Craft Beer, in a can?

Soon after moving to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, I learned of a product I hadn’t known existed, craft beer in a can. This was odd considering my penchant towards good beer. Having grown up east of the Mississippi River however, canned beer was generally domestic and cheap. Very, very cheap.  But, as I walked through the aisles of the local Steamboat packie, I saw my new favorite beer for the very first time.  I didn’t know it right then, but what started as interest in the antiquated packaging would become a full blown love of craft brew in a can.

Not until this summer was there any sound fiscal reason for a craft brewery to consider canning over bottling.  This is partly due to the misconceptions around beer in a can.  After speaking to several people on the matter, they often cite the fact that cans give the beer a “metallic” taste.  While this may have been true in older versions of canned beer, modern day cans are now lined to avoid such metal flavors leaching from the can.  If anything, cans preserve the flavor better than bottles.  The two major factors in beer flavor loss, oxygen and light, are both still issues in bottles.  Even the darkest bottles with the tightest caps still allow both in.  This is simply not the case with cans.

Furthermore, as though there needed to be any more reason beyond taste, canned beer is extremely portable. Especially when camping, hiking, biking or boating for multiple days, cans help in regards to excess weight.  Also, many national and state park and recreation areas, while allowing alcoholic beverages, do not permit glass containers.  And in one very unique case, the city of Anchorage, Alaska discontinued their glass recycling program. For any or all of the above reasons, canned craft beer is looking like a much more logical decision over bottles.

The selection and availability of such beer is still spotty at best.  After some quick research, there are five breweries that distribute their beer in cans.  The maker of Dale’s Pale Ale Oskar Blues Brewery, Sleeping Lady Brewery, 21st Amendment Brewery, Big Sky Brewing and Butternuts Beer and Ale. I’m sure there are several other breweries out there, so please let me know in the comments below.

To read (or listen to) more about canned craft beer from NPR, click here.

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