86 Years of “Crackin’ Open a Cold One”

By Ellie Boese treditor@times-online.com

On January 24, 1935 the first canned beer in the nation went on sale. The journey to that day began when the American Can Company first attempted to can beer in 1909. By that time, cans were widely used for the mass distribution, but the ACC quickly found that beer would be harder to package in tin.

As they experimented, they found that the tin cans they were using were unable to withstand the internal pressure from the pasteurization process, so they exploded. The company also found that the beer reacted with the metal on the inside of the can, causing the liquid to be discolored and metallic-tasting.

ACC was rather quickly able to solve the exploding problem by using rephosphorized strengthened steel for the tops and bottoms of the cans, but the chemical reaction remained an issue they couldn’t remedy. And they didn’t have enough time to do everything needed to develop a successful canned beer because of the dawn of Prohibition in 1920.

Ideas continued to float around at the American Can Company even while the US was beer-free, and shortly before the end of Prohibition (3.2% alcohol beers were legal about eight months before Prohibition was fully repealed) developed a technique to line the interior of the can and prevent chemical reactions between the tin and beer.

With the ratification of the 21st Amendment, beer was back on the market in 1933. ACC decided to pitch their canned beer idea to a popular brewing company that had been in the beer business since the mid-1800s: Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company. Officials with Krueger were skeptical of the idea, especially since their business had faced serous losses during Prohibition, and they were not sure the public would embrace the concept of beer in a can. ACC convinced them to try it by offering to provide the initial cans and install equipment at the Rich

mond, Virginia brewery at no cost to Krueger. They agreed.

On January 24th, 1935, the brewery distributed 2,000 cans of its Finest Beer and Cream Ale to beer enthusiasts in Richmond. These first cans were flat-topped and made with heavy-gauge steel, so those wanting to “crack open a cold one” had to punch a hole in the top with the sharp side of a church-key style can opener (later in 1935, the cone-top/capsealed can became available, created by small breweries who, because they couldn’t afford to replace their old bottling systems, created a can that could be filled using existing equipment).

It was an immediate success.

The first to consume the Krueger canned beer gave it a 91% approval rating. Krueger moved forward with ACC to expand production and distribution of their new commodity and in three short months, more than 80% of distributors across the country were selling Krueger’s canned beer. By summer 1935, Krueger was purchasing 180,000 cans every day from the ACC. Other brewers saw Krueger’s incredible success and decided to join the canning craze themselves.

In the 12 months after the debut in Richmond, more than 200 million cans of beer were produced and sold, and the product’s popularity continued to grow.

During 1942 and 1947, canning operations were interrupted in order to direct materials toward World War II efforts, but manufacturing continued in the years afterward.

In 1958, canned beer had another leap forward with the introduction of aluminum cans—even lighter and cheaper than their steel predecessors.

The pull tab beer cans came to the market in 1963, which were an immediate hit. Consumers loved the easy-to-open can, but the system had downfalls that began to show. The removable strips of metal would be laying around, and pets and wild animals often choked on them, while people at the beach who stepped on one cut their feet.

The first fixed tab beer can, which continues to be the most popular type today, was launched in 1975. It eliminated the removable metal strips on pull-tab cans while still providing easy-open cans for consumers.

National brewing companies started to take over local breweries in popularity as they took advantage of the mass production of cans, dramatically lowering costs of the beer they distributed. But the local entities never truly went away. In fact, in recent years, microbreweries and high-end beer sellers have seen a resurgence in popularity and are utilizing mass distribution to deliver their products to consumers far and wide.

Thanks to the American Can Company and Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company’s endeavor, canned beer currently accounts for about half of the $20 billion beer industry in the United States.