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  Home Page » News » Business » Canned Success

Canned success

Beer can sales rising, outselling bottles

by Chuck Slothower
Herald Staff Writer When Ska Brewing Co. debuted a beer in February, it released the ale in bottles and cans, hoping to capitalize on a growing trend in the brewing industry.

Five months later, cans of the Modus Hoperandi India Pale Ale are outselling the same beer in bottles by 2-to-1.

Ska is selling so many cans the company is struggling to brew enough beer to keep up. The Durango brewery recently added two, 2,790-gallon fermenting tanks to fulfill demand.

Small brewers such as Ska increasingly are discovering that many consumers prefer cans to bottles. In addition to Ska's recent releases of canned beer, Steamworks Brewing Co. this spring released its Third Eye Pale Ale in cans.

"There's a lot of excitement about cans right now," said Dave Thibodeau, president and co-founder of Ska Brewing. "I believe in them. I'm hoping they're here to stay."

Other craft brewers can their beer, too. Oskar Blues of Lyons was the first, canning its popular Dale's Pale Ale in 2002.

Since then, growth in the segment has exploded. Forty North American craft brewers now can their beer, including seven in Colorado, said Jennifer Hoover, manager of marketing and communications at Ball Corp. of Broomfield. The company is the primary supplier of beer cans in the United States and supplies both Ska and Steamworks.

New Belgium, by far Colorado's largest craft brewer, introduced two beers in cans this year.

"This is the year that it has exploded," said Oliver Gamble, beer manager at Star Liquors in Durango, which sells about 30 different craft beers in cans.

Craft breweries - defined by the industry trade group Brewers Association as selling less than 2 million barrels annually - have had to overcome some initial resistance to drinking their higher-priced beer from cans.

Traditionally, craft beer was available for distribution in brown bottles, while cans were associated with down-market beer. Ska and Steamworks are among the craft breweries reversing that perception.

"People understand that it's a good package for beer," said Kris Oyler, co-founder of Steamworks.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of canned beer. Coors first canned beer in 1959 at its facility in Golden.

Gamble said cans keep out beer-spoiling light and oxygen more effectively than bottles.

"The bottle inevitably falls short of the can," said Gamble, citing fresher smells and sharper taste from cans. "It generally seems to be a little bit better product."

Brewers touted the portability of beer cans that can be taken on the river, to the golf course or down the trail. Aluminum cans are also more easily recyclable and lighter to transport.

Canning is nothing new to Ska or Steamworks.

Ska began canning its ESB in 2003, and Steamworks started canning its Steam Engine Lager in 2004. But both breweries are devoting more resources to canning than ever before, and consumers are responding.

Cans still constitute a minority of packaged-beer sales at each brewery. But both Ska and Steamworks expect cans to continue growing as part of their product mix.

At Ska, can sales make up 24 percent of its packaged-beer sales, excluding kegs. Bottles make up the remaining 76 percent. But sales of cans have grown much more swiftly - a 297 percent increase year-to-date - compared to 18.5 percent growth for bottle sales.

Only weeks ago, Ska reinvigorated its oldest beer, True Blonde Ale, with a line of cans. The local reaction can be summed up by the marquee at Wagonwheel Liquors at 30 Town Plaza in Durango: "True Blonde - Nice Cans."

Ska also plans to release a mixed 12-pack of cans as soon as beer production catches up.

At Steamworks, cans make up 10 to 12 percent of beer sales. The brewery expects to see another 5 to 8 percent increase later this year when it begins canning its Colorado Kolsch, a light ale. The can design is awaiting approval from federal officials.

For both breweries, cans help the bottom line. Cans are lighter and cheaper to ship than bottles.

Ska can ship only 72 cases of bottles on each pallet. But the brewery can ship 100 cases of cans per pallet. Cans are also cheaper to ship to Ska's brewing facility to be filled. Steamworks sees similar savings to ship cans to and from its Bayfield facility.

"You're lowering your carbon footprint by getting more beer on one pallet," Oyler said.

At retail, Ska cans cost the same as bottles, about $7.99 for a six-pack. Steamworks sells its cans for about $1 cheaper than its bottles per six-pack.

Steamworks has seen strong growth with cans, especially in some of the far-flung states where it distributes. In Virginia, Steamworks cans outsell bottles, Oyler said.

While Steamworks started slow with cans, the brewery has reached somewhat of a tipping point. It now has enough production capacity to consistently buy cans, which must be purchased in batches of 155,000, Oyler said.

New canning lines at each brewery manufactured by Cask Brewing Systems of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, have made canning more feasible and affordable. Large-scale canning lines like those used by Coors are much too expensive for small brewers.

The other Durango breweries, Durango Brewing Co. and Carver Brewing Co., do not can their beer.

But Scott Bickert, managing brewer at Durango Brewing, said cans are on his mind.

"We're going to consider them, but we don't know when that's going to happen yet," he said.

Meanwhile, Ska and Steamworks plan to continue expanding their canning operations in response to consumer demand. "We want to do more beer in cans down the road," Oyler said.

chuck@durangoherald.com