The beer can might be the best drinking vessel for travel. More portable than a bottle (and perfect for easy picnic-basket packing), now they offer much more than the watery mass-market lagers of yore. Breweries and cideries have started treating cans like handheld billboards, tasking often local artists, designers, and illustrators to devise eye-catching designs that capture where the beer was brewed. The best of breed marry vibrant visuals to flavors that transport drinkers to places like San Francisco and Virginia Beach. Here are eight brews worth checking out on your next cross-country adventure.
Photo by Kelsey McClellan
Great Raft Brewing
Reasonably Corrupt
Shreveport, LA
Louisiana’s infamous law-shirking politicians inspired a German-style black lager that, despite its dark tint, remains a nimble sip.
Courtesy of Kings County Brewers Collective
Kings County Brewers Collective
Dangerous Precedent
Brooklyn, NY
KCBC marries bold yet balanced flavors to Earl Holloway’s comic book–inspired can illustrations. The IPA’s intense aroma evokes tropical fruit.
Shacksbury
Deer Snacks
Vergennes, VT
The brewery forages for the wild apples used in a dry cider that, like many of Shacksbury’s fermentations, is as elegant as fine wine.
Courtesy of Commonwealth Brewing Company
Commonwealth Brewing Company
Big Papi
Virginia Beach, VA
This brewery is one of the East Coast’s best producers of barely bitter double IPAs. The can’s juicy colors evoke the contents’ aroma and flavor.
Courtesy of Wild Heaven Beer
Wild Heaven Beer
Emergency Drinking Beer
Avondale Estates, GA
These Georgian brewers buck convention by mashing together a snappy pilsner and a salty-sour German gose laced with lemongrass and citrus zest, creating a singular refresher well suited for both day and night drinking.
Courtesy of Fair State Brewing Cooperative
Fair State Brewing Cooperative
Clarity of Purpose
Minneapolis, MN
Excelling at fruited sours and unfiltered pilsners alike, Fair State has partnered with Surly Brewing Company to create a hugely fragrant, double dry-hopped IPA that’s as clear as the Caribbean.
Courtesy of Fort Point Beer Company
Fort Point Beer Company
Westfalia
San Francisco, CA
The sibling-run brewery spins sublime modern takes on traditional styles, such as German rotbier. This caramel-rich red ale is cashmere smooth.
Courtesy of Bale Breaker Brewing Company
Bale Breaker Brewing Company
Leota Mae IPA
Yakima, WA
Set on a family-run hop farm founded in 1932, Bale Breaker embraces the local bounty of the Pacific Northwest to make expressive pale ales and IPAs, such as this pungent sipper named after the farmstead’s matriarch.
>>Next: America’s Best Drinking City Isn’t Where You Think It Is
