Craft in Cans: Give Me a Tallboy!

On my last few visits to local liquor stores, I've noticed a new sensation: I turn my nose up at bottled beer. Not every bottle—just six-packs. Bombers, or 22 oz bottles, of beers are perfectly fine, mostly because they are generally something a bit more special, while a six-pack is something I'm looking to drink every day. It seems that I have a preference for canned craft beer, especially 16 oz tallboys. Surly tallboys frequent my fridge.

One of my recent tallboy favorites

I toured the original Surly brewery in June 2006, according to my database. The image of Omar talking about the hopes and dreams of the new brewery still lingers in my thoughts, including the revelation that Surly was going to can. Oskar Blues is famous for canning early, and Surly was going to follow. The most sensible argument at the time from Omar was space. Cans packed more efficiently and space was very much at a premium in the old brewery. Omar went on to discuss the benefits to the beer, but that sounded like rationalization: Surly had little choice but to choose cans.

Now, it looks like amazing foresight. I think Surly's quality in the can is part of the reason other breweries have joined the bandwagon. The benefits of getting to beer in market in better shape with less stigma took care of the rest. An article in MarketWatch on craft beer in cans summarizes the benefits versus costs from a total perspective rather than from my consumer's view.

While only one beer drinker, I seem to have a clear bias for cans. Besides freshness, not having to worry about being light struck in the liquor store, etc, a tallboy fits well in my favorite Brooklyn Brewery daily-drinking glass; I can pour the full can with a proper head and be happy with one for the night. In the old days, beer geeks always looked for corked and caged as a sign of quality. Then, caps were better for beer, so a wax dipped bottle was the beery grail. Now, the informed beer geek knows that cans rule and I, for one, will keep buying tallboys.