For a long time, Washington’s Finnriver Farm & Cidery has celebrated itself for its premium bottled ciders that are rooted in a story of sustainability for Pacific Northwest agriculture. But the cidery has taken a strategic step into new packaging territory with the launch of its two ciders into 16-ounce cans.
The decision wasn’t driven by production convenience or trend-chasing. Instead, it came in response to a consistent and growing consumer demand for portability.
“People want to be able to go hiking and camping and kayaking and anything else that they want to do — picnics and music festivals and things — and those bottles are a little heavy,” Amanda Oborne, CEO of Finnriver, told Brewer during a recent podcast. “After years and years of people asking us when we were going to make the product convenient and portable in cans, we relented.”
Finnriver didn’t take the leap blindly. The cidery opted to work with a mobile canner, carefully evaluating the process and market response before making any permanent infrastructure investments.
“It’s a huge decision, so we are stepping into it carefully, incrementally,” Oborne said. “If that all goes well, then we’ll keep canning every month for the next few months, while we evaluate whether we invest in a full canning line and operation here at the farm.”
Interestingly, the company chose not to debut its flagship Black Currant cider in cans, instead selecting Blush, a lighter option with black currants, and Bloom, a semi-sweet cider made with organic blueberries.
According to Oborne, the decision was about aligning with seasonality and introducing something fresh while preserving the prestige of their core products.
“We wanted to start with something that is perfect for summer. They’re light and fresh and crisp and refreshing,” she said. “And there’s something new and exciting for even our current customers.”
Packaging design was another critical area of focus. Finnriver has built significant brand equity over the years, and translating that identity to aluminum was not taken lightly, Oborne said. The result is a can that prominently features artwork emphasizing the cider’s botanicals, backed by Finnriver’s well-known mission and B Corp certification.
“We spent a lot of time really trying to figure out how we make sure that that message and that brand equity we’ve spent 15 years building doesn’t get degraded by virtue of being in a can,” Oborne said.
Sustainability, a foundational value for the company, remains front and center. The cidery thought through every element — label paper, adhesives, and even recyclability. The farm continues to offer a bottle and box return program and accepts back the PakTech can carriers for reuse.
Choosing a 16-ounce can format was intentional as well. Discussions with distributor partners and retailers helped determine that this size sold in four-packs would offer a good balance between value and positioning.
“We even considered the 19.2-ounce cans,” Oborne said. “We came at this very much with an open mind… and landed on the 16-ounce in discussions with our distributor partners and customers.”
By leading with new products rather than its flagship offerings, Finnriver preserves the prestige of its core line while exploring new market opportunities. Oborne acknowledged the retail reality: shelf space is shrinking for tall bottles as more brands shift to cans.
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“Retailers definitely had given us the heads-up that over time, they’re going to recapture that airspace,” she said. “Those bottles are going to end up way up high in a corner somewhere that is much harder to see.”
While Blush and Bloom carry the responsibility of representing the Finnriver name in a new package format, they also present a calculated risk that could allow the cidery to connect with new customers while staying true to its values.
“This could be a moment where Finnriver breaks out of its mold a little bit and gets to connect with a lot of new people,” Oborne said.
For other cidery owners contemplating cans, Finnriver’s methodical approach — from flavor selection and mobile canning trials to sustainable packaging and label integrity — offers a blueprint for entering a new channel while protecting brand identity.
As Oborne put it, “We’re excited to see what the reception is… and we’ll find out soon enough whether that was the right decision.”
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