Cans have given The Crafty Pint much joy over the years. From Navin R Johnson’s brush with death to Vim Fuego, the drummer in spoof metal band Bad News, and his desire for “more vim in my cans”, mirth has been plentiful. And, finally, they’re starting to offer satisfaction in beer form too, with the Australian Brewery recently becoming the first local micro to pop one of its brews inside them and a handful of top drops landing on these shores from the likes of Brooklyn and Yoho.
So, with summer festival season upon us (and permission granted to head to the Supernatural Amphitheatre for the first time post-Crafty Pot) it seemed the perfect time to have a look at what quality beers are on offer. What’s more, conversations in the past week have revealed at least one more Aussie craft brewer who’s planning to pop their beers in cans and tomorrow marks the return of Blackhearts & Sparrows Can Festival.
“We started this a couple of year ago, as a punt,” says Eden Gilbert, from Blackhearts. “Seeing festival goers drinking from those same old aluminium cans that you saw at VFL park back in the 80s got us into gear.
“The great summer music festivals tend to bring together a collective of local and overseas bands for punters to enjoy, so we’ve just organised our own, except the acts are the tinnies, featuring local and overseas guests, and the genres are cider, lagers, ales and little bit of Pink (moscato) this year. Pretty simple really – and it provides a level of good taste & affordability everyone.
“As each year rolls by, the festivals get some big name internationals, so this year we’re very excited by Brooklyn in tinnies, especially their IPA, and we hope that maybe next year it could be a local act headlining the cans.”
Certainly, Brooklyn look to be the big hitters this year, but they’re not alone. Then, of course, there are the local micros that produce five litre mini-kegs and old faithfuls such as Dr Tim’s. And let’s not forget there will be those who appreciate they’re going to be drinking for two days straight in a field, sat on a flea-ridden sofa they rescued from hard rubbish, while crossing their fingers they get served by the person in the Pink Flamingo Bar who’s overindulged and forgotten to add any pink to the vodka; for them, there will, no doubt, be a fair share of out of date eurolagers for $30 a slab.
Anyway, here’s a little of what’s around. If you’ve got more on offer, drop us a line at crafty@craftypint.com and we’ll update as and when.
Blackhearts & Sparrows
Moritz Cervesa (Spain)
Brooklyn Lager & East India (USA)
Coopers Dr Tim’s (AUS)
Peroni Red Lager (ITALY) 500ml
Heineken Lager (Holland)
Plus some odd bods of YoHo, Yebisu, Cascade Draught and “God knows why it’s cool” Melb Bitter
Australian Brewery, NSW
Became first Aussie micro to can with its Motherlode ESB
Cans have been on offer at Sydney’s awesome Beer Cartel, who describe it as “a nice drop… Caramel malt flavours with a little hoppiness thrown in.”
Prince Wine & Spirits Essendon
Moritz
Brooklyn Lager
Brooklyn East India Pale Ale
Real Peroni 330ml
Ha Noi
Innocent Bystander Moscato 200ml (“You know you want some of this!” says the manager)
Carwyn Cellars
Coopers Dr Tim’s – 100 cartons delivered this week
Brooklyn Lager
Yoho Aooini IPA
Super Bock
Zywiec
Lomza
Brooklyn IPA
Yoho Yona Yona Pale
Yoho Sun Sun Organic Blond
“Oh, and we are selling a shiteload of Westons 500ml Med-dry English cider at $30 a case,” says Ben.
Cellarbrations at Carlisle
Diablo 12% Lager
Yoho Yona Yona APA 330ml
Yoho Black Porter 330ml
Yoho Aooni IPA 330ml
Uncommon Brewer Bacon Brown Ale 500ml
Uncommon Brewer Golden State Ale
Uncommon Brewer Siamese Twin 500ml
Uncommon Brewer Baltic Porter 500ml
Plus heaps of European, British and American standards
McCoppins Fitzroy
They’ve got stacks of canned beer. What’s more, you can win some, including Brooklyn, through their Facebook comp, which you can read about here.
Smith Street Cellars
Brooklyn Lager
Moritz Lager
Coopers Lager
Coopers Mild
Three Oaks Apple Cider
Three Oaks Pear Cider
Sapporo 650ml
Owner Troy Toohey says: “We also have a smattering of Brooklyn East India IPA and the Yoho range and will be selling the usual suspects by the case.
“Also, anyone who purchases a case will go into the draw for a retro 50L Coopers Esky filled with a case of Coopers Lager Cans. The winner will be drawn at 8pm on Wednesday night.”
Slowbeer
Brooklyn
Yoho
Mane Liquor
BrewDog Punk IPA
Sly Fox Pikeland Pilsner
Sly Fox Phoenix Pale
Sly Fox Rte. 113 IPA
Brooklyn East India Pale Ale
Brooklyn Lager
Anderson Valley Hop Ottin IPA
Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale
MINI-KEGS
Bacchus Brewing has a load of five litre kegs, including White Chocolate Pilsner, Obama IPA, Cock Ale and a 12.4 per cent Rum Barrel-Aged Baltic Porter* on offer, but they’re only available as “souvenirs” direct from the brewery.
Bright Brewery normally has the following on offer:
Bright Lager $49
Hellfire Amber $55
Blowhard Pale $55
Razor Witbier $59
Fainters Dubbel $79
But due to brewing being affected by recent expansion of the venue, there’s merely a handful of Razor and Dubbel left until later in the summer.
Little Creatures
The brewery’s Miles Hull tells us: “We’ll be rolling out five litre kegs of Pale Ale across the country to any decent beer respecting bottle shop that is keen to sell them over the festive season. We’ve just filled some Pipsqueak Cider into cans and they had their debut at the recent Harvest Festival in Melbourne, Sydney and Brissie – stay tuned for more events we’ll be sending them to.”
True South, Black Rock
“Very limited availability,” says owner Grant Dow. “Almost all are already committed to local bottle shops in the Bayside area. We’ll be ramping this to about 240 kegs a week around March when a container arrives from Germany.”
Just in time for Golden Plains.
*We have one of these and are weighing up the sense or otherwise of taking it along…
