Bottled, vs Draft, vs Can

Isn't the keg just a big can ;-)

It depends what you are drinking. Lots of canned imported beers are vastly superior because the can protects the beer better than a bottle. Canned Paulaner, Sapporo Stout Draft and Közel (sp?) come to mind. In Colorado I can get Dale's Pale Ale and an ESB from Ska brewing in cans and they are great too.

I suppose it depends on the beer you start with - s***ty Bud is going to taste s***ty from a bottle, can, or keg the choice is yours.

_Randal

Aluminum has a taste, glass doesn't. Also, canned beer gets warmer quicker.

Yes, but the volume seals in the freshness. ie, it takes longer to spoil a gallon of milk then it does a pint. That's why the 5 liter kegs are great.

piddy

Next time I travel to Ft. Collins, I'm gonna pick up a bunch of that ale!!!

Best regards, Bill

Next time I travel to Ft. Collins, I'm gonna pick up a bunch of that ale!!!

Best regards, Bill

I gather a lot of European beers are available in cans -- in Europe -- including great Czech and German beers. It's a shame we don't see more of them over here, because cans are lighter (easier to pack around) and light-proof-er (no skunking). I've been beating this drum for awhile, but unfortunately, can lines seem to be out of the price range of most craft brewers in the US. Granville Island, in Vancouver, BC, cans some or all of their line and the beers are excellent.

--Jeff Frane

Yup and often people who say beer out of a can "tastes of metal" are usually drinking *straight from the can*- something that shouldn't be done with any beer (same goes for beer straight from the bottle- beer's got to poured into a glass so that excess CO2 is released and a nice head forms...)

I've been beating this drum for

Well, except for those which are contract-brewed at old breweries (a dying breed, tho', I guess- what's left, besides Wicked Pete's?) Sam Adams has the old Schoenling Brewery but did that still have a canning line? There's no doubt that the "image" is still more important than a good package for beer. (If some of these brewers cared, would the purposely leave the date code OFF the labels for certain distributors?)

The cost of canning lines isn't the only obstacle. The other problem is there are way too many beer consumers running around in America with this daft notion that canned beer = bad beer. There's nothing inherently inferior about the can as a packaging mechnanism, and you've already outlines some of the ways it's preferable.

It is fun, though, bursting those people's bubbles by pointing out how, when I lived in Germany, I often drank Jever or PU that was in a can.

-Steve

I agree with this psot. (ObAOL: Me twooo!1!)

Absolutely. Ten years ago, taking a train from Brussels to Muenster, a friend and I had to change trains in Cologne. It was a warm summer day, so I asked him to mind our bags while basking on the platform, and ran down to the station's supermarket. Came back with cans of Budvar. His eyes went saucer-wide. I told him there were plenty more where that came from. I've seen canned Koelsch, Altbier, Weissbier, and more Pilsners than I'd know what to do with. There are canned witbiers and krieks in Belgium. With all these beers, the package is to their advantage. I've yet to open a can of light-struck beer.