Brewery Equipment Review: 360 Lids

Finding a niche, something for consumers to talk about can always be a goal for a craft brewery. It can be in the liquid, the story, the taproom, or the packaging.

For Urban Chestnut and Mother Road Brewing, finding a tweak in packaging has helped give them a different look. The breweries, along with others across the country, have switch their can lids to what is called a ‘360 lid.’

Mother Road has been using the lids, made by Crown, since they began canning in September, 2015.

“We discovered them by looking for large mouth lids that would allow beer consumed in the can to get similar aroma access as one has in a pint glass,” explained founder and CEO, Michael Marquess. “We use Ball for our cans and get the ends from Crown.”

Urban Chestnut decided to start using them because Ashley Troutman, the brewery’s Business & Marketing Operations Manager, told Brewer that they really liked how they made drinking beer from a can more attractive.

“There’s no need to pour the beer into a glass because you don’t lose any of the aroma like you would with a regular lid,” she said, noting the brewery began using them in early 2016. “Not to mention, they add a unique element to our cans, and it’s fun to watch people get excited when they see a bartender open one or when they open it themselves.”

A mobile canner that Urban Chestnut was using at the time brought along a sleeve of the 360 ends and made a couple of cases to show the differences between that and the standard ends, Troutman explained. Brewery co-founder, David Wolfe really liked the 360 lids and thus the brewery began to use them in some applications locally.

“The footprint grew from there,” Troutman said.

Although the price is slightly higher, Troutman added they have not had any quality issues with them.

Mother Road’s canning line seamer and chucks were fabricated specifically for the 360 ends so they have seen no seaming issues either.

“We check seams with the micrometer at start-up and every 60 cases through the run,” Marquess said. “Monthly, we send cans out for x-ray analysis of the seams. There have been no differences between the Superends and the 360s in consistent quality seams.  The cost is higher per end by a few cents, but worth it for the aromas straight from the can, providing the full beer experience.”

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