Sorry, Dad, your bottled beer is not better than a can

Congratulations on getting dad and Uncle Jimbo, Anheuser-Busch’s number one fans since ’72, to try (and like) a local craft beer! You’ve accomplished the impossible and convinced those suborn geezers to branch out from “Ol’ Faithful.” On your visit home, expecting to find a fridge full of new beverage horizons, you discover that dad has relapsed to his old ways. “Why, Dad? Why? You’d come so far!” Well it turns out dad made a trip to the liquor store and snubbed his nose at the craft section once he saw the price of canned craft beer. “I’m not paying more than $5 for a 6-pack of canned beer.” Dad has a point. With more and more craft brewers moving to cans, and some not bottling at all, it’s become harder to find bottled craft beer. Never fear though. I’m here to help you explain to dad how this is not a bad thing, and in fact, how the craft can revolution is a very good thing for all of us.

Politics, sports, and music all aside, as if you needed another source of contention at the family Memorial Day barbecue, there seems to be a generational disconnect on perception of beer packaging.  Before you go getting yourself shunned from the family again like you did during the last election cycle, you should realize that there is a perfectly good explanation for the old man’s grievance. Years ago, canning required a huge capital investment to purchase the equipment. This effectively excluded smaller brewers, who focused on quality over quantity, from canning beer. Thus canned beer became rightfully associated with cheaper, mass produced brands. Now however, equipment companies have started offering massively scaled down, much more economical canning systems. These systems allow craft brewers to break into the can-market right off the bat for a fraction of the cost of a full-sized setup. You’ll soon see why many new breweries are going straight to cans and skipping over bottles altogether.

Now let’s backtrack a second and work on getting you shunned again by dispelling a common myth that you might encounter. We’ve all heard it before, “Cans make beer taste metallic.” While metallic off flavors can happen, they are likely due to a problem in production of beer itself and not the can. All beer cans have a lining that separates the liquid from the metal to prevent oxidization. Born of a partnership between American Can Company and Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company, the very first canned beer was sold to the public in 1935. Yes, even the very first beer cans had a lining. The first run of 2000 cans was released and met with a warm reception. People even noted that this new canned beer tasted more like a draft than bottled beer. Can lining technology has only improved since then. Ball Corporation even offers different types of liners for different beers based on pH. BPA free can liners from manufactures all across the country ensure a perfectly preserved product, as fresh in the can as it was in the bright tank the day of packaging.

Canning technology has come a long way as well since the 1930’s. Here at Core, we’re fortunate enough to have one of the most advanced canning systems in the world available. Not only does our Krones filler purge cans of beer-damaging oxygen with a blast of carbon dioxide prior to filling, but the Ferrum seamer it is paired to adds a second dose of CO2 right before double sealing the lid for an added layer of protection. Most bottling systems, especially more economical ones used by craft brewers, rely on foaming action of the beer itself to purge out any remaining oxygen right before capping. This is sometimes not as effective and can allow oxygen to become trapped in your beer. Over time this can lead to oxidization and produce a whole list of off flavors.

In terms of quality however, the greatest benefit to canning beer is the light protection it offers. Along with oxygen and heat, light exposure is one of the three main enemies of finished beer quality. Ever heard someone say a beer was “skunked?” In that case, light exposure is your culprit. Exposing hop compounds, called isohumulones, to light sets off a chain of reactions which results in formation of the “skunk” flavor, 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol. Call it 3-MBT for short. 3-MBT is an incredibly potent flavor compound and most people can taste it at a mere 4 parts per trillion. The reaction also happens so quickly that you might even start to notice a skunk flavor towards the bottom of your glass while enjoying a pint outside on a sunny day.  This reaction can start two ways; “direct radiation” from ultraviolet light and “sensitized irradiation” from visible light. Clear and green bottled beer are notorious for the skunk flavor as these bottles offer the least amount light protection. Brown bottles tinted with iron oxides shield against damaging wavelengths the most but still do not offer complete protection. The only way to do this is to block out all light, which a can obviously does.

Aside from the beer itself, an important aspect to consider is the packaging. Glass bottles are heavy and breakable. Not only is it illegal to have them on most beaches and state or national rivers, but their mobility is inherently limited. If you want to enjoy some beer and nature, there’s nothing worse than taking a day hike or a bike ride with glass bottles clanking around. It’s especially bad when you take a spill and two of them break in your backpack. Cans on the other hand are perfectly legal on most rivers and beaches. They are also much lighter and much harder to damage. Aluminum is more economical to recycle than glass as well. In fact, making a can out of recycled material uses nearly 95% less energy than doing the same with a glass bottle. Furthermore, a case of cans requires virtually half the storage space of conventional glass bottles. Combine this with the weight difference and it spells good news for consumers and producers alike. We can get more product to you faster and more economically. Finally, have you ever tried to shotgun a beer out of a bottle? Our cellarman Jim tried that once. I would not recommend it.

If you’ve gone over all this information and still can’t get people over the the stigma of drinking a 10% abv imperial stout from a can that costs $12 per four pack, there’s one more thing to consider. Unless your setting dictates otherwise or you’re crushing brews with your bros and smashing cans on your forehead, you should be pouring a beer in a glass regardless of the packaging if you want to truly enjoy the product. Don’t take my word for it though. One of the world’s leading beer experts, the “Pope of Foam,” Dr. Charlie Bamforth, professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences at the UC Davis attests to the importance of drinking from a glass. "Beer should be put into a glass for two reasons," says Dr. Bamforth, "One is, if you drink the beer straight out of the bottle or a can, you don't get the full appreciation of flavor because most of the flavor of beer is detected through the nose. By dangling your nostrils in the beer, in the head space above the beer, you actually get a full appreciation of the aroma. The second reason you want to pour it in a glass is so that you can admire the foam, and the appearance of the product.”  So there you have it. Cans are better for the beer, the environment, and all of us in the end. I hope you learned something today. 

As always if you have any questions or concerns please contact us and we’ll be happy to help you. Cheers!

David Phillips, QC Manager, Core Brewing & Distilling.