Wednesday, January 11th 2012 A Decade of Canned Craft Beer Part 1: 2002-2007
This year we'll celebrate a decade of canned craft beer. As the industry continues the shift towards canning and a lot of of new breweries are choosing cans over bottles we wanted to take a look back at how we go to where we are today (close to 500 craft beers in cans from close to 150 different brewers). The first five years were very different than the second. We start with just one brewery canning just one beer and from there things begin to grow. Here is a brief, one could say canned, history of that first half decade. Cheers! The Early Years Oskar Blues is widely credited as being the first craft brewer to can their beer. This can be attributed to their being the first to can their beer "in-house" using their own canning line. A few other craft brewers however did try canning before 2002.
Back in 1991, a beer called Chief Oshkosh Red Lager from Mid-Coast Brewing Inc., was canned at Stevens Point Brewery in Wisconsin. It was an all-malt red/amber lager that sold for $3.99 a six-pack. Sadly, among other things, it was this early alternative packaging that led to it's ultimate demise. Seven years later in 1998 another Wisconsin brewery, Capital Brewery, first canned their Wisconsin Amber, which is still canned today, also with the help of Stevens Point Brewery. A few years after that, in 2001, Brooklyn Brewery began canning their Brooklyn Lager which they still brew and can off-premise. Other early craft brewers that took a stab at canning with the help of larger breweries with canning lines were Pete's, Pyramid and Saranac.
2002 The modern era of canned craft beer is born. Now synonymous with the canned beer revolution, or what they call the "Canned Beer Apocalpyse", Oskar Blues Grill & Brew, a small brewpub in the tiny Colorado town of Lyons, takes a big risk by beginning to hand-can their hopped-up pale ale in an old barn. The Oskar Blues story has been re-told countless times and yet it's so fitting of the successes that craft breweries have encountered over the years. Big risk equals big reward and with success comes followers - in the form of consumers and competitors. An on-line article from November of 2002 really sums up Oskar Blues' vision, even if they thought it was laughable at the time, of what cans could/would mean to the craft beer industry. These quotes from brewmaster Brian Lutz and Oskar Blues owner, and Dale's Pale Ale namesake, Dale Katechis still ring true today and continue to be part of the branding and marketing of many canned craft beers.
2003 It wasn't long after Dale's Pale Ale started appearing on shelves and delivering looks of confusion that several other Colorado breweries also started canning their beer. Durango's SKA Brewing released their Special ESB in its familiar red can during the summer of 2003. Later that year came cans from yet another Colorado brewer. Short lived, yet one of the first to be canned, was Tommyknocker Brewing's Ornery Amber Ale. It can be said that Colorado was the leader in canning from the very beginning. Today there are twenty breweries in the state canning over sixty different beers. 2003 also saw the first can of Choc 1919 from Pete's Place/Krebs in Oklahoma. The only beer they ever canned, it would be available in until 2010 when canning ceased.
2004 In 2004 the industry began to take notice of what was going on in Colorado and several breweries started taking the idea of canning seriously. With the help of Cask Brewing Systems, makers of the small canning lines used by almost all craft brewers in the 2000s, small breweries were able to package their beers without investing in a costly and space consuming bottling line. Breweries like Connecticut's New England Brewing Company, Alaska's Sleeping Lady Brewing Company, Michigan's Keweenaw Brewing, Rhode Island's Newport Storm, and Colorado's Pug Ryan's Brewery all started canning in 2004. A number of breweries that have since stopped canning or folded also released cans this year. Collectors and craft beer drinkers may remember cans of Stone Coast Sunsplash Golden Ale, Warbird Red, pint cans of Hopluia and Archer's Ale from Massachusetts' Sherwood Forest Brewers.
Also in 2004, Oskar Blues released their second canned offering, a Scotch Ale, called Old Chub and Dale's Pale Ale gets a makeover more reminscent of the look it has today.
2005 A few years out from the initial canning of Dale's Pale Ale and Oskar Blues is starting to get some press. The stigma against cans is very much alive and well in the craft beer consumer world but things are beginning to change. It was in 2005 that the New York Times did a piece in which they sampled 24 different American Pale Ales and chose Dale's Pale Ale as the best and went on to tout the so-called benefits of cans. Other brewers that also saw those benefits and began canning that year were Heiner Brau in Louisiana (who still can their Kolsch), Cottrell Brewing in CT (no longer canning), Top of the Hill in NC (no longer canning), Ukiah Brewing (first canning brewery in California and the first to can an organic beer) and of course Ashland, Oregon's Caldera Brewing Company.
With the continued success of Dale's Pale Ale and the addition of Old Chub to their lineup Oskar Blues' released two special canned beers this year. A super hoppy brew called Gordon and a dark, malty brown ale called Leroy hit shelves in limited supply around the holidays. Both were filled, sealed and labeled by hand. One was to go on to be one of the first big, hoppy beers to be canned while the other disappeared and was never seen again. What ever happened to Leroy?
2006 A big year for cans. 2006 saw some of the major players in the canned craft beer world come on board. Breweries like Sly Fox, 21st Amendment and Surly, three of the more prolific canning craft brewers, all released their first cans in this year. This was also the year that a small Hawai'ian brewery called Maui Brewing Company chose to put their beers in cans in an effort to be more sustainable and to keep broken glass off nearby beaches. Montana's Kettlehouse Brewery begins putting their beers in 16 oz. cans, one of the first craft brewers to do so, and becomes the state's first canning craft brewery. Two of their first cans were Fresh Bong Water Hemp Pale Ale and Olde Bong Water Hemp Porter. Perhaps we'll see those in cans again one day - if the TTB allows it. The first cans also came off the line at Carolina Brewery in North Carolina, Butternuts in New York, Bohemian Brewery in Utah (who now can three amazing lager beers), Steamworks in Colorado as well as Mudshark Brewing in Arizona. 2006 was the year that Oskar Blues gave Gordon a shiny new makeover and it was added to their regular canned lineup. A few new breweries came into existance this year and released some cans. Breweries such as California's David's Ale Works and North Carolina's Cans Bar and Canteen both released cans in this year but both stopped canning and/or shut down not soon after.
2007 It's 2007 and entering this year there are a about twenty-five craft breweries actively canning their beers. Surprisingly it is a rather slow year when it comes to new breweries beginning to can. A brewpub in Iowa City, IA called Old Capitol Brew Works began canning and released a number of paper-labeled cans. Ultimately they stopped canning but the folks who started Great River Brewery (makers of great beers in cans) both started their careers in beer at Old Capitol. Although no current canning breweries began cannning this year many of those that were already canning added new cans to their lineups. Beers such as Caldera's IPA, Butternuts' Moo Thunder Stout, and Surly's CynicAle were all first released in cans in 2007. The first five year's of craft canning were full of trial and error and trying to find ways to market cans to a rather skeptical market. Dealing with large can orders and finding the space to store the cans were definitely factors that still turned off many craft brewers from working with cans. In the first five year's after Dale's was first released by Oskar Blues, 28 other breweries and brewpubs gave canning a shot. Including Oskar Blues, twenty of them still can their beers today.
A Look Ahead The next five years will see a lot of change in the craft beer industry, the public's opinion on cans and the sheer number of cans on beer store shelves. We'll see a new canning line manufacturer emerge, more adventurous styles being canned, the idea of "mobile" canning and some of craft beers largest contributors starting to can some of their beers. Much of the groundwork of today's canned craft beer segment was laid down early on. Much respect to those breweries who were the first to see the benefits of canning and for sticking out some tough years. From 2008 until the end of 2011 well over a hundred breweries will start canning and the number of craft beers in cans will increase ten-fold. This will be the era in which canned craft beer finds acceptance and its market share gets noticed. To be continued... Posted by Russ |
