I LOVE beer. I’m sorry, I’ve just always had an affinity for shouting provocative things in public. But this one does have some relevance, as the origins of American Canning are firmly rooted in our thirst for solving the most existential crisis of our early 20s — craft beer was not yet widely available outside of bars and restaurants.

To put it simply, we started American Canning to give consumers access to better beverages in more places. Places like floating the river, at your backyard BBQ, or kicking your feet up on a boat your buddy “borrowed” while his stepdad was out of town.

We knew then what everyone knows now—that the aluminum can would be the vessel to unlock this vision.

We first did this through mobile canning here in the State of Texas. Then we slashed minimum order sizes, reduced lead times to days, and made available cans to anyone in the U.S. with the launch of our e-commerce site. Our canning machines have enabled hundreds of small, scaling, and innovative companies to introduce their products in cans; and now, with the startup of this plant behind me, we are literally creating the opportunity for us thirsty consumers to enjoy almost any beverage we could imagine in a can.

If you only take one thing from the festivities here today, it should be that we are making the best cans in the world in the most sustainable can plant in the world.

By now, most of you have seen this logo or heard the word ‘aTULC’ mentioned or in print leading up to this event. But what is it? In short, aTULC is the technology behind the cans we are making. It is what allows us to produce cans that hold more beverage types better and for longer than any other can—and to do so in an environmentally friendly way.

But there’s something else this mark represents.

It also represents the collaboration, the trust, and the hard work of American Canning and Toyo Seikan to make this project a reality. Based in Japan, Toyo Seikan is one of the largest, highest-regarded, and most innovative can makers in the world. Without their support, we never could have realized this vision.

There is a line in one of our defining principles that says, “Innovation doesn’t always involve invention of new products; it is oftenthinking of new or improved ways of doing things" - and I think that is such agreat representation of this project.

aTULC cans are not new. Toyo Seikan developed this technology more than 22 years ago! But it was created for a different purpose.It was created to lower the cost of building can making facilities and to eliminatewater use during production. These are noble causes and great ideas. But they didn’t tip the scales enough to drive the west to adopt this technology.

American Canning did not invent this technology—we just repackaged it. We connected the dots. We observed a problem that would only get worse with time and continued innovation and decided to give the solution a platform.

People want their canned margaritas and rosé, but traditional cans are failing them — literally — and aTULC cans are the solution. These cans are giving new life to acidic beverages and beverages containing more abrasive ingredients like distilled spirits. These cans are a perfect representation of how innovation and collaboration should work. It is what has allowed us to make the best cans in the most sustainable can plant inthe world.

I would like to take a moment to express my gratitude andappreciation to everyone that has worked on this project, especially our families, our team, the families of our team, our partners, and everyone who sacrificed and worked so hard to make thisproject a reality. This project and the impact it will have would be nothing without you.

From Toyo Seikan, I would especially like to thank Mr. Satoshi Nishino, Mr. Shigenori Mori, and Mr. Seijiro Hayashi for leading and coordinating the business aspects of this project.

I would also like to take a moment to apologize to those of you joining the livestream as you will not be able to sample the wares with ushere today. We will be sure to pour one out in your honor. Thank you to ourcustomers and friends in the industry for providing us with such delicious examples of what you do.  

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