Press Release:
(Seattle, WA) – For the first time in nearly 50 years, craft beer lovers can once again experience beer from the original flat top can. Now available across the West Coast and available nationally later this year, Churchkey Beer Co. – a craft beer company based in the Pacific Northwest – is on a mission to reinstate this forgotten beer experience, offering a unique, handcrafted Pilsner-style beer in authentic 12-ounce flat top cans. Recently launched across the West Coast in markets including Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles, Churchkey will be making its way across the country, coming to markets including Nevada and Arizona next and making its way east across the country.
“We are here to bring you a beer we are proud of in a can we are honored to share,” said Co-founder and Creative Director Justin Hawkins. “It’s all about the joy of drinking good beer – from the people you drink it with to where you drink it and, now, how you drink it. To us, it’s worth putting a little extra effort back into our modern-day lifestyle. We didn’t make these traditions, but we are keeping them alive with Churchkey.”
Co-founded by Portland-native Justin Hawkins and actor Adrian Grenier, Churchkey Beer Co. began as the desire to experience a great beer in a simple can as the generations before had. Quickly realizing the flat top can – introduced in 1935 and a standard in the beer industry until the pull-tab came to market in the mid-1960s – was all but a memory, Hawkins and Grenier set the wheels in motion to found Churchkey Beer Co.
After experimenting, and briefly going to market, with a steel can, the team eventually switched gears to aluminum to protect the great tasting Pilsner beer. The Churchkey flat top can provides an airtight seal and must be opened with a churchkey. This opener, which obtains its name from its similarity in style to the large old fashion keys formerly used to open a church, is used to punch two small triangular holes into the top of the can allowing for aeration and pouring of the beer.
Inside each can, craft beer lovers will find a delicious Pacific Northwest-inspired Pilsner-style craft beer. The recipe was originated by Portland-based home brewers Lucas Jones and Sean Burke – who have been crafting home brewed beer in their garages for many years, and are passionate about their beer and the community they cultivate with it – the Churchkey Pilsner is made using only the highest quality ingredients. This Czech-style Pilsner features notes of citrus, bread, grass and spice, leaving the palette with a dry, crisp finish. The Saaz hop taste and aroma featured in the Churchkey Pilsner make for a uniquely complex, yet sessionable beer at 5.5 percent ABV and 29 IBUs.
Churchkey Pilsner is brewed at Cold Spring Brewery, a brewery founded in 1874 and located in central Minnesota with a focus on craft beers.
Churchkey Beer Co. Pilsner will be available nationally later in 2015 at a variety of retail locations and drinking establishments in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Austin. Churchkey retails at $9.99 per six-pack – with a churchkey opener included – and between $3-$5 at bars and restaurants. . For a full list of bars, restaurants and retailers carrying Churchkey cans, visit www.Churchkey.com.
About Churchkey Beer Co.
Churchkey Beer Co., based in the Pacific Northwest, is a craft beer company on a mission to reintroduce beer lovers to the original flat top can. For the first time in 50 years, Churchkey Beer Co. offers this forgotten beer experience once again. Because in the tradition of the great men and women before us, we know it’s worth the effort. Follow Churchkey Beer Co. on Facebook and Twitter. For more information, visit Churchkey.com.