🍻Mazzle Reviews Beer - Can Vs Bottle - What's Better? 🍻
It's Glass Verses Aluminium! Which Will WIN!?
Well I'm a bit late but here I am for my weekly #beersaturday review! If you're curious about this competition, check out this post for entry details (and to vote on my comment in the post to help me win :P).
I thought I'd do something a little different for this weeks review. Rather than focus on a beer, I'll be comparing the same beer in can and glass bottle to see if there's a difference between the two.
I was talking to another beery type person recently who mentioned that beer in a can was always better than the same beer in a bottle. So I wanted to find out if this is true.
The only beer in my local bottle shop that I could find that was sold in both bottles and cans was:
Oettinger Pils - 4.7% Alc
This is a German Pilsener from the macro brewer Oettinger Bier Gruppe. This is not at all a good beer, so I won't go into a lot of detail about the beer itself, as it really wasn't enjoyable to drink.
And the rating on ratebeer.com really speaks volumes for this beer, and I completely agree with this rating. It's bitter, watery, and mildly hoppy. This can be a great combination of things of course, but in this beer everything just tastes cheap and stale.
So rather than waste time talking about how bad this beer is lets look at the difference between the beer in the bottle and the beer in the can.
The Bottle
I tried the bottle first, and was really not impressed at all. The bottle had a strong bitter hops aroma, and formed a small head at the pour that dissipated very quickly.
The beer was watery, had a strange staleness to it, and the bitterness lingered on the palate long after the first sip. It's just a bad beer, and I really didn't see how a can could improve this.
The Can
Oddly, the can poured much better. The head that formed was finer, and lingered for a long time after the pour. The aroma wasn't so strong or bitter, and weirdly the beer had a creamier texture that wasn't unpleasant. There was an odd metallic taste to this beer though which didn't sit at all well with me.
This is still a very average beer but the beer in a can was much more drinkable and didn't leave that shocking aftertaste for quite so long.
Conclusion
Surprisingly, my #beersaturday friend whose username I cannot remember seems to be on to something. The canned beer was a clear winner in this example, even if the beer was shockingly bad. And judging by this article (and the various others on this topic) cans appear to be better than bottles for a variety of reasons.
So I suppose this means that you'll see me drinking from cans quite a lot in the future.
Do you agree? Is beer better in a can?
▶️ DTube
▶️ IPFS
Yeah right, I would of said the bottle over the can. Definitely no plastic bottle beer as they sell in some countries. I even saw 2 litre beer in a plastic bottle in Serbia.
What compelled me to comment was that Oettinger is considered the beer of the homeless and poor as it is so cheap to buy. Amazes me to see it in Dan Murphys at Aussie prices.
I can totally understand why it would have a reputation like that. It was one terrible beer.
Yeah I would have thought the can as well because of the better seal. Same deal with wine and screw caps, they actually keep the wine better than the cork, sacrilegious though it is.
You’re spot on. Corks have great nostalgia about them but they’re just not the best way to store wine. Screw caps are brilliant.
I am, quite frankly, stunned by this news. I would have bet everything you own that beer from a bottle was vastly superior to the can. Beer in a can prompts images of cheap, warm American beer stored in someone's trunk at a High School football game.
I may have to conduct my own experiment, however I will endeavor to use a beer that I like. I can't stomach bad beer, even for science.
I had the same impression since most Australian beers that come in cans are our cheap and nasty ones.
I’m seeing more and more craft beers being sold in cans though. But if you look at the reasoning, it makes sense that cans are better - no light exposure and much more air tight.
My only concern with cans at this stage is that they are lined with plastic. I don’t like plastic being used for food and drink storage. It’s not a friendly substance.
Okay, you talked me into it. I'll try the test as well. But - I think I'll try it with a beer I already know I like. See, now I'm curious. I'll be sure to record my results for beersaturday in a few weeks or so. Cheers!
Awesome! I'd be very keen to see someone else give this a shot. :)
I thought the idea of comparing them was to compare them on drinking from both the beer can and the bottle. Guess i was wrong.
But in my experience, drinking from a bottled beer will always be the best.
Nah.. drinking straight from the bottle/ can is only for heathens.
The post was about which beer tastes better, which comes back to whether or not beer in a bottle or can stores better. The can was always going to win to be honest given that cans store beer much better (no light or air exposure primarily).
And I always pour my beers into a glass before drinking. I don't like drinking from the bottle or can, partly because you don't get the opportunity to form a head on the beer.
@mazzle - hmmmmm..... I am not sure that this is even a question and I definitely don't agree with your outcome.... but "each to their own" - I stopped drinking beer years ago, BUT - that aside.... EVERYTHING is better in glass!!! ALWAYS!!! The End! hehehe ;)
It's actually not, beer in glass is exposed to light and glass bottles are never completely airtight. So it makes sense that beer in a can will store better. This is the main reason that beer from a can tastes better. I agree that drinking from glass is a lot better though which is why I pour all my beers into a glass.
ok yes @mazzle in that respect I suppose you would be spot on, although yes - I was actually referring to the taste experience :)
In a can for sure!
Cool post, I like the discussion ;-)
Thanks :)
i had the answer before seeing the whole post.
and at last, it's the right one.
the can.
well described here.
Nice post @mazzle