Summer brings travel and travel means that our favorite drink is often consumed on the go. And that brings us to the entire bottle or can debate. Does beer taste better from the former or the latter? This blog post has no intention of settling this imaginary debate once and for all, but rather to provide some information and context for an easier decision.
Beer is a fragile thing whose biggest enemies are oxygen, light and heat. The most important feature each kind of beer packaging has is the protection of the liquid, and a good beer bottle or can will do wonders for your beer if properly stored. For example, if light strikes a beer bottle, the beer can become spoiled and smell skunky. Trust us, nobody wants to try this kind of beer.
At first, all beer was poured on draft from wooden barrels that worked without a pump, relying solely on gravity. At the end of the 18th century a beer pump was developed in England, so the beer could be drawn to the bar from a barrel located underneath in the pub cellar. At the beginning of the 20th century a steel keg was introduced which gradually replaced the wooden ones, giving the precious liquid a proper protection.
Beer bottles have been around for centuries. During that time they evolved in color, shape and material. The best thing about the bottle is that glass is a neutral material that does not affect the taste of beer at all. This leads us to cans. The biggest knock on canned beer is that it often tastes "metallic". The metallic taste thing probably dates all the way back to the early canned beer history (first commercially available canned beer was released in 1935) when such issues really did occur. Nowadays, the can manufacturing process (obviously) evolved - i.e the cans are coated on the inside so the beer and aluminum have no contact. In case that this manufacturing progress is not convincing enough, the best thing is to drink beer the proper way - poured from a can to a clean glass, to avoid the impression that the beer has a metallic off-flavor.
So, should you drink your beer from a bottle or can? Or draft? As long as each type of packaging is handled properly, the answer is an overwhelming: YES, just go and have a beer!
