Packaging

Christian DeBenedetti once wrote about beer. Now he makes it—collecting wild yeast from bees and plums and using oak puncheons for primary fermentation. In Oregon’s Willamette Valley, the future of Wolves & People remains unwritten.

Stubborn idealism meets commercial reality at one of the country’s best-regarded mixed-fermentation breweries. But as the market continues to change, how will the brewery’s strategy change with it?

Hard seltzer continues to sparkle; cans are set to out-fill bottles; and brewers are betting high on low-strength, low-cal, low-carb.

Greater demand for cans, and wider varieties of beer and canning materials, are leading to greater potential for issues.

With more breweries than ever and crowded shelf space, getting precious off-premise real estate takes hard work. Once you get it, keeping that placement takes more of the same.

Some breweries are sharing their brands with food companies for mutual benefit.

One of Iowa's largest craft breweries has grown by controlling its own distribution. From the early growler days to the current growth of cans, they’ve found that a personal touch helps them to stay in-demand and get beer to those who want it.

This isn’t the first time Brouwerij West has made our pages with their groundbreaking approach to label design and application. Here, Founder Brian Mercer shares some background on the philosophy and process behind their unique approach to can labels.

We spoke with small brewers along the spectrum, from single-fill manual packaging (crowlers, growlers) to mobile canning to owned canning lines, for this guide to getting the most from your packaging program.

Not all bottle caps are made the same, and the difference in quality could mean a spoiled run of beer that was otherwise destined for greatness.