1 ton of glass is approximately 4,200 bottles. 1 ton of aluminum is approximately 64,000 cans. You can’t speak in kWh/ton and compare apples to apples here
Good point! Also of note, bauxite isn’t mined in the US. All aluminum is either imported as sheets, or the bauxite is imported. So that could impact things, too.
Anyone know how many bottles fit on one standard-sized shipping truck vs cans, and what impact on gas consumption the two weights have?
Cans are much lighter to ship and can fit more tightly in a volume as Daniel stated. Both of these go into the environmentally friendly aspect of cans vs bottles.
I don’t have numbers, but there’s also a higher percentage of people who recycle cans vs bottles.
As for breweries who love it in the can, Big Sky has been canning a few offerings, as has Anderson Valley. Uncommon Brewers of Santa Cruz can all of their beer and use a disposable/recyclable keg.
Great article! Down the road a way I think we’ll start seeing a lot more craft beer in cans and some of this disadvantages will start being addressed in clever ways. Viva la can!