New generation drives demand for beer in cans

Millennials and Gen Ys have rediscovered the time-honoured tinnie, and now breweries are scrambling to keep up with demand for beer in cans.

Peter Baker and Sandra Held enjoy beer in a can at Northbridge Brewing Company.

Swigging beer from a can? It wasn’t too long ago that it was regarded as a relic from the 1980s when every party had a bathtub full of Emu Export cans.

Only the sophisticated or pretentious drinker, depending on your loyalty to WA product, would have a bottle of Victorian Crown Lager in their hand.

But millennials and Gen Ys have rediscovered the time-honoured tinnie, and now breweries are scrambling to keep up with demand.

Beer writer Ross Lewis said cans were a winner for brewers and drinkers.

He said cans were lighter, cooled down more quickly, were allowed at festivals and protected beer from so-called light strike that affected the taste.

"Beer is like milk, you've got to treat it that way," he said.

Mr Lewis said a listing of the hottest 100 craft beers in Australia had no canned brews in 2013 but 77 cans in 2018.

"The consumer is slowly coming around to the line that the beer (in cans) is slightly better,” he said.

The shift in consumer tastes has been so marked that independent brewer Gage Roads – which supplies thirsty punters at Optus Stadium – wants to raise $8 million to upgrade to a commercial-scale canning line at its Palmyra operations.

A nationwide trial over the summer of cans of its Single Fin brand proved a hit with drinkers, with the brewer saying demand exceeded expectations.

“We’re getting a lot of really positive feedback from independent retailers finding that consumers are really, really interested in craft can beer,” Gage Roads managing director John Hoedemaker said.

Mr Hoedemaker said smaller craft breweries using affordable equipment had helped drive the popularity of cans in Australia.

“There is smaller canning infrastructure that allows smaller scale craft breweries to participate in the package beer market through cans,” he said.

Northbridge student Peter Baker said cans were the packaging of choice for the craft beers he drinks.

He normally drank pale ales and in hotter weather sour beers.

Childcare educator Sandra Held from Fremantle buys cans as they are cheaper.

It usually is wheat beer or cider from her native Germany and she is yet to find a local favourite.

'I'm going to live here so I need to extend my knowledge,” she said.

Neither Mr Baker or Ms Held thought the taste of beer in bottles and cans differed.

Mr Lewis said the inside of cans was lined with plastic.

"It’s not like it was 30 years ago when cans provided that metallic taste,” he said.

Originally published as New generation drives demand for beer in cans