I am grateful for the beer can, for it has taught me much.
I have learned a bit about physics: if you leave approximately one twelfth of beer in your can, you can tilt the can slightly and it will balance at an angle. In school, they taught other laws of physics such as 'what goes up must come down', but beer taught me what goes down, can come up.
I've picked up some general knowledge from the twist-caps on beer bottles.
When I heard that the largest beer can supplier in the world, Ball Corporation, had just celebrated the 75th anniversary of the beer can, I wanted to know more.
I thought reading about the introduction of the beer can would be a short story, but I was wrong.
Like humans, the beer can has evolved from when it was first introduced on January 24, 1935.
The first three-piece steel beer can weighed 35 ounces and required a church key for opening; however, today's aluminium cans weigh just .47 ounces and feature an easy-open stay-on tab.
When the first aluminium can debuted in the US in 1958, it was made of just two pieces - the base and the body from one piece, and the end, or lid, was seamed later on.
By 1963, pull-tab beer cans started to appear on the market and beer lovers were excited because they no longer had to use an opener - however, since the tabs were detachable, consumers were concerned about littering and safety.
Therefore, in 1975, they addressed consumer concerns and introduced a new beer can that had a fixed tab.
In recent years, Ball has implemented visual effects such as coloured tabs, magazine-quality printing and thermochromic ink that lets consumers know their beer is cold enough to drink.
The environment has also benefited from the evolution of the can. The size of the end diameter has been reduced five times from its original design, saving substantial amounts of aluminum each time.
Today's 12 oz aluminum can uses about 40 per cent less aluminium than in 1970, from about 22 to 34 cans per pound today.
Furthermore, the can is the most recycled packaging in the world, with a rate of 54 per cent in the US and 70 per cent in Europe.
Since cans are 100 per cent recyclable, using recycled aluminum requires 95 per cent less energy which means 95 per cent less emissions.
Such a long history for something we don't pay much attention to makes me wonder about how much more I could learn from other things we use daily.
Maybe I can learn about the history toothpaste... Or not.