A Brewer’s Dozen: Why Craft Beer Is Skipping Tall Boys for 12-Ounce Cans | VinePair

Illustration: Alex Andersen

The 16-ounce can has become the craft brewing industry’s preferred package, a gleaming vehicle for delivering drinkers hazy IPAs wrapped in Instagrammable labels. The aluminum medium became the message, so ingrained that most folks forgot to ask a question: Is the 16-ounce can ideal for every beer? I’m no beer-drinking snail, but I have a tough time taking down a pounder of good pilsner before the last ounces go warm and flabby. Give me a 12-ounce can, please.

Instead of offering complimentary koozies with every 4-pack, craft breweries are downsizing lagers in 12-ounce cans. After years of waging liquid warfare against the multinational lager makers, four cans at a time, craft breweries are realizing that 12 might be the magic number for moving more lager.

For VinePair, I take a look at the 2022 trend toward 12-ounce cans.