The Future is Refreshing Beer in Cans

Optimism is in the air. It’s British Summer Time and the clocks are going forward. You can smell it, you can see it and you can hear it in the first light chorus of birdsong. Spring is a time for renewal, for new green shoots and for a feeling of being refreshed. It’s also a time for new refreshing beers and the beginning of a new dawn for Westerham Brewery.

We’ve worked closely with 25-year-old illustrator, Sam Goddard, and our design partners, D Studio, to revisit our core beer designs with a view to refresh everything. Sam is an illustrator and graphic designer whose clients include Giggling Squid, Hawksmoor, various music artists and start-up companies. The inspiration for his style comes from a passion to bring vintage illustration techniques to the 21st Century, by using practical digital platforms to reproduce dying art forms. Our illustrations were created using custom brushes in Procreate on an iPad Pro.

Summer Perle is the first in a new range of can designs. Keep your eyes peeled for more.

Westerham will continue to migrate towards cans for environmental and sustainability reasons.  The hugely positive response to our December 2020 launch of our longstanding heritage brand, 1965 Special Bitter Ale, has strengthened our belief that the days of the “Premium Bottled Ale” are dead.

The regional and national brewers have destroyed the quality and premium image of bottled beers by dumbing down their products and selling them at lower and lower prices. The segment has been de-premiumised and we want no part of it.

The environmental reasons for the switch to aluminium cans have now been well-researched and you can read more about it below. We are crossing the rubicon and there is no looking back. The future is bright, the future is refreshing beer in cans. A new dawn, a new day.

Watch out for more news on the practical application of our optimism as we invest in the future of craft beer in Westerham.

Cans Versus Bottles

• Beer in glass bottles has 46% more Global Warming Potential than beer in aluminium cans[1]
• Per litre, beer in glass bottles weighs 50% more than beer in aluminium cans
  Each bottle has a CO2 emission of 225g versus a CO2e of 113g for aluminium cans: twice as much CO2 is emitted per glass bottle[2]
• Compared to glass, when a tonne of aluminium packaging is recycled it saves[3]
  • 333 times more electricity
  • 344 times more oil
  • 5 times as much landfill
• 75% of aluminium cans are recycled versus 67% for glass[4, 5]
• Many councils do not kerbside collect glass and you have to hump it to the bottle bank. Cans are lighter and kerbside collected. More backaches saved!
• Cans protect beer from sunlight and oxygen much better than amber glass
• We all drink from a glass and not the bottle or can. It’s the same beer!

1. Gujba H., Azapagic A. (2011) Carbon Footprint of Beverage Packaging in the United Kingdom. In: Finkbeiner M. (eds) Towards Life Cycle Sustainability Management.
2. Amienyo, D., Azapagic, A. Life cycle environmental impacts and costs of beer production and consumption in the UK. Int J Life Cycle Assess 21, 492–509 (2016).
3. Stamford University quoted by Euronews
4. Alupro 2019
5. British Glass