Bottle Or Can? The Great Beer Debate Rages On. (tastes, flavor, drink)

[John1960]

A wise man once said, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” If that’s really true, why can’t beer drinkers across the world be just as happy consuming their favorite brand from a can as a bottle?

I was reminded of this great debate during a July 4th barbeque at my house when a perplexed younger neighbor pulled a chilled can of (imported) beer from the cooler and asked the following:

“Do you…um…like…have anything I can pour this in?”

Bottle Or Can? The Great Beer Debate Rages On - Forbes

[OpenD]

There's just no accounting for taste. And there's no way to fight mass marketing.

Cans are proven superior for preserving beer quality, and green bottles are proven inferior, yet the third largest brewery in the world ships their beer all over tarnation in green bottles.

I'm just delighted that it is now practical for smaller craft breweries to can their "better than mass market" beers.

If the hipsters don't get it, oh well, All the more for me!

[Ohiogirl81]

There's no debate at all. Cans are for convenience, not taste.

[Natural510]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

There's no debate at all. Cans are for convenience, not taste.

Cans preserve beer better than bottles, at least in the short-term. One still needs to pour beer in a glass either way, to maximize flavor

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

There's no debate at all. Cans are for convenience, not taste.

Actually, in blind side by side taste tests, today's beer cans have been proven superior to bottles for the storage and transportation of beer.

Cans are lighter weight, and they pack more efficiently, so they are cheaper to ship and easier to store. They chill faster. Their material is more easily recyclable. They don't shatter on impact, so they're safe to take to the pool, etc. They completely block light and keep the beer tasting fresher.

The single point bottles have in their favor is that people prefer bottles over cans for drinking directly out of the container. But when the beer is poured into glasses for consumption, cans win for freshness.

And you may not have ever thought about it before, but that's why so many hundreds of millions of dollars (or more?) have been invested in disposable/recyclable aluminum bottle designs, to try to give consumers a "bottle" experience while gaining most of the proven advantages of a can.

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by OpenD

Actually, in blind side by side taste tests, today's beer cans have been proven superior to bottles for the storage and transportation of beer.

Convenience.

Cans are lighter weight, and they pack more efficiently, so they are cheaper to ship and easier to store. They chill faster. Their material is more easily recyclable. They don't shatter on impact, so they're safe to take to the pool, etc.

Convenience.

And you may not have ever thought about it before, but that's why so many hundreds of millions of dollars (or more?) have been invested in disposable/recyclable aluminum bottle designs, to try to give consumers a "bottle" experience while gaining most of the proven advantages of a can.

Convenience.

[Reactionary]

Oskar Blues from Colorado and Good People from Alabama are craft brewers who can their beers. Read "What's With The Can?":

- portable for outdoor enjoyment (beach / swimming / camping / golfing)
- keeps fresher by keeping beer from light / oxygen
- cans are lined with a water based coating so beer and metal never touch (no metallic flavor)
- cans easier to recycle
- Oskar Blues saves 35% on shipping fuel costs

Oskar Blues*|*Brewery History - Oskar Blues

Taste? Three medals at the 2011 GABF.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by OpenD

Actually, in blind side by side taste tests, today's beer cans have been proven superior to bottles for the storage and transportation of beer.

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Convenience.

Read it again. Taste tests have shown that beer tastes better when stored and transported in cans, because cans keep the beer fresher. This is the reason craft brewers have been climbing all over their new canning options.

[Cleveland_Collector]

Canned beer is fine. Canning technology, as some have stated, has improved to the point of where it does a better job than a capped bottle. The caveat: Canning technology is much more expensive, initially. It requires expensive equipment to fill, cap, and label a can. One can buy bottles, a capping tool, and some laser labels for a few dollars and bottle beer at home. That and traditional belief is why craft brewers use bottles.

[Asheville Native]

The bottle a brewer puts their beer in tells a lot about their beer and how they feel toward consumers.

If they care so little as to put their beer in a screw cap bottle, they don't care about the quality of their beer or care about the consumer.