It is exciting to see craft brewers fighting the stereotype that canned beers are cheap beers (both in price and quality). As we all know, canned beers are like mini-kegs and provide better protection for the craft beer inside.
Great Crescent Brewery is the next Indiana brewery to take up the charge of canned craft beer. Dan and Lani Valas have been looking at canning for a while. And they are close to putting the beers out for purchase.
The biggest challenge with canning is the cost of materials. There is a minimum purchase for each can design. For multiple designs, this can be prohibitively expensive. But breweries like Great Crescent are finding ways around it. Similar to
Sun King's customizable can, Great Crescent has one can design. The cans will be filled with various beers and have a small label affixed to identify them. Each label has to be individually approved, but the hassle and cost involved is much better than the cost of printing cans for each individual beer.
Dan is starting with a manual canning machine. "We are using a
CASK 2-head manual filler with a motorized single seamer. The cans get filled by hand and are then moved to the seamer, go through a rinse and then get the 4-pack rings applied. We are waiting on some trays to package the 4-packs in and then we will be ready to go. I don't have an arrival date on the trays, so I can't tell you exactly when we will start getting the cans out for sale. We're not sure which beer will be first in the cans, but it will likely be several styles to out with the first deliveries."
So far, six beers have received label approval with the federal government: Blonde, IPA, Mild Ale, Dark Lager, Stout, and Coconut Porter. I know several people that will be looking forward to having cans of Coconut Porter in their beer fridge.
The biggest challenge with canning is the cost of materials. There is a minimum purchase for each can design. For multiple designs, this can be prohibitively expensive. But breweries like Great Crescent are finding ways around it. Similar to Sun King's customizable can, Great Crescent has one can design. The cans will be filled with various beers and have a small label affixed to identify them. Each label has to be individually approved, but the hassle and cost involved is much better than the cost of printing cans for each individual beer.
Dan is starting with a manual canning machine. "We are using a CASK 2-head manual filler with a motorized single seamer. The cans get filled by hand and are then moved to the seamer, go through a rinse and then get the 4-pack rings applied. We are waiting on some trays to package the 4-packs in and then we will be ready to go. I don't have an arrival date on the trays, so I can't tell you exactly when we will start getting the cans out for sale. We're not sure which beer will be first in the cans, but it will likely be several styles to out with the first deliveries."
So far, six beers have received label approval with the federal government: Blonde, IPA, Mild Ale, Dark Lager, Stout, and Coconut Porter. I know several people that will be looking forward to having cans of Coconut Porter in their beer fridge.
I can't wait to have cans of Coconut Porter to take with me to the beach and track! Hooray!
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