Churchkey Can Company

Churchkey Can Company is a defunct brewery founded in 2012 by actor Adrian Grenier and former Nike designer Justin Hawkins in Seattle, USA. The brewery's name refers to its flagship beer, which must be opened using a can piercer, or "church key".

An opened Churchkey Pilsner can (foreground)

Brewery history

Based in the SoDo neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, the brewery is the brainchild of Hawkins and Grenier, the latter being better known for starring in Entourage.[1] The pair met in 2010 in Portland, Oregon,[2] and the recipe for the beer was created by two local homebrewers.[3] Unusual for a microbrewery, some of the funding for the company came from technology investors.[4]

In 2013, the company halted production due to quality issues caused by excessive pressure inside the cans.[5] Production resumed in 2014 after a change to a more traditional 12-ounce aluminum, albeit still lacking the pop top.[6][7]

Churchkey beer

The brewery's only beer is a Pilsner-style lager with 29 IBUs and 4.9 percent ABV. It is packaged in a 12-ounce steel can made by Ball Corporation that is designed to be recyclable,[2] as is the churchkey that is included with purchasing a six-pack.[3] As of 2014 the beer is only available in the Seattle and Portland metropolitan areas and San Francisco.[8]

From their introduction in the 1930s up until the 1960s, most beer cans were made of steel and had a flat top into which one needed to punch one or two holes with a can piercer, euphemistically called a "churchkey". With the advent of the "pop-top" aluminum can, this type of beverage can has disappeared almost entirely. The reception for Churchkey's retro style can has not been entirely positive, with some beer enthusiasts dubbing it "the most hipster beer in the world".[9]

See also

References
  1. "Churchkey Release Party – Celebs Celebrate Beer in Seattle", Washington Beer Blog, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
  2. "Can-Do Attitude", Portland Monthly
  3. "Actor Adrian Grenier teams up with Portlanders to bring back beer in flat-top cans", oregonlive.com
  4. "Tech Investors Dive Into Adrian Grenier's New Beer Startup, Churchkey", TechCrunch
  5. Furnari, Chris (25 July 2013). "Churchkey Can Co. On Hiatus". Brewbound.com. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  6. "Retro ChurchKey Cans are Back". New School Beer. 4 November 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  7. Verive, John (19 May 2015). "Adrian Grenier's Churchkey Can Co. beer is now in L.A." latimes.com. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  8. "Adrian Grenier's New, Retro Beer Requires a Can Opener", BusinessWeek
  9. "America's best cities for hipsters", Itineraries, MSNBC, archived from the original on 2012-05-02


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