Canned Craft Beer Creates Comeback

Craft beer's makeover is proving outer beauty positively impacts inner beauty.

According to the Associated Press, in 2002, only one craft brewery was using cans. Today, 300 breweries offer about 1,000 beers in cans, according to CraftCans.com. This makeover of the physical can — coming in both regular soda-like packaging and peel-back cans (think microwavable soup) –maximizes flavor.

"Craft beer in cans is becoming more mainstream each and every day," said Brian Thiel, regional sales manager with the packaging company Crown Holdings. He says that the stigma associated with cans of beer is slowly being replaced with an appealing retro idea.

The first canned beer was offered with how-to instructions in Richmond, Va. in 1935, a packaging that revolutionized the beer industry. Krueger's Cream Ale was one of the popular brands, but Americans soon reverted back to bottled beer, leaving the future of the can in limbo. Since then, canned beer has retained a somewhat negative connotation. But with the return to retro cans for craft beer, unique combinations of flavors are accessible to a different pool of buyers.

CraftCans.com reassures consumers that the beer doesn't taste like the aluminum can because of the water-based polymer lining. The site also lists benefits to canning craft beer; they are better at locking in flavor because they are sealed from light, are more environmentally friendly and are easier to recycle, and are cheaper for breweries to ship because they don't shatter like glass. So this summer, kick back with a craft beer poured into a glass or sipped right out of a can, and break the stigma of canned beer.