Can percentage in craft brewing, a quick word

The Sam Can!

Canning news abounds throughout the craft brewing world as brewers of all shapes and sizes announce whole movements or special series of beer in cans. But just how much is actually out there on the market? During Boston Beer Co.’s first quarter earnings call, President and Chief Executive Officer Martin Roper, shared his thoughts and how those stats will play into the strategy of implementing the Sam Can this month and going forward:

“Based on publicly available information, it looks like cans as a percentage of craft beer are order of magnitude somewhere between 3 percent to 8 percent depending on market, and the market impact seems to be water markets or hiking markets, camping markets, fishing markets. So, we just don’t know how our business is going to line up against that.

“For instance, New England has a lot of order, but we just don’t know how that’s going to play. So, we’re optimistic, precocious and we’re trying to roll out sensibly and not flood the market and have stale beer, but until we see some initial depletions and get a sense for the acceptance at retail, I just can’t give you an estimate of ACV.”

For the rest of the company’s conference call, be sure to check out the transcript at Seeking Alpha.

For more from the earnings report, here is our article on the results.

For more canning information, be sure to check out our feature on mobile canning.

And for something completely different.