According to Greg Kitsock over at the Washington Post, next month Blue Mountain Brewery will be the first microbrewery in Virginia to can its products. It appears that several smaller breweries around the country are shifting to cans, at least in some small way, for a variety of reasons. Be it protection of the beer’s quality to portability for consumers, the shift is happening, and it’s finally coming to Virginia’s better beer lovers.
How’s that for following up on last post’s packaging theme? And I think I’ll make that the new state slogan: Virginia is for better beer lovers. What’dya think?
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June 17, 2009 at 12:34 pm
wh1skeylover
Finally a good beer to take camping or overnight kayaking trips. And from one of my favorite breweries.
June 17, 2009 at 12:43 pm
jakes
Smart move. I’m a pro-can beer drinker.
Try the IPA from Steam Works, they’ve got it at Once Upon a Vine
June 17, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Dan Kachur
Very happy news indeed. I still love the feel of beer in a glass bottle, but cans are great too, and I can’t think of a better beer to benefit from more portability. Well, except for maybe Surly Furious.
June 18, 2009 at 5:41 am
Velky Al
Another stupid question doubt – do any of the breweries run a deposit scheme for returning bottles? I am never sure how to take to cans anymore, the vast majority of Czech beer is in bottles – a standard size that you return for a $0.15 return per bottle – was a great way of saving money for the end of the month when I was first here in 1999!
June 18, 2009 at 8:54 am
E.S. Delia
Jakes – I’ve tried the Conductor Imperial IPA from Steamworks in a 22oz, so I think that’s the one you’re referring to. If that’s the case, I’ll definitely pick it up in cans for portability’s sake this summer. Good stuff.
Al – Not certain on which breweries offer which kinds of incentives. The return per bottle is sometimes a state-mandated recycling thing, and often times can apply to cans as well. In Massachusetts for instance, a brewery called Berkshire Brewing Company (great beer, by the way!) reused their bottles, even selling them in growler-size (64oz). Customers could return the cleaned bottles to the store, and in my cousin’s case it was a small beer/wine/spirits place owned by the same old man for decades, and the (re)cycle continued.
I thought about the recycling issue with cans as well while reading this article. Whatever the case may be, if you stash your aluminum away you can always get a measly amount of change by going to a recycling center. Ask about filling growlers (I know South Street fills) for the fresh stuff also. Good way to reuse and you get that awesome gigantic glass container and beer straight from the source!