The movement of craft beer from bottles to cans (aka the
tinny), is beginning to gather real pace. In the last 2 years we have seen
rapid growth of craft beer in cans. There are a number of reasons for this. We
take a look at this quickly evolving trend of craft beer in cans below and also
the history of the beer can.
The
Benefits of Craft Beer in Cans
Can are Simply the Best
Vessel for Maintaining the Quality of Craft Beer.
Cans eliminate the potential for beer to be "
light struck" (where a skunk-like
flavour exists), as the can removes 100% of light from reaching the beer.
Cans also have a tighter seal than bottles, which stops any
gases from getting into or leaking from the vessel. This is known as a hermetic
seal. It effectively helps reduce the rate at which the beer
oxidises.
These two reasons alone mean the quality of the beer you
enjoy is better.
Cans are Perfect for
the Australian Outdoors
Cans chill down faster than bottles. Throw the can in the
esky or snowy mountain river (or even your fridge at home), and you will see it
cools much faster than its bottled counterpart.
This is due to two reasons:
The thickness of the aluminium is much thinner
than glass, in fact 0.065 mm thick, as thin as a human hair. This means any
change in temperature, will happen more rapidly.
Cans have better thermal conductivity than glass.
In simple terms this means it requires less energy to cool cans, and as a result
can be achieved faster. Think of a pot on the stove, if you have ever used a
tin pot you would have noticed this heats up much faster in comparison to an
iron pot due to its better thermal conductivity.
Cans are also much lighter than their glass counterpart. Two
330ml cans thrown in a pack will weigh around 700 grams, while two 330ml bottles
will weigh in at approximately 1,300 grams. That 600 gram difference means it
will be much easier to climb hills without the extra weight burden.
Cans are also much more efficient in terms of storage size.
Two cans are roughly the same size as one bottle. If you want to save on space,
go the can!
Cans Save Space in
the Fridge
If you don’t have a separate beer fridge, you like most
Australian consumers will know that your fridge storage space is precious. Cans
simply mean you can double the amount of beers kept in the fridge at any one
time – that is space maximisation right there!
Cans make it Easier
and Cheaper for Breweries to Ship Large Amounts of Beer
Shipping beer, whether in Australia or sending it to, or
bringing it from, overseas is a costly task. Anything that can be done for the
brewer or importer to achieve a cost savings, means at the end of the day the
price of the beer will be less.
Shipping cans compared to glass bottles means savings can be
achieved:
More beer can be shipped at once. With two cans
the equivalent of one glass bottle in size it means for every pallet of beer,
twice as much can be transported. Essentially that means the transport cost per
unit goes down. That is what you call bi-winning!
Beer in cans is lighter. As we mentioned
previously, the weight of a beer can is approximately half that of a beer
bottle. This means where freight is charged on a weight basis, the comparative
weight will be lower.
Cans keep the beer in better condition. With
cans able to stop light strike and reduce oxidation, it means for the brewer
that the beer is kept in much better condition, before it is received and
enjoyed by the consumer.
Cans reduce breakages. Glass is a highly fragile
product. Nobody likes the prospect of crying over spilt beer from a glass
breakage. Cans are a much more durable product, helping to alleviate this issue
of potential breakage.
Cans are Better for the
Needs of Craft Breweries
From a marketing and production perspective, cans are the
ideal packaging format for craft breweries. This is due to four reasons:
Cans have a greater surface area for branding. While the size of the label able to
be applied a bottle is limited, effectively the whole of can is able to be
used. From a marketing perspective it means the can is better for communicating
the various messages the brewery wants to tell.
The unit price of the can is cheaper compared to
bottles. This provides another saving that can be passed onto the consumer.
Cans represent a more efficient bottling
process. Provided that cans have been pre-printed, it means the canning process
simply requires the can to be rinsed, filled with the beer, and then the can
lid applied. In contrast bottles will have an extra step with the label needing
to be applied at the end of the bottling cycle. This an extra step takes more
time, and can presents another potential issue that needs to be addressed
during the maintenance of any bottling line.
Silver Bullets and Wraps allow the creation of labels
for limited release beers without significant expenditure. Printing cans can be
expensive, with the minimum run of a printed can produced often quite sizable. Silver
Bullets involves a brewery using an unbranded can and applying a label to it at
the end of the canning process. A great example of a brewery that does this is
Modus Operandi. They use a standardised can, with a label applied which covers only
a limited amount of the can, but clearly conveys what the beer is. A wrap
meanwhile works in a similar way, taking the unbranded can and then applying a
wrap around the entire can. An example of a brewery that does this is the
Australian Brewery. Both approaches allowing for easy customisation of cans,
making it a great vessel to use for creating limited release specialty beers.
It also means the unit cost of buying the unbranded cans is lower as a much
greater amount of cans are able to be purchased at any one time.
Cans are Perfect for
Use in Outdoor Venues
Whether it be stadiums, concerts, or sporting events, cans
are the perfect packaging where glass is not permitted.
Cans are Better for
the Environment
Cans have a number of environmentally friendly strengths:
Cans have a higher rate of recycling compared to
glass. Metal cans are also 100% and infinitely recyclable, able to be recycled
again and again without any loss of performance. It is reported that the
average can today contains around 70 percent recycled metal The can that is
recycled today can be back on shelves in as little as two months.
Recycling aluminium is actually utilises 95%
less energy than creating aluminium from raw materials, providing a great
incentive for recycling of cans.
Cans can be crushed down smaller. Where a
consumer has chosen not to recycling, there are still environmental benefits in
that the vessel will take up less room in any garbage.
Cans Provide
Reassurance from a Food Safety Perspective
Cans are both tamper-resistant and tamper-evident – if a can
has been open it is immediately clear. This provides peace of mind that the
product contained within, is exactly the same as when it was first bottled.
The Myth of
the Aluminium Taste in Cans
A common misconception that consumers point to as a reason
why they won’t buy beer in cans is they think they can taste the aluminium can
in the beer. This is a true beer myth. Beer cans have an aqueous polymer liner
(plastic lining) that means the beer never comes into contact with the
aluminium can. The next person you hears that says they can taste the aluminium
in the beer, tell them they are talking absolute nonsense!
The Taste Difference
between Bottles and Cans
Further to aluminium taste myth,
Sierra Nevada Brewing, one of the world leaders in craft beer, also
tested the idea that a flavour difference could exist between their bottles and
cans. After extensive sensory and analytical analysis there was no evidence to
suggest this. In hundreds of double-blind trials there was no statistical or
analytical difference in the flavours. There was literally no difference
between the beer in the can and the beer in the bottle.
Among some corners in the cans vs bottles debate, there was also
suggestion that the plastic lining in cans could take (scalp), some of the
flavour from the beer. For Sierra Nevada, this argument did not hold up in
their lab analysis. While the plastic lining in the cans had the potential to
scalp some of the flavour, it was found the crown liner (the plastic liner in
the bottle cap) had the potential to have a more detrimental effect on flavour,
specifically hop flavour.
Sierra Nevada’s research showed “little-to-slight deviation
in longevity and hop aroma trials over extended aging”. It in fact gave cans a
slight edge in quality after 120 days of storage.
How is a
Beer Can Made?
Sierra Nevada have a great explanation of this on their
blog.
Essentially the beer can begins as a massive strip of aluminium roll which is
then cut into circles. The circles then undergo a process of shaping, where
they are stretched into the general shape of a can. Through this can creation process,
approximately 2,000 cans are created per minute!
After this shaping process the can is then washed and dried,
has its design applied, and its curved “neck” formed. It is then inspected for
defects, sprayed with an epoxy liner, before finally being cured at high
temperatures to create the final product.
Sierra Nevada’s aluminium circles (left hand corner), on
their way to becoming cans.
A History of Beer
Cans
The very first beer can sold was on January 24, 1935, when
cans of Krueger’s Finest Beer and Krueger’s Cream Ale went on sale in Richmond,
Virginia in the US.
While these two beers were the first in this packaging
format, the actual history of the can dates back 14 months prior, just before
the repeal of
Prohibition. Here the American
Can Company engineered a workable beer can, they just needed a brewer that
would take on the risk of using it.
Krueger’s Cream Ale and Krueger’s Finest Beer.
The Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company was just that company.
By the end of November 1933 they had installed a temporary canning line and had
2,000 cans filled with a 3.2% Krueger beer, which was the highest alcohol
allowable at the time.
In a taste test experiment, the 2,000 Krueger cans were
giving to Krueger drinkers of whom 91% gave the beer the thumbs up, with most
stating the beer tasted more like the beer on tap, than bottled beer.
These first cans were made of tin, while the interior liner
was a typically plastic or sometimes waxy substance, which helped to keep the beer's
flavour from being ruined by a chemical reaction with the metal.
Cone Top / Flat Top
Style Cans
The original beer cans created were a flat top can with no
actual opening within the can. To open the vessel a tool called a church key
was used to pierce the can. Back then the cans were around 3mm thick, even with
this handy tool there was still a lot of effort required to open the can.
The church key tool latched onto the top rim for leverage; as
the handle was lifted it would force the sharp tip through the top of the can,
cutting a triangular hole. A smaller second hole was then usually punched on the
opposite side of the can to allowing air into the can while pouring, so the
liquid to flow freely.
Church key tool and an example of a pierced can.
Aluminium Cans
The first aluminium was created for the Hawaii Brewing
Company packaged beer in 1958. This can was all aluminium with a paper label.
Bill Coors was reportedly one of the drivers behind the widespread
use of aluminium cans in the beer industry. In 1959 he came up with a two-piece
aluminium can to sell his product. Aluminium cans had some significant packaging
benefits over tin cans which were immediately clear; the cans were more easily
formed, and could resist corrosion and rust.
In developing the aluminium can Bill Coors also helped to
establish a can recycling scheme, with his company promising one penny for
every empty can returned to the company.
Pull Tab or Tab Top
Style Cans
The creation of a tab for opening the beers, rather than
having to use a churchkey dates back to 1959, with Ermal Cleon Fraze credited
for the innovation. His invention was the "pull-tab". This worked by attaching
an aluminium pull-ring lever with a rivet to a pre-scored wedge-shaped tab
section of the can top. When the pull-tab was pulled it created an opening that
was big enough to let air flow in, and beer to flow out. While the pull-tab
suddenly made opening a beer much easier it did have one downside; people would
frequently discard the pull-tabs on the ground as litter, or drop them into the
can and then risk choking on them.
Can with Pull Tab attached.
Stay Tab Style Cans
The next innovation in the beer can world was the Stay Tab,
which was developed in the 1970s. This tab design worked as a lever, opening
the beer can by using the can ring as a lever to push down into the pre-scoured
part of the can, thereby opening a hole in the can. The Stay Tab concept
remains used in cans across the world today.
Stay Tab Can.
A History of Craft
Beer Cans
The first craft brewery to start upon the beer can trend was
Oskar Blues in the United States. In 2002 they began canning their beers and
were way ahead of the trend.
Their move to cans was driven by the ability to get a
canning line super cheap. In 1999, Cask Brewing Systems introduced a small,
manual machine that could can two 355ml beers at a time. It had a price tag of
less than USD$10,000 at a time when even used canning machines routinely sold for
six figures. The machine was originally aimed at brew-on-premises retailers. However,
when that trend fizzled, Cask turned to craft brewers. Oskar Blues was its
first American client.
Today, cans have taken off in a big way. In the US around
one in six breweries have a canning line, including some of the largest
breweries such as Sierra Nevada, Victory and Founders Brewing to name a few.
While the trend to cans continues, so has demand for canning
lines. Cask Brewing Systems has now installed over 600 canning lines in over 34
different countries in the world. They are also the official supplier of the
world’s largest producer of aluminium cans, from Ball Corporation.
Can
Technology
Alongside the can lining which prevents any contact between
the aluminium can and the beer, there are continuous developments in canning
technology. The first generation of aluminium cans weighed approximately 85
grams per unit. Today’s cans weigh less than 14 grams each!
Completely Removable Can
Lids
One of the great technological can developments can be seen
in
Colonial’s Small Ale, which has a
completely removable can lid. This allows the can to essentially be used as a
beer glass.
Example of a can with 100% removable lid.
Normally we always recommend that beer be drunk from a glass rather than from the bottle or
can. This is because a glass allows the drinker to visually see the beer, as we
taste with our eyes. Plus it allows for the release of the aromatics from the
beer, with the aroma contributing strongly to the flavour of the beer.
While the Colonial Small Ale won’t allow you to easily see
the true colour of the beer, by removing the entire lid of the can it does
allow for release of the aromatics of the beer, which means a more flavourful
beer than if you were simply drinking from the standard enclosed can.
Nitrogen Gas in Beer
Cans
Another example of can technology is the use of nitrogen gas
in beer cans. This originated with Guinness and its famous widget technology.
Here a hollow plastic sphere is filled with liquid nitrogen, with the nitrogen
gas then released when the can opens. The presence of the nitrogen in the beer
creates added creaminess to the beer, and a fluffy white head, seeking to
replicate the draught beer experience of Guinness beer.
In the craft beer world, the brewery leading the way in
Nitro Beer in cans is Vault Brewing from the USA. Vault is the first craft
brewery worldwide to master the science of canning a Nitrogen beer without a
widget. While Left Hand Brewing had only a few years earlier pioneered nitrogen
in beer bottles, adding nitrogen to cans was an even harder process. This was
due to the fact that Vault Brewing used a gravity-flow filler, whereby each can
is filled in an oxygenated environment, and a nitrogen “dose” is added to the
brew. Once added to the brew the full nitrogen effect is realised by a “hard
vertical pour” into the glass, allowing the full waterfall effect of the
nitrogen cascading through the glass to be seen. The technique has since been
adopted by a number of other breweries, including
Mornington Peninsula Brewery in Australia.
How to Quickly Chill
Your Beer Can
If you need to chill you beer down quickly try this great
trick.
1.Grab a chux cloth, wet it with cold water, and
wrap it around your can (or bottle)
2.Place the beer with the with the cloth attached
into the freezer
3.Wait 15 minutes and you’ll have a nice cold beer
to enjoy!
Beer Can Appreciation
Day
Are you a fan of craft beer in cans? Celebrate the great vessel
with Beer Can Appreciation Day. Held annually on January 24
th this
celebrates the great day in 1935 when beer was first sold in cans.
Fun Can Fact
Cans made from aluminium easily support the carbonation
pressure required to package beer and withstand pressures of up to 90 pounds
per square inch. Believe it or not, four six packs can support a 2-ton vehicle!
Check out our range of great craft beer cans here.