Breweries
Can seamers not only create a cost-effective way for smaller breweries to sell their cans at retail, but they also allow breweries of all sizes to spread their latest creations beyond their taprooms.
How Breweries Benefit from Our Canning Equipment
Taprooms
Oktober can seamers are a popular choice at taprooms because they allow breweries to add a whole new revenue stream to their business. Because of their small footprint, they can easily fit behind the bar, and an employee can fill and seam a can in less than a minute before sending it out the door. This allows taprooms to sell their beer to-go, which helps them reach an entirely new market segment.
Retail Sales
Smaller breweries appreciate the workhorse robustness and low-maintenance option that Oktober’s can seamers offer. Many of the breweries that we’ve worked with have seamed tens of thousands of cans with our seamers, and their machine(s) show no signs of slowing down.
Our Client’s Stories
Founders Brewing Co.
Located in Grand Rapids, Mich, Founders Brewing Co. has been ranked as one of the top breweries in the world for several years running. They’re also one of our most valued partners. They use Oktober’s can seamers in their taprooms to sell their beer to-go in CrowlersTM.
“The really awesome part of the taproom here at Founders is that this is kind of where every beer begins,” Founders education manager Marklyn Behling explained. They use their taproom to gauge interest in their latest creations and see which brews should be kegged or bottled, and which ones may need to go back to the drawing board.
“Using this seamer allows us to get those special beers out further than just the taproom,” Behling added. “So the excitement starts here, but then it doesn’t end here.”
They’ve found that the Crowlers not only eliminated the amount of wasted beer they see with growlers, but they’re also more convenient for their clients.
“Customers wanted Crowlers,” Founders taproom general manager Melissa Rusche said. “They wanted something that wasn’t glass, [that] they can bring to the beach. It’s fully sealed, so you don't have to worry about light getting into it.”
Founders also found that the seamer has been easy for their staff to use.
“There’s a lot going on behind the bar,” Behling said, “and to have a nice looking piece of equipment that runs well—I think those go hand in hand. And it's been great for our employees to be able to serve our customers faster because it's very streamlined.”
“It helps the brewers too,” Rusche added. “It gives us the opportunity to know what people are looking for or find the trends as the brewers, and we can communicate that with them.
“We'll still continue to use the seamer and kind of get away from the glass for a lot of reasons,” Behling said. “We'll still fill the glass growlers, but this can format seems to be the right way to go for us.”
“It’s been so popular that it was kind of a no-brainer to order a second one for our other bar,” Rusche said.
Fetch Brewing Co.
Dan Hain is the owner and brewer of Fetch Brewing Co. in Whitehall, Mich. A small brewery that does about 350 barrels a year, Fetch originally bought a can seamer from another company to sell to-go cans.
“We’re right on the lakeshore,” Hain said. “It’s the perfect place for cans. There’s so many people doing kayaks, boating, [and going to] beaches. We sell quite a bit of cans. It outpaces our howlers and growlers by far.”
However, the first can seamer they purchased was expensive, noisy, and unreliable. They soon made the switch to Oktober, and Hain said it has been quiet, smooth, and needs minimal upkeep. Being in a small building, Hain also appreciates the small footprint of Oktober can seamer.
“I couldn’t ask for a better machine,” he said.
Elk Brewing
Eric Karns, part owner of 15-barrel brewhouse ELK Brewing, said they originally offered just growlers and howlers, but they moved to cans because of their convenience. Many of their customers want to take their to-go beers boating or camping, and glass containers just don’t work for them.
“The Oktober can seamer made sense for us because we literally could now sell beer to anybody and everybody that wants it,” Karns said. “We sell more of them than we do our howlers, and actually, the only reason we have kept our howlers is because it's a unique design.”
“More people buy the Crowler cans than anything else,” Karns added. “It’s shelf stable. They know if they don’t want to drink it now, but it's a one-off beer, and they’re having people coming to their house in a month and a half, they can share that beer with them.”
Karns said during his time as a homebrewer they would throw parties just to get rid of their excess beer, but it was always hard to send somebody home with a growler. It also meant that they couldn’t compare different brews to each other directly. But, by using cans, they can compare a fresh brew to one from several weeks ago—side by side.
Brewery 4 Two 4
Dave Miller, owner and director of Brewery 4 Two 4, said they have 20 different beers on tap at any time, which makes it difficult for their customers to try them all during a visit. But, with a can seamer behind the bar, they can sell to-go beers for their customers to take home or share with friends. They’ve chosen a 16 oz can seamer to help their customers try their beers at a lower cost of entry.
“Having 16 oz cans rather than a full 32 or 64 oz growler is just perfect for our customers,” Miller said.
As a brewer, Miller doesn’t like glass. He finds that many people who get a growler will drink a couple pints, put it away, and find the rest is flat by the next day.
“It’s just not the best vessel for your beer,” Miller said. “Growlers go flat. No one really needs 64 ounces unless you’re going to a party or something like that.”
But cans protect the beer from light and won’t break open to dump 64 ounces of beer in someone’s car, Miller pointed out.
“We focus on quality here, and it's just a great way to keep that quality as good as possible, for as long as possible, for the customer,” Miller added.
They chose a can seamer from Oktober due to its size, build quality, and reliability.
“It was the perfect fit for what we do,” Miller said. “…It’s built very solid. It’s not a big unit, it doesn’t take up a ton of counter space, and it's built to last. And so far we’ve had zero issues with it. No maintenance necessary… It’s a solid, quality product, and we’re really enjoying it.”
Why Our Clients Choose Oktober
Oktober has been creating high-quality, low-maintenance can seamers for years, and we’ve built up a strong reputation in the industry. Our customers choose Oktober because of our great customer service, fast shipping, and low price. Our Model 8 can seamer comes in a range of different sizes to accommodate the needs of different businesses.