Glass Bottle vs Aluminum Can

9outof10mms

9outof10mms

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My current go-to brew is Highland Brewing Gaelic Ale...’scuse me while I drool for a second just thinking about it...

We had some friends over for dinner and they brought a pack of Gaelic Ale but instead of the tried and true glass bottle, it was in cans—I’d never tasted this brew in a can before. My first thought was to ask them to leave for bringing such blasphemy into my castle, but my manners prevailed and I tried one.

Right off the bat, a nicer, thicker head out of the can. Damn near picture quality foam. Then the taste; it was as good or better than a tap.

What gives? I thought glass bottles were the only way for a man to drink a *good* beer outside of getting sloshed on payday with a WalMart mega-pack of [insert favorite piss water beer name here].
 
Ive actually also heard before from people who enjoy alot of beverages that cans are better tasting. Something along the lines of light exposure etc. Curious to see others thoughts on here also.
 
Light exposure is a big deal with beer. Keg beer is the best right? What is a keg? It’s a big aluminum can. Oscar Blues and some other premium breweries have pushed can technology to impart no foreign tastes to beer while giving the best seal against air and light. Can beer is as good if not better than bottles.
 
Avaiator in FV says the glass isn’t an airtight seal with the lid, where a can is. Also the issue with light exposure. Makes sense to me.
 
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Craft beer started out in bottles because it was a cheaper and easier way to produce. You can get a small bottle line a lot cheaper than canning line. Now they have mobile canning lines so you can get started by them canning then save up for your own line. Bad thing about bottles : light, seal, and breaking. Even the darkest glass lets some light pass. Caps will let some co2 escape. And you not suppose to take glass to pool, beach, concerts....

When I make a batch of beer, I make 6 gal. I put 5 gal in a keg and bottle the rest, but they are in my dark basement. They will taste different over time, mostly because beer like wine does age- sometimes good, sometimes bad. But if they are just capped they tend to get flatter with age. That is why you see some beer in the bigger bottles have cork and cage on them.
 
I’ve always thought glass bottled beer tasted better.
 
Cans are a better container for beer if for nothing else that 100% light proof, plus completely air tight.

Oskar Blues really set the standard for canning craft beer, and more very good craft beer is being canned. Hi-Wire Brewing in Asheville, which is 3rd in production in Asheville, behind New Belgium and Highland, has removed their bottling equipment for 12oz bottles completely and are using the space for more tanks, and to store empty cans. There must also be a savings on shipping.

Outside of some really special small batch stuff all in 750ml cork & bail bottles, I have not purchased a 12ox bottle in many months.
 
I thought there was “metal taste” and/or minerals from aluminum??? Maybe an old wives tale.

Next purchase of Gaelic Ale will be cans for me.
 
I stop by Oskar Blues in Brevard or at a couple other local places. Most have changed over their growlers for cans.

1. They purge the can with nitrogen
2. Fill it from the tap (draft)
3. Seal the can

Stays fresh for far longer than a glass growler with twist top.
 
Wife brews and sister in law works at a Brewery in VA. SIL brewery does cans and bottles but the majority of stuff these days is cans. A lot is market and customer specific. As others have stated Oskar Blues was at the forefront of canning craft beers. If I remember the story right when they originally approached Ball to do can his beer which in those days was a small micro brewery in Lyons, CO. Somehow he talked them into it. At the time they only produced cans for large brewery producing mainly swill like Coors and soda companies like coke. The printed directly on the cans and small runs were not economical for Ball. IIRC Oskar Blues took the blank cans and labeled them themselves. They placed one order of cans a year. Overtime they developed machines to can and label in one step. They also were the first to use 19oz large format step can.

These days almost everyone cans in the craft brew industry. I can't remember the numbers exactly but bottles still dominate the craft beer market. I think it is still 4 to 1. This is because bottles are still used at a high percentage by the largest breweries like Sierra Nevada and Yuengling who have the highest volumes so they skew the numbers. At smaller volume breweries the ratio is getting close to 1 to 1. There are mobile canning and labeling lines that can be brought to just about any size brewery allowing them to enter distribution without having to buy the equipment to can or bottle. Like others have said no light spoilage and the use of nitrogen purges the can so it does not impart anything to the beer. Also I believe that aluminum is a better material to recycle than glass. I think over time as the older bottling lines get replaced you will see more and more cans.
 
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