SF Brewery Switches from Bottles to Cans

SAN FRANCISCO, March 17, 2009 - CBS5.com - It's a "green" Saint Patrick's Day at the 21st Amendment Brewery in San Francisco's South of Market. Convinced that cans are better for the environment, 21st Amendment is making the switch to aluminum from glass.

With brews such as "Live Free or Die" and "Hell or High Water Watermelon," the microbrewery said it wants to go all green, and not just on the Irish holiday.

"Cans are way better than glass from many different perspectives. From the manufacturing side, 70 percent of all cans are recycled," said brewery co-owner Shaun O'Sullivan. "Therefore, it takes less energy to make cans. When you think about the weight of the cans, (the cost of) transportation is lower. We put our cans in a recycled cardboard box."

Glass must be separated by hand according to color and must be melted at high temperatures. Not all glass is recyclable either.

21st Amendment makes is lagers and ales the old-fashioned way, adding hops and other ingredients, boiling the mixture, then letting it ferment for several weeks. For Saint Patrick's Day, they even brewed up a special Irish ale.

But what do die-hard draft or bottled beer lovers think about aluminum clad micro beer?

CBS 5 asked patron Brendan Gahan if beer from a can or bottle makes a difference. "In college we drank out of cans all the time," said patron Brendan Gahan.

Marion Keeler said, "It's fabulous. I think as long as awareness is raised, we can all start to change and make sure that there's less waste."

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