Cans?? Check out Paul's latest article for Shout!

 I will not post the whole article because you need to just go read it at Shout!  I will post an excerpt to give you an idea. 

Light isn’t good for beer. You’d probably go all saucer-eyed if you knew how hard brewers work to keep light from shining on their product, but the effort is visible on the shelves. We’ve known for a long time that the Heineken-like skunky smell can find its way into a beer’s aroma from only a few scant moments in sunlight – and none of us really likes that.  Take a look the next time you walk down the beer section. Sam Adams has a cardboard six-pack container that nearly covers the entire bottle.  It’s not just for more marketing stuff. Light won’t pass through a can but light will pass, to varying degrees, through every bottle out there.

I wouldn’t recommend you try this, but dropping a full bottle and a full can on concrete is a tragedy with different chalk outlines. Both outcomes will likely get you wet but one could get you hurt – not great in most cases.

For brewers, a can negates a labeler and they kind of become their own marketing tool – there’s a lot of real estate for printing on there.  And we can feel good knowing that cans recycle with more side benefits than recycled glass.

I think I can speak for a lot of veteran craft beer drinkers, moving to cans is a great thing.  Along with the things listed from Paul, from a consumer standpoint, they are easier to transport, they can be taken more places where glass cannot, they take up less room in your fridge, you don't need a tool to open them and every one likes it in the can, or at least so I have been told.

Take a look at the article and I would bet that we could be seeing a lot more breweries packaging in cans in the future and I imagine one might be sooner then you think.

If you have never purchased craft beer in a can let me suggest a few.  Obviously as this is a Nebraska Blog you need to go out and grab one of the offerings from Thunderhead in Kearney, Golden Frau or Cornstalker.  My first entry into craft beer in a can was Oskar Blues Dales Pale Ale and I highly recommend that purchase to anyone.  There is just something about cracking open a hoppy beer in a can that just seems more enjoyable.  I have also read that hop aromas stay fresher in the can and I would agree.  One of the best can beers I have had came from Maui Brewing Company, their IPA, full of a wonderful aroma and I had it shipped over and didn't drink the 6 pack immediately.  The first can was just as flavorful and aromatic as the last, several months apart.  There beers are harder to get a hold of though, as I believe they might only be available in Hawaii.  I believe you can also pick up Modus Hoperandi from Ska Brewing in Omaha, wonderful beer. 

Anyway, get on the band wagon because it is here to stay.