After five years of pouring pints in South City, The Civil Life Brewing Co. will finally can its American brown ale. Co-owner Jake Hafner said fans can pick up six-packs of 12-ounce cans at the brewery beginning Aug. 16. This marks the first time the brewery has offered a canned option; previously, if customers wanted Civil to-go, they had to fill growlers onsite.
“The brown is our most popular beer. It makes up 60 percent of our sales,” said Hafner. “We waited a while to start canning because we didn’t really have the space for it.”
Civil Life has made the space, temporarily, bringing in mobile services to can the beer and pack up when the job is done. Hafner said he has no plans to distribute at this time; cans are available at the brewery only. He plans to can once a month, possibly more if demand is high. The English pale ale, rye pale ale and The Angel and The Sword are all on deck to see aluminum in the fall.
For now, the ever-popular American Brown will do. “We’ve had a lot of requests from customers to can the brown,” Hafner said. “We’re excited that customers will be able to drink it fresh from the tap at the brewery, or fresh from the can at home.”
This article appears in August 2016.