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Great Lakes Brewing Co. will release beers in cans for the first time in its 29-year history. Turntable Pils, Lightkeeper Blonde Ale and Rally Drum Red Ale are set to be canned and released this year.

(Great Lakes Brewing Co.)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - For the first time in its 29-year-history, Great Lakes Brewing Co. will begin distributing its beers in cans.

Canning will be done in a collaborative deal with Harpoon Brewery of New England, with cans rolling off the line at Harpoon's Boston production facility. Great Lakes Brewing Co. does not have its own canning line.

Beginning in May, year-round Turntable Pils and seasonal Lightkeeper Blonde Ale will be available in 12-packs of 12-ounce cans. Rally Drum Red Ale - formerly a pub-exclusive draft - will be available in 12-packs of 16-ounce cans. Turntable Pils pint cans will follow in August. Down the line, other Great Lakes cans are a definite possibility, said Bill Boor, Great Lakes Brewing Co. chief executive officer.

"It's (time table) a hard thing to talk about; we're at capacity," Boor said. "Any expansion plans are going to include a (canning) line. I don't think there's any future expansion without cans."

Boor said having the brewery's beers "in situations appropriate - outdoors, stadiums" was part of the impetus for turning to cans. Harpoon's quality-control measures also impressed Great Lakes executives, Boor said.

Great Lakes canned brews will be available everywhere the brewery's beer is sold beginning in May.

The colorful cans will include the brewery's latest packaging and design, which Great Lakes unveiled in 2015.

The brewery has long embraced Cleveland landmarks in its names and designs for its beers:

* Turntable Pils is a Czech-style Pilsner that pays homage to Ohio's music legacy. It debuted in April 2016 and is 5.4 percent alcohol.

* Lightkeeper Blonde Ale is the newest of the canned trio, being released this month in the Great Lakes Fridge Filler Variety Pack. Its label features Lake Erie's Marblehead Lighthouse. It is 6.6 percent alcohol.

* Rally Drum Red Ale has been brewed for several years in the brewpub and references drummer John Adams, a fixture in Progressive Field bleachers. It is 5.8 percent alcohol.

Harpoon (1986) and Great Lakes (1988) were founded at the beginning of what would become a wave of craft breweries starting in the United States. Harpoon added a brewery in Windsor, Vermont, and is an employee-owned company. The breweries are very comparable in size: According to Brewers Association statistics of craft breweries by volume, Harpoon is the nation's 19th largest and Great Lakes is 21st.

For the most part, cans have overcome a long-held stigma as being too closely associated with cheap lagers of years past. Now, few markets - like Northeast Ohio - are without at least some canned craft brews.

Platform Beer Co. only distributes via draft and cans - no bottles. Sibling Revelry in Westlake, just more than a year old, also has sold beer in cans. And this past season, through an arrangement with Buckeye Mobile Canning, FirstEnergy Stadium sold several local craft brews in pint cans, including 216 Pale Ale from Portside Brewery and Distillery in Cleveland, P.O.C. from Double Wing Brewing Co. in Madison, a Kolsch and Pale Ale from 17th State Brewing Co. and New Cleveland Palesner from Platform.

Will there come a day when Clevelanders will be sipping Great Lakes Christmas Ale in cans?

"Man, that's way beyond anything I've thought about," Boor said. "I think anything is on the table. If you'd have asked me five years ago I'd say I don't see (craft in) cans. Three years ago, 'well, light beer in hot weather, I can see that.' Now, any style could be considered."