Take it from us: there really is no way to prepare your body for the consumption of alcohol at ten o’clock in the morning. No amount of crack-of-dawn jogging, smoothie making or transcendent meditation will make it any easier to knock back even one sip of a strong brew before your breakfast has begun to digest. We don’t know how we didn’t expect this, showing up to photograph the first-ever canning run at Greenpoint Beer and Ale Co. The process, led by Iron Heart Canning was mind blowing enough even without the pre-lunch intoxication.
Far from the beginning of this brewery’s story, this canning is but an exciting new chapter in their long history making and importing wonderful beer. Owner Ed Raven has been in the business of great suds since the 1980s. Not long after getting his start with the Brooklyn Brewery, he began his own importing company, RavenBrands, and opened the Brouwerij Lane beer shop on Greenpoint Avenue in the early 2000s. After Raven opened Greenpoint Beer and Ale Co. in 2014, the beer shop began to serve as a pseudo-training ground for young hopefuls who want to work at the brewery–honing their palettes and familiarizing themselves with beers from all over the world.
As the Greenpoint Beer and Ale Co. is still a relatively small operation, the brews that they create are often determined by what sort of hops are available on the market. For the brewers, this challenge is an opportunity to flex their creativity, and concoct some really diverse and interesting creations that keep bringing customers back again and again. New draft beers are popping up here as often as weekly and two have become so popular, they have been chosen as the first pair to find a new home–inside of a can.
The canning sequence is nothing short of mesmerizing, and the guys at Iron Heart Canning Company have compacted the process so efficiently that their entire operation can fit on the back of a truck. Once their factory-on-wheels is set up, they are able to turn out an unbelievable 2100 cans an hour, ensuring that the intended run of 150 cases was completed in about half a day.
The brewery’s two premier beers making their aluminum debut are the Instant Credibility IPA and the Smash Street Pale Ale. Instant Credibility is a very fruit forward, Northeast style brew using a blend of imported hops from Australia and New Zealand. As the name suggests, one sip of this beer is all the assurance you need that folks at Greenpoint Beer and Ale Co know what they’re doing. The Smash Street Pale Ale, which uses a single malt and single hop blend, is a simple but delicious and slightly citrusy beer. In addition to their fabulous flavors, both brews back a punch in the ABV percentage, so put on your grownup pants before getting down on a four pack.
The brewery will be hosting a launch party for the two cans tomorrow night, Friday, September 9th starting at 5pm! Both beers will be available for sale, in single cans ($4) and packs of four ($16) as well as cases of 24 ($96), for the truly bold.
Greenpoint Beer and Ale Co. is located at 7 N. 15th Street.
Check out the GIFs below to see the canning process in action!
Find your sight very informative, yet it implies you have so much more to offer. I was around as a buyer when Brooklyn Brewery was just getting it’s feet on the streets.