Microbreweries, specialty beers have come long way

[Gifted Gourmet]

Food Engineering Magazine

Beer geeks will be appalled, but filling plastic bottles with craft beer will help a southern California brewery tap into a broader audience... riding the small-is-good wave to account for more than 7 percent of the 6.4 billion gallon American beer market, according to some estimates. “Some folks are asking if plastic cheapens the product; I don’t think so,”“The beer in these bottles lasts just as long on the shelf as beer in a glass bottle.” The 16-oz. bottles, sport a 28-mm oxygen-absorbing cap that looks more like a glass bottle than the 38 mm caps used by Miller Brewing. Plastic has opened the door to golf courses and sports venues

Is the idea of drinking beer from a plastic bottle offensive to you or perhaps just a smart, why-did-this-take-so-long idea?

[Jim]

I have no objection to plastic bottles; in fact, I've bottled some of my homebrew in plastic bottles before and noticed no problems. That said, I've not had any commercial beers that have been packaged in plastic, so I'll let the taste tell the tale.

[jesskidden]

[jsolomon]

Michelob's been doing this for a while. I drink the hell out of their beer at the local ball games, so it would be hypocritical for me to say "no".

Now, if aesthetics are the order of the night, then I prefer a crimp-top bottle. But, beer is good in its myriad forms.

[TongoRad]

I can see why they are going with the plastic bottles, but I actually think that cans are the superior product for what they are trying to achieve. It's high time to get rid of that stigma. Go Oskar Blues! Go Sly Fox!

[eje]

I can see why they are going with the plastic bottles, but I actually think that cans are the superior product for what they are trying to achieve. It's high time to get rid of that stigma. Go Oskar Blues! Go Sly Fox!

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Interesting you mention that.

21st Amendment here in San Francisco has recently started producing cans of a couple of their beers. I'm not a big fan of their watermelon wheat; but, their IPA is pretty good.

They've even got a blog advocating their point of view, "Take back the can from the big breweries!"

The Beer Guys

I'll give their canned beers a try; but, to me, aluminum has a very distinctive taste and smell. I have a thermal coffee cup that I thought was all stainless. However, after a couple times drinking water from it and thinking it tasted and smelled funny, I realized that the outside shell was stainless; but, the inside liner was aluminum. I had to throw it away.

[TongoRad]

Nice blog link, Erik. That about says it all. I hope the packaging works out well for them and maybe we'll see it on the east coast one of these days.

[Eilen]

The problem with a plastic bottle would be, at least for me, that the beer wouldn't stay as cold as in a glass bottle. Would that be a legitimate complaint, or do most people pour their beer into glasses anyway?

[Davydd]

The problem with a plastic bottle would be, at least for me, that the beer wouldn't stay as cold as in a glass bottle.  Would that be a legitimate complaint, or do most people pour their beer into glasses anyway?

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Yes, that would be the preferred way for me. I can drink a beer from a bottle almost anytime. I can drink a beer from a can if out on a boat, but in my home I will pour a can of beer into a glass. I suppose I would do the same with a plastic bottle. But I have never had beer in a plastic bottle. Just whiskey.

[BrentKulman]

The problem with a plastic bottle would be, at least for me, that the beer wouldn't stay as cold as in a glass bottle.  Would that be a legitimate complaint, or do most people pour their beer into glasses anyway?

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I always pour my beer in a glass, but, more importantly, I find that most quality beers, with the exception of certain styles, drink much better at cellar temperature.

Everyday American Lagers, by contrast, need to be well-chilled.

[eje]

Nice blog link, Erik. That about says it all.

[...]

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And I didn't even read it closely enough to realize they address the "metallic taste" issue!

I guess the inside of the cans are coated with some sort of polymer, preventing the beer from coming into contact with actual aluminum.

I'd love to do a side by side blind tasting with one of their beers from a tap and one from a can.

[TongoRad]

I'd love to do a side by side blind tasting with one of their beers from a tap and one from a can.

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You could do that if you are looking for aspects of the aluminum, but keep in mind that the draft beer will probably seem superior simply because there is an additional level of filtration involved with either bottling or canning (usually it is about 5 microns for DE filtered draft beer as opposed to .5 micron sterile filtration for items that are destined for some shelf life).