In case the title of this post and the image above didn’t make it abundantly clear: Nickel Brook’s Naughty Neighbour is now available in cans.
You can find the 473mL cans now at the LCBO for $2.80.
Personally, I’m excited about this for a few reasons.
First and foremost, I’m a big fan of the current trend toward sessionable pale ales. There has been an argument made as of late that “sessionable” is basically just a nice way to say the beer facilitates binge drinking. Frankly, I’m OK with that. Yes, I am a nerdy beer-sniffing snob and am capable of approaching beer with a discerning, critical eye, nose, and mouth, but there are also times I feel like drinking three, four, five, even six of the same beers in one sitting. And Naughty Neighbour is actually chief among my beer choices when I opt to do so. The 4.9% American Pale Ale is aromatic, with all the grapefruity, citrusy, bitter goodness I love in a pale ale but at wholly reasonable 4.9% (and I know it seems like I’ve been giving a lot of love to Nickel Brook lately, but let’s face it, they’re making some good beer).
Second, I like beer from a can. Beer cans are sprayed with an interior coating which means the argument that aluminum can impart a tinny flavour simply no longer has any merit. Cans are also more reliably airtight than the occasionally faulty crown-capped bottles and they are also, by design, light-impenetrable. This means that the beer in cans is better protected from the two elements (air and light) that might erode the quality of your beer. Beer in cans is therefore demonstrably better than beer in bottles,* and this hoppy yet refreshing style is definitely best enjoyed as fresh as possible.
Plus, there’s more beer per serving in a tall boy and, depending on the circumstances of my drinking and pouring, a decreased likelihood of the container breaking before I get to drink it is always a bonus (See above re: propensity to drink half a dozen in one sitting).
And this has somehow devolved into bad art criticism so I’m going to stop and go crack another Naughty Neighbour can. Cheers.
Ben's Beer Blog 
Great post! Completely agree with your comment regarding the strike at Crown Metal Packaging. Well said sir.
Ontario policy explicitly discriminates against beer cans vs beer bottles. A 8.93 cents per can tax is added, even though there is a 10 cents per can deposit already collected. This was instituted in the early 90s as free trade with the US was opening up the Ontario beer market to imports. The idea was that cans are a much more economical way to ship beer, so why not add an additional tax to make the imported beer less competitive.
Even back then, the provincial government were in the pockets of Ontario big brewers.
Your comments about the Crown strike are predictably narrowly focussed. We should all have a concern about the way jobs are being casualized, rendered precarious and exploitative, particularly for the younger generation of wannabe employees. The end result of this race to the bottom, inevitably, is a decline in product quality. The way this is affecting the brewing industry proper should at least cause you to raise your eyes from your jug of suds. I love good beer, but I love my fellow workers more, and right now I won’t drink from Crown cans. Matter of principle.
John Humphrey