Four Peaks says "Yes We Can!"
We finally did it. We finally pulled the trigger on purchasing a canning line. Now the real work starts.
How do you convince a largely skeptical public that cans are actually superior to bottles? It’s true, you know, they let in no light which protects the beer from any UV alteration to certain hop oils; skunkiness, in other words. It’s also true that dissolved oxygen levels are quite a bit lower in canned beers. Dissolved oxygen is public enemy number one when it comes to packaging beer. Excessive oxygen levels will turn a beer stale faster than any single factor including most bacterial infections. It’s the bane of our brewing existence and it must be battled at every step.
The big misconception, though, is the stigma that cans give off a metallic flavor in the beer. This was true when your Dad drank his Pabst back in the 70’s but cans today are lined with a flavorless, odorless, non-soluble coating that protects the beer’s true flavors. It’s an innovation that is turning many craft brewers to canning, including such notables as New Belgium’s Fat Tire Ale.
There’s also the “green” side to canning. Cans are made from mostly recycled aluminum which is then recyclable again and again. They’re lightweight which means less gas is used in shipping them from the can maker to us and, in turn, they’re lighter and cheaper for us to send on to you. The “footprint” (to use a popular term these days) of a can is also a lot smaller. Consider a bottle; there is the bottle itself, the crown, the neck label, the body label, the six-pack carrier, and the case box. The carriers and boxes are made in a separate factory and have to be shipped to the bottle maker, assembled, and then shipped to us. The crowns and the labels come on a separate truck. There is also the glue and the energy required to run a separate labeling machine.
With a can, there is, well, the can.
We’d love to eventually go with an all can line-up but we know some people just love bottles. We’re going to start with the Kilt Lifter and the Sunbru Kolsch and hopefully change people’s perceptions as we go. Kilt because of its popularity and Sunbru because we think it just begs to be on a golf course or in a park or at the lake; places where glass is prohibited. It’s a great beer for our climate and canning it will allow you to take it with you (just pack it out when you’re done, of course).
We’re very excited about this new wrinkle and we hope all of you will be as well. And remember, “We can, so you can.” (God, that’ so cheesy. Sorry.)
