And they make a great fashion statement!
Posted on 07/05/2017 4:03:55 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Four years ago, the writing was on the wall for beer bottles.
Everyone from NPR to Business Insider was covering the environmental benefits and convenience of beer in cans. And that, as opposed to glass bottles, aluminum prevents any light whatsoever from getting through and damaging delicious libations.
Local breweries like Discretion and Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing have since begun canning some varietals, and Uncommon Brewers—which has only ever done cans—appears more popular than ever. Canned wine has even started taking off.
And yet when you go to the grocery store shopping for Deschutes Black Butte Porter or Lagunitas’ Censored Ale, you will—like it or not—be headed out the door with a six-pack of bottles.
That, of course, is a shame for those of us who love drinking classic West Coast craft brews, but also enjoy the taste of crisp beer out of a can.
As my cousin Mike told me last weekend, “I don’t know why anyone’s still putting beer in bottles.”
Oliver Carter, beer and wine manager for New Leaf Community Markets, says canned beer accounts for about 20 percent of their beer sales—a force to be reckoned with, for sure, but by no means the aisle’s dominating force. Carter says he still prefers drinking beer out of bottles, although he can’t exactly pinpoint why, conceding that it may have something to do with the “stigma” of sipping beer out of a can. His bottle-loving druthers apply to most, though not all, brews.
“I actually prefer drinking Sierra Nevada beer out of the can,” he says. “I don’t know what it is. They’re very clear about it being the same beer. It just seems like it tastes less malty or something.”
As someone who never enjoyed Sierra Nevada Brewing’s pale ale until it came out in cans five years ago, I can attest to that difference in taste being totally real. Or is that bias all in my head?
Discretion brewmaster Michael Demers says there isn’t any difference between drinking out of a can or a bottle, for Sierra Nevada or any other brand. And, either way, the taster should pour their drink into a glass no matter what, so they can smell it, he adds. But when he finds himself in dire straits and cups aren’t available, Demers says he too still prefers bottles.
“Something about the way that a bottle feels coming to your lips is more satisfying than the way a can feels,” he explains. “But if I’m going camping, I would rather bring cans, because they’re lighter and easier to get rid of. Just crush ’em up and put ’em back in your pack.”
These days, Discretion bottles four types of beers: Uncle Dave’s Rye IPA, Shimmer Pils, Darjeeling Lager and one rotating seasonal. Its first canned creation, the recent Submarine Canyon, was a fundraiser for Save Our Shores that flew off store shelves. Demers will soon begin work on Discretion’s second canned beer—a pale, heavy on the mosaic hops that has performed well in both tap rooms and keg sales.
In the brewing industry (like any other), the trailblazers of previous generations often show more reluctance to dive head first into the latest craze. Lagunitas Brewing, which is based in Petaluma, finally came out with its first canned beer, the 12th of Never, last summer. The name is a nod to the now-broken promise it made to never, ever sell beer in cans.
Ouch... thanks for sharing.
When shot with a 12 gauge rifle slug.
Computers hate human beings! lol
>>> When Will Canned Beer Explode?
It never happened to me, but I have had exploding canned pineapple in the cupboard. Nasty stuff, it doesn’t clean off completely from the shelf.
Does it count?
They blow up real good when holed by a 30-06 bullet. That is not the best use of either the beer or the bullet, however.
I prefer bottles. Aluminum adds a taste if you drink it from the can. If you pour it into a glass it is better. With a bottle just drink it from the bottle. The glass has no taste. The aluminum does. Or maybe it’s just me.
Back packed a can of brew to the top of Pike’s Peak; to celebrate I opened the can; it explodes at 14,000 feet. Really explodes!
They has been sitting on the shelf at least since 1980. Still intact and with beer in them.
I don’t drink beer - allergy (give me rye, scotch or sake instead). But I will attest to Coca-Cola being much better out of the short bottles than out of a can or long bottle...despite them telling me they are the same product. They do taste different.
I definitely get a sight aluminum taste when drinking beer from a can. It’s a similar taste to that I get when polishing aluminum motorcycle cases.
It’s not just you.
Before I joined the army, I drank mass-produced American beer from the can like it was water.
When I got stationed in Germany at Field Station Augsburg, I chose to live on the economy in a small German suburban town (Gablingen) close to the field station, rather than staying within the confines of the American bases in Augsburg and being bussed to the station every day.
In Gablingen, my beer was delivered to my doorstep in cases of bottles, like milk used to be delivered in the US in the 50s and 60s. This was Bürgerbraü, the beer locally brewed in Augsburg. I went through about two cases per week, before I found my self on the fat-boy program.
Once, when I had to wait too long for my soon-to-be ex-wife to shop at the PX on the American base in Augsburg, I wanted a beer and all they had was a can of Budweiser. I took one sip and literally almost puked.
I’ve been a bottle man (preferably imported) ever since.
And they make a great fashion statement!
I’ve never drank beer in cans...well maybe once or twice back in high school. As a self described beer snob I always pour my beers from a bottle into logoed beer glasses.
I collect beer glasses in all styles and have maybe 40 or 50 in my freezer.
Drinking Lazy Magnolia Gold at the moment in my very own Goose Island Brewery glass.
Yum!
Me gusta Corona, en la botella o enlatando.
(Bottled or canned.)
Depends on which you prefer - the taste of beer, or the taste of metal.
With some of the Yuppie specials these days, I can understand them preferring the taste of metal. But if one drinks real beer, the inert glass is a much better choice.
Those little bottles of Coke are probably made in Mexico. They are using actual sugar as opposed to high fructose corn syrup. It's not surprising that you can tell the difference.
When you shoot it.
I also drank beer mostly from cans, like water, prior to joining the Army.
I was stationed in Pirmasens and lived off base about a half block from the local brewery (Parkbrau).
I can't remember ever drinking from cans again after I left Germany.
Except Free Republic I suppose.
You say things that make absolutely no sense at all.
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