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.
Nothing from Calif. interests me....................
I can tell you for sure that if you leave beer cans in a car in the winter, and it gets down to about 5 degrees...
When you leave it in the freezer too long.
I used to enjoy rollers.
I quit reading when he claimed that beer in cans tasted better.
...at the worst possible moment!
Maybe it’s just me, but I prefer the taste of beer in bottles versus beer in cans.
Beer in cans just doesn’t taste right, IMO.
When you dissolve nitroglycerin in it?
Bottled beer tastes like beer.
And tea brewed from bags tastes like the paper.
When Will Canned Beer Explode?
When left in your car in Arizona from June through September. So do lighters and just about everything else.
The AC went out at my house once at the River in AZ, when I got there it was 145 in the house! Everything and I mean everything exploded,toothpaste,shampoo,soaps,deodorant melted, you name it, it was everywhere.
A fascinating article on what causes a beer to “gusher.” It’s the fungi, but read the article, it is worth it. https://sommbeer.com/why-is-there-beer-raining-from-my-ceiling/
Shake it up and let us know.
Yep. Same guys that missed the dust scratches when CDs replaced record players.
And yet you seem to have an interest in Freerepublic from Fresno, Ca.
Tea is definitely better when brewed from tea leaves. ;-)
Or leave it in a car in 110 degree West Texas heat...
You could probably slow-cook a brisket at that temperature. Well, almost.
I only realized what I said when I re-read my post. Why do I never see things like that before I hit post?
Seriously though, what you get in tea bags is usually tea dust so you start with very poor quality tea and then the flavor of the paper comes in.
It is better than instant. That is about all you can say for it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.