The Can Makers – A Year in News
2016 has been an eventful year for us, with this year’s Indie Beer Can Festival, the release of the GfK consumer research and the growth of our Indie Beer Can Advice website.
Here’s our rundown of 2016:
We kicked off the year with the semi-final of our Indie Beer Can Festival, with our three judges coming together to select which thirteen brands would proceed to our final in May.
In March the data we reported on the 2015 can market showed strong sales even though UK can deliveries had decreased. Our findings revealed that deliveries of beer and cider cans were 4,454 million, 1.5% less than in the previous year. Meanwhile Nielsen reported retail sales of cans of beer and cider, level with 2014, and strong growth in retail sales of cider in cans; in the soft drink market can sales grew by 4.5%.
It was with excitement that we held the final of the Indie Beer Can Festival Final in May, the UK’s only competition to find the best independent canned beer. Stealing the show was Uprising Treason by Windsor & Eton which won ‘Best in Show’, ‘Best Ale’ and ‘New to Can’, while ‘Best Lager’ was scooped by Brotherhood Lager from William Bros. Brewing Co. and Best ‘Other’ by Fireweisse from Firebird Brewing Co.
We’ve seen this exciting market grow from just four brewers in can at the start of 2014, to over 200 now. Based on the success of the event and the air of excitement around the market, this growth is set to continue.
In November, the MPMA Metal Pack of the Year award was awarded to a range of cans made for brewer, Aegir Bryggeri. Featuring a full aperture end (where the entire lid of the beverage can is removed, turning the metal can itself into a drinking cup) the can was considered an innovative pack with the ability to enhance the consumer drinking experience.
In the same month, we release research from BCME (Beverage Can Makers Europe), which was carried out by GfK, to investigate the consumer perception of canned drinks and how it has changed in recent years. To accompany this we drafted a full white paper which you can download for free. The research revealed 40 per cent of consumers call the can their drink pack of choice – a great coup for the British can industry!
We’ve seen a positive upward trend in the can’s popularity, reflected in the fact that in 2007, 36 per cent of consumers in the UK said the can was the pack they drank from most, whereas this number has increased to 40 per cent today. Cans are seen as delivering a good tasting product in an easy-to-drink, recyclable pack offering good value for money.
Now, as we enter 2017, we are looking forward to the developments the year will bring. We will shortly be publishing a white paper on the UK exporting market for craft drinks – and also plan to be in attendance at BeerX in March. Hopefully we’ll see a few of you there! We will also be keeping a close eye on the growth of adult soft drinks in a can and expect to see the craft drinks market grow as a whole.
From everyone at the Can Makers, happy holidays and we hope you have a great New Year.