Craft Beer Cans Make a Comeback

May 20, 2015

There is a lot to love about canned craft beer. For consumers, the brightly designed cans are eye-catchingly attractive. They also stack easier in fridges and coolers, freeing up valuable space. In addition, the aluminum cans chill quicker and more efficiently than glass bottles, meaning that consumers looking for immediate refreshment have a much shorter time to wait.

While the list of pros for consumers go on, it is retail accounts that are the biggest benefactor of the canned packaging trend. From a longer shelf life to sustainable selling points, here are four reasons why it makes good business sense to bring in more cans.

1) Longer Shelf Life

All beer, but especially hop-forward IPAs and Pale Ales, are susceptible to the lightstruck off-flavor commonly known as ‘skunking.’ Sunlight is a major enemy of beer and when the sun’s rays and UV light strike, the hops in the beer begin to breakdown and deteriorate. Brown bottles do limit a large amount of this light from entering the beer, but because the glass is not completely opaque, light does seep through in a surprisingly quick amount of time. Aluminum cans however, are impervious to light and ensure that the beer inside never becomes skunked.

Another added benefit, in terms of freshness, is that beer packaged in cans is exposed to less oxygen than beer in bottles. There is very little head space in a can, which makes it more difficult for oxygen to come in contact with the beer and spoil it.

2) More Beer, Less Space

Compact and easily stackable, canned beer is a space saver on both store shelves and in the cooler. The shorter, slimmer packaging allows merchandisers to stack most canned beer packages two-high, versus just one 6-pack of bottles.

The smaller footprint also means that more product can be put directly into the cooler, which is becoming more and more important as temperatures continue to rise.

3) Made to Travel

There are a lot of occasions where cans are preferable to glass bottles. Among the top of the list are venues and recreation areas that do not permit glass on the premise. Summer hot spots like concert venues, parks, and beaches are notoriously anti-glass and if you’re only stocking glass bottles of beer, then you are missing a tremendous sales opportunity.

4)  Sustainable

According to Treehugger.com, aluminum is more energy intensive to produce, but because it's lightweight, uses less material than glass bottles, and are composed of a higher percentage of recycled material (40 percent to 20-30% percent for bottles*), aluminum has a lower overall impact.

Canned craft beers are a category that cannot be ignored. Contact your Sales Consultant today to get a variety of our canned offerings on your shelves today.

*IronHeartCanning.com