Your intrepid liquor reporter was recently on one of those newfangled Internet dates with a young lady of Heineken-soluble morals. Close to the end of the evening, she leaned over her barstool, and with a conspiratorial wink, whispered that she liked it in the can.
That is when your humble narrator realized that she was a keeper. Not only did she enjoy beer and chicken wings, but she knew that our date fell on International Beer Can Appreciation Day.
Yes, gentle reader, in case your Twitter feed doesn’t tell you which wacky holiday falls on each day of the year, January 24 marks International Beer Can Appreciation Day. Of lesser interest, January 24 also happens to be Peanut Butter Appreciation Day and Compliment Day, but you’ll have to look elsewhere for a newspaper column extolling those virtues.
The history of Beer Can Appreciation Day goes all the way back to January of 1935, which makes the humble beer can an impressive 79 years old.
Just like Bruce Springsteen and Tony Soprano, the beer can got its start in New Jersey. At the time, beer was normally sold in glass bottles, but the forward-thinking Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company of Newark struck upon the idea of using the same tin cans more commonly used for soups or tinned beef as a beer container.
A small test run of 2000 cans of beer was produced, which required a hole to be manually punched in the top with a can opener before drinking. Beer cans have certainly gotten less labour-intensive since then, with the familiar lever-tab now the universal opener for cans of liquid gold.
The beer can certainly caught the hearts and minds of boozers everywhere, with 475 billion cans being consumed each year.
Today’s beer can is a marvel of technological advances, and is usually made from aluminum or tin-plated steel. Early issues of the can imparting a metallic taste in the beer were resolved decades ago, and the beer can is now the preferred packaging method for many brewers.
In addition to being less costly than glass bottles, cans weigh less, so they are easier to transport, and help reduce the brewery’s carbon footprint.
Unlike glass bottles, cans will block 100% of ultraviolet light, which helps prevent the skunky aroma caused by UV light reacting with the hops.
So, while the brewing industry fully supports cans, there is still some lingering consumer perception that bottled beer is somehow superior. Apparently, those people who prefer glass bottles have forgotten that beer kegs are made from the same aluminum as beer cans, and draught beer is widely considered to be the best way to enjoy a pint.
Some countries have more fully embraced taking it in the can, with 64% of beer sales in Sweden being of the canned variety. Here in Canada, cans account for 45% of retail beer sales, but that number climbs a little bit each year.
Your intrepid liquor reporter sometimes enjoys it in the can, if only for the reason that cans can be stacked in the fridge, while bottles cannot.
Regardless of your preference, please remember that bottles and cans are only storage containers, but not serving vessels.
All packaged beer should be poured into a clean glass for drinking, as much of the beer’s flavour comes from the volatile esters that are inhaled through the nose.
Since bottles and cans are fully sealed by the lips, boozers miss out on a significant portion of beer-related enjoyment by skipping the pint glass.
Cans also excel when drinking in the outdoors, such as on the sailboat or beach. Since cans do not shatter in a million sharp pieces when dropped, they are much safer for your public imbibing needs.
Most major brewers offer their products in both bottles and cans, with smaller brewers sometimes only having the space and capital investment for one or the other.
Calgary’s own Big Rock Brewing offers their products in both bottles and cans. However, the smaller Wild Rose Brewery products are only available in glass bottles. Calgary’s newest entrant on the craft beer scene, the up-and-coming Tool Shed Brewery only makes their products available in cans.
So, gentle reader, the next time you feel like enjoying it in the can, just take a deep breath, relax, and go for it.
