Dogfish Head to start selling beer in cans

Dogfish Head is now canning its 60 Minute IPA.

Dogfish Head is canning its commitment to only selling beer in bottles.

Starting in mid-November the Delaware-based craft brewery will release one of its most popular brews – the 60 Minute IPA – as its first ever canned beer.

Since launching in 1995, Dogfish Head has never released any of its beers in cans.

The choice to move to aluminum has been a gradual one, according to the brewer behind the beer brand.

“Early on in the craft brewing renascence I was under whelmed with the canning technology for craft beer,” Dogfish Head founder and President Sam Calagione told Beer Street Journal.

“But times have changed, equipment has evolved, and we’ve designed a beautiful, state-of-the-art Krones can line that delivers the quality and consistency our consumers have come to expect from our beer.”

Many of fans of Dogfish Head are already getting excited about the canned craft brew.

According to Brewbound, Dogfish Head began working with packaging and bottle machine manufacturer Krones in 2013 to commission its commercial bottling line.  Calagione decided they were the perfect partner to team up again and work on the cans. The company says that with a production rate of 267 cans per minute, the new line allows Dogfish to can with the same consistency and quality found in their original bottle and draft products. The brewery will still release its 60 Minute IPA in bottles.

Despite initial objections to canned beers in the craft community, there has been a big shift with breweries selling their product in both bottles and cans. Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, Bell’s Brewery, Sam Adams, and Yuengling all can at least some of their basic and seasonal offerings today.

The new Dogfish Head cans will initially just be available in Mid-Atlantic states. In 2017, the brewery plans a nationwide rollout.