Anyone remember the dark days when good beers only came in bottles? Considering the cornucopia of craft beer options in the can these days, it’s hard to believe it was only a few years ago when your only option for a craft beer in aluminum was Dale’s Pale Ale. Don’t get me wrong—Dale’s is a killer beer, but I don’t think craft beer is a venue suited for monogamy. Variety is the spice of life, and all that. Luckily, 2014 is the year for swingers, er canned beer lovers. Mobile canning units have allowed young brewhouses to can even small runs, and more big breweries have come around to putting their classics in aluminum. Here are our picks for the best beers to get canned in 2014.
Pizza Port Ponto S.I.P.A.
City: San Diego, Calif.
Style: Session IPA
San Diego’s favorite brewpub chain PIzza Port Brewing finally began canning three of their signature beers in 2014, including the pizza-friendly Chronic amber ale and the exceptional Swami IPA, but it was their entry into the session IPA space that made the biggest waves. Ponto S.I.P.A., named for a world-renowned surf break near Carlsbad, is a citrus-forward pale ale with a feather-light body and a crisp and bitter finish that’s been a favorite growler-fodder at the Solana Beach brewpub. Call it a hoppy pale ale, call it a session-friendly IPA, either way the pint-cans of this 4.5% ABV hop tonic won’t stick around in your fridge or cooler very long. –John Verive
Bissell Brothers Baby Genius
City: Portland, Maine
Style: Blonde Ale
Talk about upward trajectory. A few scant months after opening, Bissell Brothers’ The Substance—a rock-solid IPA brewed constantly for the sake of freshness and packaged in silvery tallboys (sound familiar?)—was already taking the Maine beer scene by storm, mandating lines out the taproom door and putting out the mating call to beer tourists leaving Allagash. Apparently the bros got tired of brewing just one unf***withable beer, and started cranking out Baby Genius, a blonde ale brewed with mountains of Galaxy hops, flaked oats, and pilsner malt, for the summer months. At just 4% ABV, this gem out-sessions most session IPAs, without sacrificing an iota of character or flavor. –Josh Ruffin
Anderson Valley The Kimmie, The Yink, & The Holy Gose
City: Boonville, Calif.
Style: Gose
“Cheeky” is a good way to describe the Boonville brewery’s take on the traditional tart wheat beer from Germany. Part of the brewery’s series of session beers, The Kimmie hits all the notes that gose converts love: it’s a bit tart, a bit funky, a bit salty and about as refreshing as beer gets. It’s like Gatorade for craft lovers. Spiced with coriander and lightly salted after fermentation, this canned gose has a complexity that belies its drinkability. There’s also a blood-orange version that citrus fans will love even more. –John Verive
Bell’s Two Hearted Ale
City: Kalamazoo, Mich.
Style: IPA
You know the only bad thing about classics? They’re all too often overlooked for the next big thing. And as delicious as Bell’s Two Hearted Ale is, I must confess I’ve passed it over countless times to try the latest IPA. When the brewery started packaging its iconic IPA in cans this year, it gave me a reason to revisit the beer—not that I should have needed one. Yes, the beer is still brimming with juicy, tropical flavors derived entirely from Centennial hops. Whether it’s in a bottle or a can, this beer is a classic for good reason. –Daniel Hartis
Oskar Blues Old Chub Nitro
City: Longmont, Colo. and Brevard, NC
Style: Scotch Ale
Cans of Oskar Blues Old Chub are nothing new, but in 2014 the brewery released its Scottish-style ale in 16-ounce cans with nitro widgets inside. When the can is opened, the widget releases liquid nitrogen into the beer, allowing for the kind of creamy and smooth pour you might expect from a pint of Guinness. The nitro pour is a great match for the beer’s rich, sweet and slightly smoky profile. –Daniel Hartis
Saint Archer / Girl Skateboards Hoppy Pilsner
City: San Diego, Calif.
Style: Pilsner
A collaboration pilsner between a San Diego brewery started by extreme sports athletes and a Los Angeles skateboarding company may sound like the kind of forgettable gimmick beer that only a brewer could love, but Girl Skateboards Hoppy Pilsner delivers. The brew explodes with zesty, floral Noble Hop aromas layered over a bright and clean malt foundation, and though a German brewer might say it’s over hopped, the subtle whiff of sulfury yeast character underlines the authenticity of this light-bodied pils. Crisp, refreshing, and oh-so-hoppy, this collaboration is legit, bro. –John Verive
The Crowler
Photo courtesy of Asheville Ale Trail
While more and more breweries are embracing cans, those looking for fresh growlers had to resign themselves to glass. Until now. In 2014, breweries like Oskar Blues, Cigar City and Due South turned to a new format that was something of a cross between a can and a growler. The 32-ounce “crowler” is filled and sealed at these breweries thanks to a seaming machine that Oskar Blues spent the last two years creating. Crowlers offer all of the benefits of canned beers, but can be used to package beer that would otherwise only be served on draft. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this novel packaging spreading to more breweries in 2015. –Daniel Hartis
Sweetwater 420
City: Atlanta, Ga.
Style: Pale Ale
One of the last “big” craft breweries to adopt cans, Sweetwater put its two flagship beers, 420 and IPA, into aluminum earlier this year. More styles are sure to see cans soon—a move that makes perfect sense when you consider the fact that Sweetwater typically names beers after rivers and/or fish and the brewery funds a number of river cleanup efforts. Canned beer and boating go together like, uh, canned beer and boating. –Graham Averill
Golden Road 329 Days of Sun Lager
City: Los Angeles, Calif.
Style: Light Lager / Helles
The first lager produced by the hop-obsessed Los Angeles brewery, “three-two-nine” (as it’s known around these parts) was developed as an approachable beer that would get the brewery into the bars and fridges that usually hold typical American lagers. Turns out that craft beer devotees in L.A. were also looking for a quaffable-yet-flavorful refresher and 329 has taken off. German hops accentuate the light and crisp malt character of the lager, and the sessionable brew makes a fantastic accompaniment to the climate of Los Angeles (and all that Mexican food we eat). This beer is majorly crushable; it’s a good thing it comes in 12-packs. –John Verive
Destihl Here Gose Nothin’
City: Bloomington, Ill.
Style: Gose
We hope the gose-in-a-can thing keeps being, well, a thing. We really do. Credit Westbrook for the kickstart, Anderson Valley for putting it front and center but, most of all, credit Destihl for brewing the best one. Though they’ve likely been brewing this for an indeterminate amount of time (you try keeping track of a brewery that churns out roughly 34,000 different beers each year), it’s only recently been canned, and is the first in their proprietary Wild Sour series. Bready even for the style, Here Gose Nothin’ is insanely refreshing, like lemonade for philosophy professors. –Josh Ruffin
Alchemist Focal Banger
City: Waterbury, Vt.
Style: IPA
The Alchemist could’ve probably stuck with just canning a single beer—the wildly popular Heady Topper—and called it a day, so to speak. People drive for hundreds, maybe thousands of miles to acquire that IPA, considered by many to be one of the best beers in the world. Thankfully, this Vermont brewery isn’t resting on its laurels. This year, they canned a second beer, an IPA brewed with Mosaic and Citra. The cans are big, the taste is bigger—some say it even outshines its big brother, Heady Topper. Only time will tell. –Graham Averill