Re: Beer Styles - Your favorites?
Canned beer comes from the same release tanks as bottled beer. It's the same beer going into the container, although the carbonation effects of the two filling processes can affect your perception of the flavor. Kept at a good drinking temperature, poured in a glass and given a moment or two to settle, in a blind test you can't discern which is which. The majors have done lots of studies on that topic.
Canning beer is a lower cost process - faster packaging lines which tend to run more highly efficient than bottles - and no labeling station. The materials comprising the case of cans is slightly less expensive to the brewer than that needed to make up a case of bottles.
The problem for small brewers is getting a can manufacturer to make up cans with the brewer's logo and label. They need certain minimums to make it worth their while to tool up for this and those numbers are often beyond the capability of the small brewers to buy, store, and fill. So they continue to fill standard brown "export" of long-neck style bottles and simply change the label when changing brands. There is some progress on this however as can manufacturers are beginning, more and more, to accommodate the requests of small brewers.
But some premium brands are filling cans, including some Europeans, because it's the best, most protective package for beer, it costs less to ship in bulk as cans are lighter, it's less expensive to cool the can than it is a bottle, and people seem more willing to recycle cans with regularity than bottles. Also, can filling lines tend to operate at significantly higher output rates than bottle lines.
Cans are popular at sporting events because you aren't likely to hit the left fielder with one, and if you do, he's not likely to suffer an injury. They're also good around the pool because if dropped onto the concrete deck they don't shatter into shards like a bottle may.
Stored bottles will, in time allow some oxygen ingress through the seal of the crown. Technology has been developed to reduce this (i.e., oxygen scavenging crown materials), but it can't prevent the oxidation totally. So this limits shelf life. Oxidized beer takes on a "cardboard" taste, or a "bready" taste. When it's really bad, the beer can be undrinkable.
As this happens in bottles, their shelf life is effectively shortened by it - In fact, oxidation is the common reason for dating the beer with the "born on" or "must sell by" date. The lower the oxygen content in the container when it's crowned/sealed, the less likely this phenomenon will be and the longer the beer will last.
Canned beer is pretty much free of oxygen ingress and won't lose carbonation as bottles will. Cans also prevent that light intrusion which is responsible for the "skunky" flavor that sometimes pours right out of a bottle. Brown bottles provide the best protection among bottles against this, followed by the green ones. Clear bottles offer no protection, and will skunk unless special hops are used which are proof to the phenomenon. The skunky sensation is due to a compound which forms when certain wavelengths of light strike the hops compounds. That light facilitates a chemical change which generates some of the same chemicals actually found in the skunk's spray aroma.
But, back to the topic: If you pour your canned beer into a glass it will have the same flavor profile and carbonation characteristics as a bottled beer in the same glass at the same temperature.
Some people believe that there is a metal taste in canned beer. But I assure you, the can is lined to isolate the liquid from the metal. If that lining fails, the change in taste is unmistakable - I mean REALLY bad. You'll have an undrinkable product. I've seen this only twice in my time with beer. If you sense a "metallic" flavor in a beer which is in good condition, it's probably because you've drank right from the can.
Having said all this, I personally prefer a bottle just for its feel, the sound of the pour, and freedom from these dastardly pull tabs. But as to style, well...what day is it? Am I eating food with it? Will I drink a six-pack, or stop at one or two? Do I need to slam a few to get me going, or is the situation right for just sipping?
As I said earlier, it's like choosing among a blonde, a brunette, or a redhead...a wonderful position to be in.
