Beer Radar for April 2013 edition of WBM
By John Krüger
Australia in a Can
After a huge day of judging the 2012 Royal Adelaide Beer Awards, we all decided that a few jugs of our favourite beers of the day would be in order. By the time we left to head out to the pub for dinner, I felt like a balloon sloshing about, ready to burst at any moment. We arrived at the nearby Goodie Park Hotel and fellow judge Neal Cameron didn’t bat an eyelid when a few pints of more beer were ordered. Myself and another judge had to wimp out by coasting on small glasses of d’Arenberg white for a while. Neal was our 2012 guest interstate judge from the Australian Brewery in Sydney. He’s an impressive judge and knows beer and cider back to front. I’ll never forget him swivelling to face a few of us with a pint of beer in hand and asking, “What do you think about beer in cans?” It took me a moment to respond, thinking about it. “We’re thinking of putting in a canning line.” He added.
It was like a repeat of the same question from another brewer within a few weeks beforehand. There’s a stigma about the quality of beer in cans in the USA but I don’t think there’s anything like that here in Australia. After all, we took to srewcaps on wines like ducks to water after it was explained why they’re a superior closure.
“I don’t mind at all.” I responded, and agreed with the other judges explaining the many virtues of canned beer over bottled. While most agreed that the experience of beer in a glass is best, the storage and distribution of beer in cans is smart, no matter which way you look at it. There’s no chance of light strike, which is much more of a serious issue for beer lovers than they’ll ever realise. The weight per container is bugger all compared to bottles at around 210g of glass versus 14g for a can. An aluminium can uses more energy to be produced but 92% less materials are used. They also use about 40% less volume to stack into a case, so the eco-benefits are pretty huge. Then there’s the whole issue of glass at events. If you’re a brewery and keen on getting your beer into big festivals, not having beer in cans means you’re pushing shit uphill all the way. If you’ve ever been in a country pub in the middle of nowhere, you’ll soon realise that the general attitude is “lugging kegs around and cleaning lines is for mugs”, and almost all beers are available only in cans.
So about 8 months after that chat with Neal, he’s sent me a few of his new babies. Pilsner, Pale Ale, Steam Ale and Cider all in boutique Eurosleek cans. They’re tall thin cans. The same ones that Coopers are using for their Clear, so they’re certainly not mistaken for the ubiquitous VB or XXXX cans. So what about the beer? The Australian Brewery Pale Ale is fashioned on the new Pacific Ale style, which is becoming very popular at the moment. It’s easy drinking, as is the Steam Ale, but with a beautiful grassy spicy hit of Galaxy hops. It’s quite moreish. The cider’s bloody good too, but the standout for me is the Pilsner. It’s so clean, refreshing and, well, just about perfect in every way.
Neal explains his new love of cans, “I’m getting to the point where I think the question really should be, ‘why glass bottles’? I can think of no advantage of the format with regard to quality of beer, cost of production, cost of capital, cost of transport, recyclability, safety, accessibility, space, and weight. The list just goes on and on. Most importantly, as a packaging veteran, I have recently drunk the first run of steam ale we did which was 5 months ago. The cans have not been refrigerated and they are still amazingly fresh – much more than a corresponding bottled product would be. The biggest difference is almost zero oxygen pick-up, and that is terribly hard to get with a bottling line. Every time I open the fridge and see the product I just love the way it looks – one of the first times I’ve fallen in love with something a marketing department has come up with.” he says.
The Australian Brewery beers are available at varied outlets including Dan Murphy’s and from the Australian Hotel and Brewery, 350 Annangrove Rd, Rouse Hill, NSW. http://www.australianhotelandbrewery.com.au
