Thank New Jersey for canned beer

Did you know that the first canned beer in America was produced in New Jersey? On January 24th, 1935, the Krueger Brewing Company of Newark produced suds in a can. The brewery was founded in 1851 as Liable and Adam Brewing, but the name was changed in 1875 when Gottfried Krueger became the sole owner. The business was a great success, even weathering the storm of Prohibition by producing near (non-alcoholic) beer and soda. Since the brewery was never shut down it was well situated to start brewing as soon as the ban ended; according to Wikipedia, it took two days for the line in front of the brewery to die down.

In 1935, Krueger partnered with American Can Company to produce the nation’s first canned beer; since it was so novel and such a big risk, American Can installed the equipment for free, with the understanding that Krueger would only pay if the plan was successful. It was. By 1952, the company was producing 1 million barrel a year from their plant in Newark, but when Miller and Anheuser-Busch started gobbling up market share later in the decade, the Krueger Brewing Company’s days were numbered. In 1961, Narragansett Brewing licensed the name. The Krueger Brewing Company name continues on with breweries in Florida and in Colorado.