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Baltimore's Union Craft Now Brewing Canned Beer

BALTIMORE (WJZ)—It may seem hard to believe, but it's only been 80 years since beer was first sold in cans. Most beer that is canned is made by the huge global breweries.

But as Mike Schuh reports from Remington, that's now changing.

If it's in a can it's got to be cheap beer, right?

Well, that was the case until recently.

A decade ago, a Colorado brewery realized fishermen, hikers, bikers wanted good beer in cans that were easy to get into the woods without breaking and easy to haul out the lightweight empties.

In 10 years, there's been an explosion from one craft brewery to more than 300 today.

"We feel that the stigma about can beer has largely been broken. People now realize that good beer comes in cans," said Jon Zerivitiz.

Zerivitiz is the co-owner of Union Craft Brewery in Remington.

Earlier this year we showed you Baltimore's newest brewery in Hamilton, the Union Craft Brewery.

Cautious with their money, at first, it was only available in kegs.

But now, with this canning machine, the brewery is a bit more crowded.

"We've had to expand, add 70 percent and extra fermentation space so we have enough beer to put into the cans, as well as supply our draft through the city," Zerivitiz said.

Four more workers have been hired, the number of places to get this beer has doubled and more expansion is planned for next year.

Two to three times a week, 300 cases are getting canned up.

But this canned beer doesn't mean cheap. A six-pack is selling for $11.

"This is a premium product, and we hope that people are learning to appreciate full-flavored beer and that this is a beer made in their hometown that they can be proud of and will spend the money on that kind of product," Zerivitiz said.

Duckpin is their most popular. So far, Union has been setting them up and knocking them down.

The Union Craft Brewery is also the first brewery in the state to be granted a license to sell pints of draft beer in its tasting room.

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