Neworld, Great relationships build great brands

What comes first when it comes to choosing your beer and why?

As a fan of craft beer, a draft just cannot be beaten especially with the weather we’re having lately. Beer garden, a glistening pint and sunshine (getting thirsty already). But if I was in an off-license picking up a few cold ones it becomes debatable between the can and the bottle. I’ve noticed that more microbreweries are leaning towards cans rather than bottles and when the craft beer industry picked up a few years ago 95% of the crafts seen on the shelf were bottled.

When I was in college I worked in an off-license and the first canned craft beer I noticed was Brew Dogs Punk IPA because it was the ONLY canned beer at the time in our craft beer fridge. I wondered why other breweries hadn’t gone down this path as it stood out by a mile compared to the brown bottlenecks.

“No, I’d never buy beer in cans. It’s just not as good, is it? It tastes different. It tastes like metal.” Is what some craft drinkers would say.

Craft brewers say “they are choosing cans over bottles because they are cheaper, easier to recycle, look good and make the beer taste great”.

Metalman Brewing Company made the move to canning their beer a few years ago when they brought out their core range which was the first Irish craft beer that I noticed to be stacked on our shelves. From a design point of view, you have the advantage of working your design into the material of the can and get to work with tactile textures to help get the desired look and feel.

These were just two examples that I noticed but today if you go into any off-license it’s pretty much 50/50 with options of bottles and cans in the fridge. Or in some cases, nearly the entire fridge is just crafty cans.

Tell us your favourite craft beer and how you like it served.

Sláinte

Stephen Walsh | Packaging Designer
Stephen is a Packaging Designer with Neworld, a branding & packaging design agency with over 30 years experience. We immerse ourselves in your industry, your customers, your competitors and your business goals to create design solutions that will guarantee to boost your bottom line.