Most people like beer; hell, some anthropologists even point to beer as a reason for the rise of civilization as we know it. And there’s so much to choose from these days, but there’s a stigma attached with each choice; the beer you hold is a badge, a reflection of you.

Whoa, is that a Bud Light in your hand? Where’d you pledge, bro? Pabst? Sweet mustache, been on Pitchfork lately? Oh my stars, Natty? Sh*t, are you still in high school? But wait — is that the Bell’s seasonal? You, sir, have exquisite taste.

Beer snobbery is a lifestyle that, in the past few years, has reached near-indie-rock proportions.

If you want to look like a hotshot with a refined palate, well you get yourself a craft brew, some obscure label of the privileged elite.

And now, my swill-swigging friends, there’s a new wrinkle — another echelon in the hierarchy of craft brew consumption.

Some microbreweries are offering their inebriating concoctions in canned form.

What, you’re still drinking from a bottle? Awe, that’s so precious.

Canned beer has long been viewed with scorn by beer lovers because, until now, the only canned beer has been liquid crap compared to the bottle selection. But the can is actually the superior beer container in almost every way.

“Cans have a much better seal than bottles,” said James Delewese of Kenny Road Market, a popular purveyor of craft beer, “and it keeps out all light. Light is evil.”

Cans make packaging and shipping easier — and cheaper — as well. Obviously, aluminum is lighter than glass, and cans are smaller than bottles. Canning is also more eco-friendly, as aluminum takes less energy to recycle, and lighter shipping weight means less fuel consumption.

“Everything about it is more logical,” said Geoff Barnes, an avid home brewer with surprisingly encyclopedic knowledge of the trend.

The issue for smaller breweries has been startup cost; a canning line is much more expensive than a bottling line. Only the big names like Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors could afford it.

But there’s been a boom in the craft beer market, and some of the bigger microbreweries like Avery and 21st Amendment, which uses cans exclusively, have taken the leap.

It’s catching on, too.

Delewese said the Avery IPA and 21st Amendment’s Back in Black (a Black IPA) and Brew Free or Die IPA are quite popular, and Kenny Road Market’s sales for Avery’s White Rascal Belgian White went up when they switched to cans.

Dave Holland at Palmer’s Beverage Center in Clintonville has also noticed the trend, saying that Palmer’s sells out of Back in Black fairly regularly.

He also points out the can’s portability and accessibility.

“You can take them to the beach or camping — places that you can’t have glass. Now, you can have good beer anywhere,” he said.

Other locally available canned brews include those by Anderson Valley, Southern Star, and Tall Grass, and Kenny Road Market has Wittekerke Belgian White, imported from, of all places, Belgium.

Delewese also noted that popular brewery Sierra Nevada has started canning and will be available soon.

And so goes the fall of the mighty craft bottle; the long-maligned can will soon take its rightful place on the throne.

We now have a quality beer we can drink from atop our high horses, and crush against our foreheads like the true wine-knights we are.