I count 29 different cans of beer. Yes, 29. No beer bottles, no tap handles, just cans. Sure, The Red Derby has a fully stocked liquor selection, and six wines at $6/glass, but really, the comfort beverage of choice here is the canned beer. Understanding this unusual approach to beer selection requires a quick detour through the history of beer in America.

In the beginning, there was beer. It was good. It was poured into drinking vessels from large tanks: this was time efficient and cost-effective, but it lacked portability. Then along came the bottle, which provided portability but lacked the cost-effectiveness of draught beer. It wasn’t until 1935, two years after the end of Prohibition in America, that the technological hurdles were overcome and beer was produced in canned form. Cans are lightweight, don’t allow light to reach the beer (exposure to light is a major cause of beer spoilage), and the raw materials involved are cheaper. The big breweries that remained after Prohibition started canning more of their beers, and as the larger breweries bought out the remaining smaller breweries, they were able to use economies of scale to make canned beer even cheaper.