Churchkey Can Introduces Handcrafted Pilsner-style Beer in a Three-piece, Flat Top Steel Can from Ball Corp.

. Made of 100-percent recyclable steel, the package combines all the beer-friendly benefits of a metal can with a tip of the hat to the past.

27 Mar 2012 --- American craft beer brewer Churchkey Can Co. is bringing back a package long associated with Americana with the launch of Churchkey's handcrafted Pilsner-style beer in a three-piece, flat top steel can from Ball Corporation.

"It's about the joy of drinking good beer – from the people you drink it with, to where you drink it, and with this unique package, how you open it," said Justin Hawkins, Churchkey's co-founder and creative director. "We didn't make these traditions, but are keeping them alive with Churchkey."

The can harkens back to the day of the original flat top steel beer cans, invented in the mid-1930s, when small metal openers called "church keys" were used to open cans. Made of 100-percent recyclable steel, the package combines all the beer-friendly benefits of a metal can with a tip of the hat to the past.

"Increasingly, beer drinkers are learning that cracking open a craft beer in a Ball can – whether in an aluminum or steel can – is like tapping a fresh keg ... you get exactly what you expected," said Gary Woeste, vice president, sales and marketing, for Ball's metal food and household products packaging division, Americas. "With the can's many advantages, including freshness, portability, high recycling rates, brand building graphics and beneficial economics to name just a few, craft brewers and consumers continue to choose cans."

Can Facts

- Cans are a sustainability success story and the number one recycled beverage container of any kind in the United States. Steel cans have the highest recycling rate of any food package at 66 percent while aluminum cans enjoy the highest recycling of any beverage packaging at 58.7 percent. Both steel and aluminum cans are infinitely recyclable and require less fuel to ship to the brewery and to retail outlets after being filled.
- Cans are good for beer. Ball's cans are impenetrable to light and oxygen and chill faster than bottles, resulting in fresher, better tasting beer.
- Cans have superior portability. Cans go where glass cannot. Cans are better-accepted in most environments because they don't shatter.
- Cans offer a 360-degree mini billboard for a company to establish their brand and to build their brand message upon.