I wanted to write a short but hopefully informative article about commercial beer packaging. I feel that a lot of individuals out there do not understand how important this is to stability and taste of beer.
Beer’s major enemy is SUNLIGHT!!!! The hops that are in beer that give it a wonderful flavor and bitterness also are extremely sensitive to sunlight. Direct exposure starts to instantly breakdown the hops into a sulfury/sunky organic compound names 2-methyl crotyl mercaptan. You all know the taste, but may not realize it. Try setting a Corona bottle out in the sun for an hours and give it a taste…bam there it is. You may also taste this in green bottle beer such as Rolling Rock and Heineken. These are great beers in my opinion when stored out of the sun, but taste like straight skunk when exposed to the sun.
Ranking beer packaging goes as such…
1) Can beer- The best a beer will taste other than coming out of a keg. You say the beer has a tinny taste…nonsense. The special coatings inside the modern cans of today make sure no odd flavors enter the beer. Pour your beer into a glass and no one has to know that you are drinking can beer.
2) Brown Glass bottles- This is the standard of today when it comes to craft beers. Most operations bottle their beer as canning can be a little more expensive. The beer is still exposed to light while in these bottle, but the shading of the brown glass does a pretty good job at slowing the process. Also the cardboard six pack holder plays a part in protecting the beer. Ever wonder why Sam Adams’ six packs are almost all the way up to the bottle cap??? All about protecting the beer from the light.
3) Green and Clear Glass bottles- First off the majority of these beers are skunked before you even buy then. Do yourself a favor and drink these at your local bar only if they have them on tap. You ask why do breweries use them. Well it is because of you and how you relate the color of the bottle to the beer. Can you imagine a Heineken in a brown bottle? At least Heineken also cans and they do this because they know how much of a better package a can is.
In closing you need to understand the packaging of beer to understand what a good beer should taste like, and not one that has gone skunk. Don’t believe me do a test of your own. Get a package of Heineken and expose one to sunlight for an hour and keep another one in you frig out of the light. Then crack them open at compare. Next time you are at the store and see a craft beer in a can you should buy it over its bottle counterpart in your support of great beer packaging!
5 Gallon Batch
