The beer case at City Market, Onion River Co-op
In 2011, John and Jen Kimmich, owners of the Alchemist, began building a production brewery to package their beers for retail sale. And they made a decision that some in the craft beer industry thought was strange: They built a canning line.
At the time, John Kimmich recalled in a recent interview, craft beer came almost exclusively in 12- or 22-ounce bottles; cans were associated with mass-produced beers. He knew of just a few other breweries in the U.S. using 16-ounce cans, but he had fond memories of drinking "pounders" while growing up in Pittsburgh.