(PD) - At the corner of the bar over at Third Street Aleworks stands a contraption that looks like a cross between a drill press from a junior high metal-shop class and a high-tech can opener.

It’s called a Crowler machine. The bartender takes a 32-ounce aluminum can and sprays in carbon dioxide to flush out oxygen before filling it with one of the beers on draft at the downtown Santa Rosa brewpub. The can is then capped and sealed, and the customer can take it away for $7.

Since its introduction this summer, the sales have been phenomenal, now averaging about 110 a week, said Tyler Laverty, brewer for Third Street Aleworks. The brewpub, which lives in the shadow of the very popular Russian River Brewing Co. one block over, went into the black with the $3,000 machine within about a month of its introduction, he said.

“They are just blowing out the door,” Laverty said.

Besides being a nice novelty to drive sales, the Crowler is emblematic of an increasing trend in the craft beer industry, which is relying more on aluminum cans for reasons of cost, consumer preference, portability and environmental benefits.

In 2011, just 2 percent of U.S. craft beer production was packaged in cans; three years later that figure jumped to 10 percent, totaling almost 2.2 million barrels, according to the Brewers Association, the trade group for the craft beer industry.

“It will increase … though there may be limits in the medium-term,” said Bart Watson, chief economist for the Brewers Association. “There is still some work on education and perception to do.”

The growth, driven by a millennial demographic that has enthusiastically embraced cans, also has spilled over into other adult beverages. Locally, Sonoma Cider in Healdsburg, with an assist from a Bay Area mobile-bottling line, used a can for its habanero-lime concoction, noting it was “the perfect complement to summer activities — camping, barbecues and all things outdoors.”

It even has the wine industry taking notice, looking to keep up with a craft beer industry that has been at the forefront in setting beverage trends. In 2002, Francis Ford Coppola Winery was one of the first when it launched its Sofia brand, a sparkling wine in a small 187-milliliter can that was named after the famed director’s daughter.

It has taken a while to catch on, but earlier this year, E&J Gallo tested a canned version of its Barefoot Refresh Spritzer, and now it’s available in Arizona, North Carolina and Minnesota.