The old-fashioned tinnie is no longer passe with a growing trend for craft brewers to package their beer in cans. Source: News Corp Australia
What’s the next cultural shift in beer consumption? Cans.
There is a firmly entrenched view among many consumers that beer from a can is inferior to beer from a bottle or on tap.
People will swear that the beer has a metallic taste, for one thing.
Then there’s the image problem of empty cans strewn around after big social events. And canned beer is typically mass-produced beer, cheap and taste-deficient – more an alcohol delivery system than a drink to savour.
So the growing trend for brewers of beers focusing on flavour and not volume – what are referred to as craft brewers – to package their beers in cans has beer geeks befuddled.
But they better get used to it, because although glass is loved by all, it is nowhere near as practical as a can when it comes to storing beer for the span of its useful life.
It is because craft brewers are seeking to deliver maximum flavour to consumers that cans are resurgent.
Beer is like milk – best drunk fresh. Except for a few styles that age well, most beer goes off rapidly, which is why you’ll see a “Best before ...” date stamped on the bottle or can, and that date is usually about nine months after the beer leaves the brewery. Three things can hasten the natural deterioration of beer – heat, oxygen and light.
Filled and stored properly, cans and bottles should shield the beer from heat and oxygen damage equally.
Not so with light. It can penetrate even the dark glass used for most bottled beer and react with some of the hop compounds in the beer and turn it rancid.
When this disaster befalls a beer it is known as being “skunked”. If I have to explain further, that’s because drinking the beer would be like licking an agitated skunk. This can’t happen if the beer is in cans.
Then there is the perception that beer drunk from a can tastes metallic. This is probably genuine, but only because one’s lips and tongue are slobbering all over the metal on the outside of the can.
The inside has an epoxy liner to prevent taste contamination. If you do what you should do, which is pour the beer into a suitable glass, you wouldn’t be able tell whether it came out of a bottle or can.
There are other practicalities. Because of their shape and weight, cans are easier to store and transport. If you drop a six-pack of cans, you’ll still get to drink them. Disposing of the empties is easier.
As more brewers embrace the can as a preferred receptacle, the aesthetics of it have changed too. Graphic design effort is now being applied to cans in the same way it is turning bottle labels into works of art.
The one area a bottle will beat a can is in tactile superiority – it feels better in your hand. But if possible beer should always be treated like wine in this regard ... pour it into a glass so all your senses may be invited to the party.
As you see more beers appearing in cans, be assured it is not a sign that the brewers are dumbing down the product. They are protecting your interests.
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