Modus Operandi offers craft beer in jumbo can

You've been hiking all day. Your feet are blistered and your eyes sting with sweat and dirt. The inside of your mouth feels like drywall and the only thing keeping you going is the thought of necking that can of beer on your backpack when you hit the mountain's summit.

Except that moment of reward is always better in your head than in practice. The can is warm, the beer insipid and flat. And even though you hate it, one can is never enough.

We live in a country where this is no longer an issue. Hikers, bikers, surfers, campers, fisher-people and fans of aluminium, listen up. Mona Vale brewery Modus Operandi has unveiled the "CANimal" - a 946mL one-use recyclable can filled with beer that doesn't taste like floor cleaner.

At nearly one litre, it might be the biggest commercially available beer can in Australia (the five-metre tall "big beer can" in Cobar doesn't count).

The cans are sold in a similar way to refillable growlers and squealers, which Modus Operandi also offers. You choose what beer you want to take home from the Modus taps - maybe a saison, red IPA or porter - and the staff fill and seam the can with a customised canner at the bar.

"You have the freedom of storing beer longer and eliminating the negative effects of UV light in a portable, unbreakable and crushable vessel," Modus Operandi's owner, Grant Wearin, says.

Wearin believes this is the first time in Australia and second time in the world punters can take home draught craft beer in a can, straight from the brewery.

"For barrel-aged and specialty beer, the cans are also very good value for their capacity," says Wearin's wife and business partner, Jaz.

A CANimal will set you back between $17-21 depending on beer style. Time to pull those burrs out of your hiking socks and hop to it.

14 Harkeith Street, Mona Vale, 02 8407 9864, mobrewing.com.au