New-generation cans brew change in beer market

Cans have become the choice container for craft beer, a trend brewers say was partly borne from cost-effectiveness, but has resulted in a genuine preference by consumers.

Cans were once considered a lower quality container than glass. The bottle was viewed as pristine compared to aluminum, which brewers said once tasted worse and was mostly associated with large domestic beer brands like Budweiser.

Newer canning technology has made cans more palatable, brewers say, and since beer drinkers switched their preference to cans in the last few years, breweries all over are making the switch.

"There was a time when it was considered a lesser quality package than a bottle," said Dane Nielsen, co-founder of Liars Bench Brewing Co. in Portsmouth. "Not now, anymore. I think a lot of breweries are embracing it and really building businesses around them."

The trend toward cans is observed throughout the brewing industry, from store owners seeing a preference in what people buy to restaurant owners hearing requests for what types of beers they have in cans. Shane Pine, who owns Four Pines Brewing Co. and the Community Oven restaurant in Hampton, said his servers have been specifically asked what beers they offer in cans.

The shift in preference for cans happened so suddenly, brewers say, many planned just a few years ago on bottling for the long-term future. Smuttynose Brewing Co. invested in a major bottling line in the facility it opened in Hampton in 2014, and founder Peter Egelston said the shift to cans factored into Smuttynose's recent struggles. The company is going up for sale in a foreclosure auction in March.

Throwback Brewery in North Hampton has used a canning line since 2016, switching from a small, manually operated bottling line in reaction to the boom in cans. Throwback co-founder Nicole Carrier said her growler sales have dropped since cans were introduced at the brewery. Carrier said consumers prefer the ease with which cans can be split up and saved to having beer in a growler go stale overnight if not consumed immediately.

Can technology has improved so the tinny flavor some once believed tainted the beer's taste is less prevalent, if noticeable at all, brewers said. They also pointed out that sunlight, which can negatively affect the taste of beer, cannot permeate a can like it would a bottle if left in the daylight.

Even sealed glass bottles are less likely to preserve beer than cans, as air is more likely to enter the gap between the bottle's glass and cap than the break in a can's aluminum opening.

"The seam on a can, you can measure, you can make sure that there's tolerances (to prevent air from getting in the can)," said SoMe Brewing Co. co-founder David Rowland. "You can't do that with a crown on a bottle, a cap on a bottle. You'll get oxygen in there eventually."

Joe Berwanger, co-owner and brewer at Neighborhood Beer Co. in Exeter, said cans first became popular in Colorado where the brewery Oskar Blues Brewery, which produces Dale's Pale Ale, began canning. He said cans fit the Colorado market where many people enjoy outdoor activities like hiking as cans are easier to keep in a backpack than bottles. The trend, he said, has spread nationally.

Berwanger said his brewery when it first opened in 2015 was close to buying a $60,000 bottling line to make 22-ounce bottles, but went with cans to follow the consumer trend.

Canning was once more costly than bottling with production lines costing as much as half a million dollars, Berwanger said. In recent years, companies like Iron Heart Canning based in Manchester have begun offering a portable canning service for a reasonable price. He said the actual cost of bottling versus canning is about the same now, but canning is more efficient. Bottling can result in less consistent sealing, he said, save for those who spend significant amounts for expensive bottling systems.

"It was either with a massive canning line or nothing. It just wasn't accessible for a lot of breweries," said Great Rhythm Brewing Co. founder Scott Thornton of the years before canning became more affordable.

Cans have also become popular for the stickers that breweries are now using on them. About five years ago, Berwanger said no consumer would touch a beer can that had a sticker slapped on it, saying it appeared "half-assed." Stickers have become common on craft beer cans, and he believes the acceptance of stickers as trendy rather than cheap has become part of a hyper-local phenomenon.

"People like local beer. Local beer is fresh beer," Berwanger said. "You can know your brewer, you can go down the street and know what they're doing, understand why they're doing it, why they've invested their life into making beer for people around town, and I think that fascinates people."

Some point out that not all craft beer companies have made the switch to cans. Cheryl Parker, a brewer at the University of New Hampshire's brewing program, pointed out that Allagash Brewing Co. in Portland still bottles and finds success.

Bad Lab Beer Co. in Somersworth still bottles its beer. Bad Lab brewer David Morrelo expects the company to start canning eventually, but believes the taste of the beer is ultimately more important than the container in which it comes.

"I guess, at the end of the day, it's about the quality of the beer and the flavor," Morrelo said.