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.
Ha ha!
REAL beer does that to a man!
I feel so sorry for all of the men in our midst who have never tasted REAL beer!
Beer in a can? They must be talking Budweiser.
Wow, that had to be a royal mess.
What's better than bottles? Fresh out of the tap.
And who doesn't love the "crisp" taste of aluminum fouled beer in a can.
Cans may be fine for Budweiser or Keystone or some other pi$$water beer but not for my Polygamy Porter!
One feature of Asian societies that is seldom acknowledged is that they all HATE each other and look on each other as subhuman. The Vietnamese hate the Montagnards and the Cambodes and the Chinese. Everyone hates the Japanese. The Japanese hate everyone indiscriminately. Ond on and on. The Japanese may be the worst for this but the other countries aren’t much better. The Norks and Chinese might tolerate each other for various reasons but underneath it all they truly detest each other. Worse than they do us. I picked this up during my 3 years in the West Pacific in the Navy and have seen nothing since that would change my opinion.
Sorry. Wrong thread.
Well nothing politically or culturally interests me...
Is that better....?
Fact is I pay attention to lot's of what happens in Calif. It's my home state. And I have family and friends there still....So you are correct.
Well...there are other things...but yeah!
Not the first time...And you?
I am a lifelong beer drinker and was once a bottle snob but I can honestly say that I prefer today’s cans to bottles. There is no metallic taste whatsoever in cans. (Have you ever heard anyone complain of a metallic taste in a can of Coca-Cola or 7-Up? Or of an aluminum taste in food wrapped in or even cooked in aluminum foil?). On the other hand, I frequently detect a metallic taste in bottles that comes from the metal bottle caps. The caps lack the thick plastic lining that they once had. Cans are also easier to carry and dispose of. And, as a pool owner, they are a lot safer.
My favorite cans are the 16 ounce (pint) sized cans with the screw tops. They are a perfect size and feel great in your hand. Unfortunately, they do not seem to be used by the better breweries at this time, but that will change. My only pet peeve with cans are the ones that have labels glued on to them. These are becoming more common but they look cheap and do not feel right in your hand.
I’ve read that there is a statistical link between food prepared and stored in aluminum and Alzheimer’s Disease.
Which might explain a lot of the problems out in California.
That’s OK. This is a beer can hate thread.
They hate the cans. Stay away from the cans.
Conservatives here are just out numbered by ignorant, liberal know-nothings that think they know it all... Which they don't. Stupid people vote here too, which is widely known.
I cannot stand the taste of soda pop in cans. I can taste the aluminum!
Beer cannot taste good from cans but I guess you are too drunk to notice or care?
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