History of Canned Beer
Canned beer made its official debut on January 24, 1935. In partnership with the American Can Company, the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company launched a pilot project delivering 2,000 cans of Krueger’s beer to brand loyal drinkers in Richmond, Virginia. Ninety-one percent of the drinkers approved of the canned beer, giving Krueger the necessary boost to expand production.
A (Very) Brief History of Canning
Canned beer was preceded by canned food, born out of a need for safeguarding large amounts of food for military rations. In 1795 Napoleon Bonaparte offered a substantial cash reward to the person who could develop an effective solution for preserving large amounts of food for his travelling army. Nicholas Appert accepted the challenge and nearly 15 years later devised a method for heat-processing food in glass jars reinforced with wire and sealed with wax. In 1810 British merchant Peter Durand patented a method for sealing food in “unbreakable” tin cans that required a hammer and chisel to open, based on Appert’s methods.
American Can Company & First Canned Beer
By the late 19th century, cans were instrumental in the mass distribution of food provisions, though it wasn’t until 1909 that the American Can Company tried its hand at canning beer. There were two major obstacles in canning beer, firstly, that cans could not withstand the strong internal pressure from carbonation, and secondly, that the internal walls of the can would corrode after they came into contact with the beer.
In 1925, Charles Stollberg, an inventor for the American Can Company, solved the problem of lateral weakness by soldering each layer of metal in the fold of the lateral seam. Finally, in 1933, the American Can Company developed a pressurized can with a special coating to prevent the beer from reacting with the metal.
Mass Distribution
The American Can Company wanted to sell their new can technology to brewers and approached Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company to launch a pilot project. Their experiment was a success, with an overwhelming majority of drinkers in agreement that canned beer tasted closer to draught than bottled beer.
Within its first three months of production, Krueger’s supplied canned beer to over 80 percent of distributors, taking a massive bite out of the market share previously held by America’s “big three” national brewers–Anheuser-Busch, Pabst and Schlitz. Competitors quickly followed suit, adopting this new packaging method. By the end of 1935, over 200 million cans had been produced and sold in the United States.
Evolution of Beer Cans
The first cans were flat-topped and made of heavy-gauge steel, requiring a church-key tool to open. In 1935, brewers started packaging “cone-top” cans that resembled traditional bottled beer.
Cone tops could be filled on existing bottle lines sealed with a crown cap, though they did not ship or stack as easily as flat top cans. Aluminum cans, the cheaper and lighter alternative to heavy gauge steel, were introduced in 1958. In 1963, the pull-tab can was invented, with a ring that users could pull to remove a tab, creating an opening without the need for additional tools.
While this technology was revolutionary for drinkers, the sharp edges of the removable tab raised some safety concerns from choking incidents to bare-footed children cutting their feet on sharp edged tabs in parks and on beaches. In 1975, the “stay tab” that we know today was invented, providing drinkers with an easy -open can solution without issues of a pull-tab.
Canned beer had many benefits over bottled beer for both consumers and suppliers. Unlike bottles, the purchase of canned beer did not require consumers to pay a deposit. Cans were also easier to stack, more durable and took less time to chill. From providing safe access to necessary food provisions, to exporting beer to soldiers overseas, the advent of canning paved the way for mass distribution of food and drinks. Crack a cold can and raise a bubbly brew to the advent of the beer can!
(Leah is a Toronto based freelance writer as well as the Beer Boss and a server at C’est What)