BREWERS have made history with a can do attitude to keep pace with American giants.

Local craft brewers Brighton Bier have made history by becoming the first Brighton and Hove brewery to brew and then can their product in the city.

The landmark is the latest for the city’s burgeoning beer brewery industry and for the company itself which has grown up from one of Brighton’s smallest pubs in less than four years.

Brighton Bier bosses said they had long harboured ambitions to get its brews into cans since its founding in 2012 as a gypsy brewery based at the Hand in Hand brewpub in St James's Street.

The company has now moved to their own premises less than a mile away while also running their own pub The Brighton Bier Dispensary in Dean Street.

Bosses said they were keen to follow the canning trend that began in North America and has been picked up by large UK craft breweries like Brewdog and Beavertown.

The Brighton Bier team said small scale canning had only recently become realistic thanks to developments in the UK craft brewing sector including the arrival of companies like WeCan who offer mobile canning services.

Following the inaugural canning of their signature four per cent Brighton Bier, which won gold at the International Beer Challenge 2015, the firm hope to can “a lot more beer” including West Pier, Free State and South Coast IPA.

In a historic week for the firm, Brighton Bier also exported to North America for the first time and they now aim to sell in excess of 150,000 cans a year nationally and internationally.

The company will also be launching a series of can driven beer events in the city including a Barefoot Beer Festival.

Company founder and brewer Gary Sillence said: "When we first started brewing I enquired about shipping a small manual canning machine from Canada but it just wasn't realistic and to be honest back then people still thought it was mad to put great beer in a can.

“The landscape has changed beyond recognition.

“As well as preserving the freshness and flavour of the beer better than glass bottles, cans have enormous environmental advantages that are particularly relevant to our city."

Director Ollie Fisher said: “As a beachside city, glass bottles are just so restrictive.

“As well as being widely and easily recycled, cans also offer significant space and weight savings which reduce fuel consumption whether the beer is delivered locally, nationally or internationally.