VANCOUVER, Canada – February 19th, 2008 – Today, Russell Brewing Company, a producer of premium craft beer in British Columbia, began shipping cans of its award-winning beer to private liquor stores throughout the Province. This marks the Company’s first consumer take-home product after thirteen years of exclusively producing draught beer.

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Products include Russell Cream Ale, Russell Pale Ale, Russell Honey Blonde Ale and Russell Extra Special Lager which are available in 6 x 355ml aluminum can packs.

“We are very excited about the launch of Russell in cans,” said Andrew Harris, President, Russell Breweries Inc. “Russell draught sales have well exceeded the overall draught category growth over the past three years and if this popularity is any indication of consumer acceptance, then we are very optimistic about the growth potential of retail distribution.”

Private liquor stores account for 41.9 percent of retail counter sales in British Columbia (source: BCLDB six-month period ending September, 2007). Nationwide, sales of canned beer are up 10 percent over last year while bottled beer sales are down 4 percent for the same period (source: Brewers Association of Canada).

Aluminum cans offer a highly stable environment to package, store and serve premium craft beer. Canning limits the possibility of exposing beer to potentially harmful elements such as oxygen and UV light. Furthermore, cans are environmentally friendly costing a fraction of energy to produce, ship and to recycle compared to glass.