Founded by company President & CEO, Luke Livingston, Baxter Brewing Co., is the first craft brewery in New England to can its entire line of beers. Located in the historic Bates Mill in Lewiston, Maine, Baxter beers will be distributed throughout the state of Maine and are expected to expand into the rest of northern New England in 2011-2012.
Last month we installed their automated canning system. And after the first couple of hours – they had their first batch of cans rolling off the line. To view their first day in action go to: http://la.wcsh6.com/content/craft-beer-can-rolls-line-lewiston.
Why did they choose cans? Their reason is three-fold:
Cans are better for the environment. Our cans from Ball Corp. are made of a minimum of 50% post-consumer recycled aluminum and are infinitely recyclable. Americans are also at least twice as likely to recycle aluminum as they are glass. Cans require less energy to create than glass bottles and less fuel to ship, since empty cans weigh far less than empty bottles.
Cans are better for the beer. The beer in our cans has never seen UV light, which spells death for fresh beer. Every glass bottle, regardless of the color of the glass, will let some UV light in over time, resulting in spoiled or “skunked” beer. Our dissolved oxygen levels are much lower than similar beers in bottles (again, helping the beer maintain freshness).
Cans can go where glass cannot. How many times have you been somewhere outside where you have wanted a high-quality, flavorful craft beer but weren’t able to because glass was frowned upon or was flat out not allowed? The park, the pool, the beach, the golf course, the disc golf course, the sailboat; camping, hiking, fishing, or just lounging in the hammock. Cans can go where glass cannot. (Excerpts from: www.baxterbrewing.com).
And they have great promotional plans for their cans…
On January 29th, Baxter was at Pelletier Loggers Family Restaurant Bar and Grill, which was featured on the TV show “American Loggers” on the Discovery Channel. The event was filmed for the season finale of “American Loggers.”
This month, www.yourcans.com will go online, where Baxter drinkers can submit pictures of themselves drinking Baxter on the beach, on boats and other places glass is banned. On Facebook, Baxter Brewing had nearly 1,000 fans without selling a can.
“Between the hype and marketing, and a rapid growth in canned craft beer sales, Livingston said he hopes to be ordering more cans within a few months.” (Source: Reaves, Tony, “Yeah, they can. Lewiston’s new brewery part of a big trend in craft beer”, www.sunjournal.com, Jan 23, 2011)
