American measurements and a striking design: Vienna's Zaungast brewery.

Tempest in a tin tube: the beer can turns 90

Roland Graf, 10.02.2025

While its introduction in 1935 was hesitant, the beer can eventually became a global standard. Often (and unjustly) reviled, the humble metal casing has found admirers among the world's microbrewers as a canvas for colorful designs and serious messages.

As with all proper beer innovations, it started with a German: In this case, Gottfried Wilhelm Krüger played a decisive role in introducing the beer can, even though he did not live to see its introduction. But the brewer from Sulzfeld,Baden-Württemberg did found the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company in Newark, NJ back in 1858 – the first company to sell canned beer. The technology had been around for a long time, but it was the Krueger brewery that first partnered with the American Can Company to bring suds to the masses.

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Tempest in a tin tube: the beer can turns 90