Canned Craft Beer?

I know many people associate canned beer with bland domestic pilsners like Bud, Miller and Coors. Many of them think that only cheap beer comes in cans and that the aluminum somehow adds a metallic taste to their beer. Typically, people associate craft beer with glass bottles. Due in part to that association, craft beer drinkers tend to steer clear of canned beer. I myself have talked to many people that believe good beer can only come in a bottle. That's a shame because the truth is you can get some very good craft beers in a can. In Minnesota, we are lucky to have a great example with Surly Brewing. If you have any doubts, read on. I'd like to make you a believer in canned craft beer.

Craft brewing started to come around in the late '70s/early '80s because of homebrewers. When people realized they could make different beers themselves that tasted better than what they could buy, they saw potential. They started opening their own small craft breweries. Canning equipment was expensive and not conducive to small scale brewing, so the first homebrewers turned craft brewery owners went with what was familiar, cheap, and easy to work with: bottles. This became a trend that seemed to separate the craft beers from the big domestics and it carries on into today.

Today, canning equipment has become more accessible and it has many benefits over bottles:

1. Cans are lighter than bottles. This brings down shipping costs for brewers and distributors. Hopefully they pass those savings on to us, the consumers.
2. Cans are more durable. Obviously, if you drop a bottle of beer, you will be cleaning up a mess of glass and the tasty beverage you could have been drinking. Do the same with a can and you might get a dent, but your beer will be safe (but slightly shaken). This makes cans perfect for camping and parks, where sometimes glass drink containers are forbidden.
3. Cans are more environmentally friendly. They are more "green" to manufacture and easier to recycle.
4. No bottle opener required!
5. Most important of all - cans keep light from hitting your precious liquid. Light is beer's enemy. Have you ever had a bottle of Corona, Heineken, or Newcastle? Have you ever had one that smelled like skunk piss, and didn't taste much better? UV light reacts with chemicals in beer and will create those foul aromas and flavors. The 3 beers I listed earlier use clear or green glass bottles, which allow a lot of light to hit the beer. Most craft brewers use dark brown glass bottles to reduce the amount of light that touches your beer, but they can't stop all of it because brown glass is still translucent. Aluminum cans are opaque; they don't let ANY light into the container until you open it.

Here's an experiment for you: Get 2 containers of Heineken, one in the green glass bottle and the other in the "keg-can". Leave them to sit out for a couple weeks where light can hit them. Now, chill them both, pour both into separate glasses, and compare how they taste. I bet you'll notice a difference.

As for the argument that cans make beer taste metallic: Aluminum never touches your beer. Modern cans are lined with a thin layer of plastic, so you won't get any such taste.

If you find yourself at the liquor store and see a canned craft beer, don't be afraid to try it. It will be more fresh and flavorful, and should be more convenient for you.

Here are some good craft beers available in cans in Minnesota:

• Surly - Almost every Surly beer is available in a can, with the exception of some specialty brews like Darkness.
• Steamworks Brewing - Steam Engine Lager, Third Eye Pale Ale - Recently I was told that the distributor that brings these beers to Minnesota has dropped this brewery. If you want to try these tasty beers, get to the liquor store before they're all gone.
• New Belgium - Fat Tire
• 21st Amendment - Brew Free or Die IPA, Hell or High Watermelon Wheat, Monk's Blood
• Big Sky Brewing - Moose Drool, Trout Slayer Ale
• Lion Brewery Ceylon - Lion Stout, Lion Lager, Lion Imperial Pilsner