TASTE
The Can Van provides a vital service for local
breweries by canning their product.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CAN VAN
pour it into a glass from a faucet.” Moksa
reopened its taproom in late May at half
capacity, as part of the phased reopening
of some businesses throughout California.
Moksa reopened its taproom in late
May at half capacity, as part of the phased
reopening of businesses in Placer County.
At Flatland, Mohsenzadegan says
the forced closure of on-site brewpub
service prompted him to put more beer
into four-packs of cans for to-go sale
and at a few local liquor stores. “As soon
as we heard the news that they were
shutting bars and restaurants, we called
up The Can Van,” Mohsenzadegan says.
The Sacramento-based mobile
beer-canning company cans hundreds
of Northern California breweries’ beer
for retail distribution. In high demand
even before the coronavirus became a
household term, The Can Van is now
providing a vital service for the region’s
struggling craft beer industry. Co-owner
Lindsey Herrema says breweries that
have never sold beer in stores have called
on her business for help. This service
is especially critical for breweries that
don’t have crowler canning machines.
Moksa Brewing already relied on The
Can Van for packaging retail beer but has
doubled its order since March, according
to Gallanosa. This canned beer is mainly
being sold at the brewery as to-go orders,
with just a small amount going to liquor
stores and other third-party vendors. (Gallanosa
says such outlets pay breweries a
wholesale rate for their beer and that selling
directly to consumers is more profitable.)
Urban Roots and Flatland have also
increased their standard Can Van orders.
But the spike in demand for The Can
Van hasn’t exactly been a boon to business.
Herrema and business partner Jenn
Coyle pay in advance for most of the beer
cans they use, counting on client breweries
to repay them later. Some might not be
able to. “This surge in business has meant
a lot of cash out the door,” Herrema says.
Moreover, since their business
serves — and essentially relies on —
breweries, “if they don’t weather this
storm, we won’t either,” Coyle says.
Meanwhile, spiking brewpub demand
for crowlers is beginning to outpace
supply. Such a shortage could cripple
already limping breweries. “All the
chatter on the local brewery message
boards is about who’s got crowlers,”
Hoey says, adding that delivery times
for the cans used for crowlers have
slowed from about four weeks prior
to the health crisis to 10 weeks now.
Mohsenzadegan says the prospect of
running out of the cans is “terrifying.”
Federal relief dollars are helping
breweries scrape by. Some, such as
Urban Roots, have received Paycheck
Protection Program loans. Others,
including Flatland, have received
Economic Injury Disaster Loans.
Even as officials begin to allow the
food and drink service industry to fully
reopen before a vaccine coronavirus is
ready — expected to take 12-18 months
— it’s likely people, wary of strangers,
will continue the newly adopted social
distancing protocols, a social shift that
will threaten breweries like Flatland.
“We really rely on that face-to-face
interaction,” Mohsenzadegan says.
Alastair Bland is a freelance journalist
whose work also appears in NPR’s food
blog The Salt, Smithsonian.com and Yale
Environment 360.
28 comstocksmag.com | June 2020