Budweiser mastered the mass-marketing of beer across America. And Miller gave us the first mainstream "lite" beer, creating a nationwide sales phenomenon. But Coors gave us the aluminum can.
The Rocky Mountain News reported that yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of Coors unveiling the U.S. beer industries "first seamless, recyclable aluminum beer can." Previously, beer was canned in tin containers that were hard to recycle and tainted the beer's taste. Industry transition to the now ubiquitous aluminum can didn't happen overnight -- other brewers with entrenched interests objected -- but eventually the entire steel beverage can industry was rendered obsolete.
To this day, Coors owns and helps operate the nation's largest aluminum can manufacturing plant. And in today's "go green" world, Coors also likes to remind us that in 1959, immediately after introducing the aluminum can, "Coors launched a recycling revolution by offering a penny for every can returned to the brewer." As they succinctly state in their environmental stewardship brochure: "We invented the recyclable aluminum can."
So Coors may or may not have been the alcoholic beverage of choice that caused that vagrant you see collecting aluminum cans to live on the street, but they're definitely the ones who helped give him a second chance!
What?! Too soon? Come on, it's been 50 years! Happy golden anniversary to Golden, Colorado's aluminum can.
There are a lot of different kinds of pots and pans out there, and everyone's singing the praises of one or the other. Ignoring makers, Harold McGee of The New York Times put the different metals to the test.
We know aluminum pans to be the cheapest and lightest. Stainless steel looks beautiful forever and functions well at very high heat. Cast iron holds heat longer and is safe for popping in the oven after you've done what you need to on the stove--and it's even rumored to add nutritional iron to foods! Copper, the usual cream of the crop; typically the most expensive and prettiest, conducts heat evenly and quickly. Most copper pots and pans are coated with stainless steel (older copper pans coated with tin or nickel may be harmful, check your pans).
According to McGee's home test, electrical or open flame on your stove doesn't make much of difference, but the pans definitely all behave differently. His conclusions? To each his own.
What do you get when you combine hundreds of engineers, a charitable mindset and about a zillion aluminum cans?
You get Canstruction. Each year, major cities across the U.S. raise awareness about hunger by hosting building competitions, which are then deconstructed and distributed to local food pantries and day care and senior centers.
Since 1992, Canstruction has donated ten million pounds of canned food to organizations, and one hundred more competitions are scheduled for this year.
The designs range from an octopus to bowling pins to a lotus blossom, each carefully designed and meticulously constructed. And if you think the hot dog and condiments are cool, check out the gallery for more food-inspired designs.
Everyone nowadays is concerned about the environment. Big business is especially concerned with its image. It wants the valuable consumers that a good green image can bring.
To coordinate everything, the drink maker even created a whole division dedicated to collecting and recycling all of its waste packaging. Coca Cola Recycling just built a plant in South Carolina. The division says that the aluminum recycling initiative will use 95% less energy and reduce carbon emissions by 95% than creating new cans.
So here you go; another big company working to beef up its green image. I think it's great. A company as big as Coca Cola recycling all of its waste can make a huge impact on what goes in the landfills. It also makes a lot of business sense. So this kind of thing is a win-win for everyone.
The theft of beer kegs from pubs and breweries is on the rise in the UK, according to a recent story in The
Publican. Apparently beer isn't what the thieves are after, however. High prices of aluminum and steel are to blame,
with kegs being worth around £50 (approximately $90). One brewery actually reported a theft of 100 kegs in 13
minutes one night. Some thieves are even posing as beer distributors collecting empties. Local police are urging pub
owners to keep their kegs in more secure locations for now.
It is not clear what the people at Berndes, a German cookware
company, were thinking when they designed this pan. It is clear, however, that they did not agonize over the name,
calling it simply the Fat Bug Cake
Pan. This is not the usual shape you expect to find in a cake pan. You expect roses,
hearts and maybe even a butterfly.
You definitely do not expect to see a cast aluminum larvae mold. I give them full credit for originality, and the pan is
no doubt of high quality, but I still can't see spending $25 to buy a pan shaped like, to put it generously, a "fat
bug."
Heart-shaped cake pans are great for Valentine's Day. After all, anything shaped as a heart - cakes,
cookies, mashed potatoes - is automatically perceived as romantic being romantic. The problem with heart-shaped
bakeware is that it isn't terribly practical. You have to store it and probably will not be using it nearly as much as
more traditional square and round pans. But Reynold's has come out with
a line of shaped aluminum mini cake pans. Usethe Fun Shapes pans to bake heart-shaped mini cakes and then
simply throw out the tin as you would with an ordinary cupcake wrapper. The company recently started marketing
these, but plans to put them out for most holidays. I paid $1.49 for this pack of 24 at my local grocery store.
Like so many other people, I've been using my nonstick frying pans for many years
now, in addition to my other pots and pans. With cancer concerns relating to the
toxic perfluorochemicals coming to light, it's time for some new cookware. After all, the EPA is only "phasing
out" these chemicals to avoid shutting down very large portions of very large companies. PFOA has been shown to
cause cancer and, like mercury and lead, build up in the body over time, so there is no reason to continue our
exposure to it.
Budweiser mastered the mass-marketing of beer across America. And Miller gave us the first mainstream "lite" beer, creating a nationwide sales phenomenon. But Coors gave us the aluminum can.
Everyone nowadays is concerned about the environment. Big business is especially concerned with its image. It wants the valuable consumers that a good 
The theft of beer kegs from pubs and breweries is on the rise in the UK, according to a recent story in 
It is not clear what the people at 
Heart-shaped cake pans are great for Valentine's Day. After all, anything shaped as a heart - cakes,
cookies, mashed potatoes - is automatically perceived as romantic being romantic. The problem with heart-shaped
bakeware is that it isn't terribly practical. You have to store it and probably will not be using it nearly as much as
more traditional square and round pans. But 
Like so many other people, I've been using my nonstick frying pans for many years
now, in addition to my other pots and pans. With 
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