Off-trade

Metalman expands canned beer range

Metalman Brewing Company, Ireland’s first micro-canning craft brewer, has expanded its lineup of canned beers.

The Waterford microbrewery has added two new canned beers to the brewery’s flagship Pale Ale (released last January).

4.5% ABV Equinox is an unfiltered wheat lager made with lemon peel, orange peel and ground coriander. It’s a hazy, refreshing golden lager with a light and dry finish and a hint of spiciness, according to Metalman.

Heatsink (ABV 4.9%) is a smoked porter made with “hearty amounts” of German beechwood-smoked malt. Brewed with a touch of cayenne pepper in the kettle, it has a gentle chili warmth on its finish.

The beers are all canned on an Automatic Canning System from Cask Brewing Systems, inventors of micro-canning equipment for craft brewers.

Metalman installed the system in January this year to become the first craft brewery in Ireland to brew and can its own beer.

“We looked at the packaging options we had based on the resources we had” says Metalman’s Co-founder Grainne Walsh, “and we determined that the best quality beer we could deliver to the customer was going to be in cans. Cans are an excellent package for beer, protecting it completely from light and air.

“Craft beer in cans is becoming increasingly popular” she adds, “with more high-quality canned beer from other countries appearing in independent off-licence establishments.”

Metalman’s distributor Four Corners carries canned craft beers from other well-known craft brewers so retailers are already familiar with the microbrewery can format, she says.

Cask Brewing Systems Founder Peter Love explains, “Our canning machines give small brewers an affordable, small-scale way to package their beer. And they allow them to put their beer in a package that’s portable, infinitely recyclable and gives their beer the ultimate protection from light and oxygen”.

Cask’s machines are affordable and compact, he says, requiring as little as 16 square feet of space.

In 2014 sales of US canned sixpacks were up 97% compared to 14% in the growth of bottled sixpacks.

Learn more about Metalman Brewing at www.metalmanbrewing.com.

 

 


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