• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Beer Info

Beer News, Beer Releases and New Breweries

  • Home
  • Top 10 Beers
    • Ales
    • Lagers
    • Barrel Aged
    • Hybrid
    • Specialty
  • GABF
    • 2024 GABF
    • 2023 GABF
    • 2021 GABF
    • 2022 GABF
    • 2020 GABF
    • 2019 GABF
    • 2018 GABF
    • 2017 GABF
    • 2016 GABF
    • 2015 GABF
    • 2014 GABF
    • 2013 GABF
    • 2012 GABF
    • 2011 GABF
    • 2010 GABF
    • 1987 GABF
  • World Beer Cup
    • 2022 World Beer Cup
    • 2018 World Beer Cup
    • 2016 World Beer Cup
    • 2014 World Beer Cup
    • 2012 World Beer Cup
    • 2010 World Beer Cup
    • 2008 World Beer Cup
    • 2006 World Beer Cup
    • 2004 World Beer Cup
    • 2002 World Beer Cup
    • 2000 World Beer Cup
    • 1998 World Beer Cup
    • 1996 World Beer cup
  • U.S. Open
    • 2022 U.S. Open
    • 2021 U.S. Open
    • 2020 U.S. Open
    • 2019 U.S. Open
    • 2018 U.S. Open
    • 2017 U.S. Open
    • 2016 U.S. Open
    • 2015 U.S. Open
    • 2014 U.S. Open
    • 2013 U.S. Open
    • 2012 U.S. Open
    • 2011 U.S. Open
    • 2010 U.S. Open
    • 2009 U.S. Open
  • U.S. Open Cider
    • 2021 U.S. Open Cider
    • 2020 U.S. Open Cider
    • 2019 U.S. Open Cider
    • 2018 U.S. Open Cider
    • 2017 U.S. Open Cider
    • 2016 U.S. Open Cider
    • 2015 U.S. Open Cider
  • U.S. Open College
    • 2021 U.S. Open College
    • 2019 U.S. Open College
    • 2018 U.S. Open College
    • 2017 U.S. Open College
    • 2016 U.S. Open College
  • More
    • Craft Beer Releases
    • Schools
      • United States
      • Canada
      • Europe
    • Writers
      • Edwin Arnaudin
        • Zebulon Artisan Ales
        • Highland Brewing
      • Morgan Forsyth
      • Paul Leone
      • Austin Foster
      • Anne-Fitten Glenn
    • Books
      • Starting a Brewery
      • Homebrew
      • History
      • Fun & Games
    • Fun Facts

First Beer Can – Gottfried Krueger Brewing in 1935

First Beer Can
The Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company was a brewery in Newark, New Jersey founded by Gottfried Krueger and John Laible. Krueger had been brewing beer since the 1858. In 1934, the American Can Company approached the brewery with the idea of canning its beer and offered to install the equipment for free: If the beer flopped, Krueger Brewing Company wouldn’t have to pay.

So, on January 24, 1935, Krueger’s Cream Ale and Krueger’s Finest Beer were the first beers sold to the public in cans. Canned beer was an immediate success. The public loved it, giving it a 91 percent approval rating.

Now, the whole story of the first beer can:

The air in the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company was thick with the scent of malted barley and the faint tang of yeast, but today, it carried something else—a nervous buzz. In the heart of the brewery, a cavernous brick building on Belmont Avenue, a small crowd gathered around a clanking, hissing machine that looked more like a contraption from a mad inventor’s workshop than a piece of brewing equipment. Gottfried Krueger, the brewery’s namesake, had passed away seven years earlier, but his sons, Gottfried C. and John F., stood at the helm, their faces a mix of skepticism and cautious hope.

The machine was a gift—or rather, a gamble—from the American Can Company. Its purpose? To stuff beer into tin cans, a notion that had the brewery’s old-timers chuckling into their mustaches. “Beer in a can?” muttered Hans, a grizzled brewmaster who’d been with Krueger since the days of wooden kegs. “It’ll taste like a tin roof and explode before anyone drinks it.”

But times were tough. Prohibition, repealed just months ago, had left Krueger limping. The brewery had survived by churning out near beer and soda, but the return of legal alcohol hadn’t brought the boom they’d hoped for. Worker strikes and the shadow of the Great Depression loomed large. When American Can’s salesmen arrived, promising to install their “keg-lined” canning line for free, it was an offer too good to refuse. If it flopped, Krueger owed nothing. If it worked… well, that was the question.

The canning line roared to life, and out came the first batch: 2,000 cans of Krueger’s Special Beer, a 3.2% ABV brew, the strongest allowed under the new Cullen-Harrison Act. The cans were sturdy, coated inside with a brewer’s pitch to keep the beer from tasting like metal, and sealed tight to withstand the fizz’s pressure. Each bore the Krueger logo and a bold claim: “The World’s First Canned Beer.”

Gottfried C., the more pragmatic of the brothers, handed a can to his younger sibling, John. “You first,” he said, half-smiling. John, always the bolder one, cracked the top with a church-key opener, the sharp hiss silencing the room. He took a tentative sip, then grinned. “Tastes like beer to me. Damn good beer.”

The cans were distributed to loyal Krueger drinkers—workers, friends, and a few brave locals. The brothers held their breath, waiting for feedback. Days later, the reports rolled in: 91% loved it. “Tastes like draft,” one drinker swore. “No bottle to return, no deposit to fuss with,” said another. Even Hans, the skeptic, admitted it wasn’t half bad.

Emboldened, the brothers planned a bigger leap. On January 24, 1935, they shipped 2,000 cans of Krueger’s Finest Beer and Krueger’s Cream Ale to Richmond, Virginia, the farthest corner of their distribution network. “If it fails,” Gottfried C. reasoned, “at least it’s far from Newark.” But failure wasn’t in the cards. Richmond’s beer drinkers snapped up the cans, marveling at their lightweight, stackable convenience. Within three months, 80% of Krueger’s distributors were clamoring for the canned stuff, and the brewery was buying 180,000 cans a day from American Can.

The success sent shockwaves through the industry. The “big three”—Anheuser-Busch, Pabst, and Schlitz—scrambled to catch up, their market share nibbled away by a regional upstart. By year’s end, over 200 million beer cans had been sold nationwide, and Krueger’s was at the forefront. The cans were a godsend during World War II, when brewers shipped millions to soldiers overseas, boosting morale with a taste of home.

Back in Newark, the Krueger brothers toasted their gamble in the brewery’s taproom, the clink of tin cans replacing the clatter of glass. Hans, now a convert, raised his can high. “To Gottfried, who’d have laughed at us for trying,” he said. The room erupted in cheers, but John leaned toward his brother, whispering, “And to the can, for saving us.”

The Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company didn’t just survive—it made history. Those first cans, born of desperation and daring, changed how the world drank beer, proving that sometimes, the boldest ideas come in the humblest packages.

For Brewing fun fact, trivia, movies and more, Click Here.

Primary Sidebar

Follow us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

2024 U.S. Open Beer Championship  
Medal Winners

 
2024 U.S. Open Cider Championship  
Medal Winners

Archives

  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • November 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017

Copyright © 2025 · BeerInfo.com. All Rights Reserved.