Moosehead Breweries saying goodbye to bottled beer, switching to cans only

The iconic Maritime beer company says by the end of 2025, it will no longer being producing its beer in bottles, instead opting for cans and kegs only.

What’s the best way to enjoy an ice-cold beer? Well, Moosehead Breweries has Maritimers divided.

The New Brunswick-based brewer announced Tuesday that it will no longer be serving its popular lager in bottles, instead making the switch to cans and kegs to package its entire product line.

The shift, the company says, is being seen across the country.

“When I started in the beer business 32 years ago, 90 per cent of the beer that was sold in Canada was sold in bottles,” said Andrew Oland, Moosehead Breweries’ president and CEO. “Now it’s seven per cent of beer sold in bottles, and 85 per cent is sold in cans…. So, it’s something we’d been monitoring for the last number of years.”

But Oland says a changing industry isn’t the only reason the company is switching things up.

“There are two big enemies of beer. One is light and one is oxygen,” Oland explains. “And those will cause beer to degrade … and the can provides better protection from both of those than a bottle.”

But some Moosehead fans are convinced that cracking a cold one will never be the same.

“The can is a little more metallic flavoured — the bottle kind of helps with that, I’d say,” said Brittany Kraus, a patron at The BG on the Halifax Waterfront. “I like the pop of the opening, and it’s just a little bit easier to hold — it keeps it colder too.”