Can pours at a Brewery Tap Room

Most taprooms I've been to have distinct lists for cans/bottles/draft, and usually the server confirms that what I ordered is in a can or bottle before bringing it to me, so it seems a little weird that it was listed as 'on tap.' I don't have a problem with it as long as I know what I'm getting, but if the staff is intentionally misleading customers (or even just unaware), I probably wouldn't be back.

I don't think you should expect cans to be any less fresh than kegs, so I wouldn't be worried about that.

 

I have found this to be pretty common at smaller tap rooms, but typically it is spelled out on the list or the server provides the notification. I don’t have an issue if it’s a beer I want to try and don’t generally consider it to be less fresh than what they are offering on tap.

 

Sometimes a brewery will run out of kegs of a particular beer, underestimating requests for it in the taproom. They think, well, we still have some cans, let’s sell it if people are asking for it in-house. Or they could have been freshly canned that day. There is no problem with it. The beer is fine. And just because a beer comes out of a keg doesn’t mean it is fresher than a canned beer. Beer in kegs gets old too. “Fresh” beer can come out of a can.

 

There's also the fact that some folks just prefer draft over cans too.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...te-better-than-canned-or-bottled-beer.630567/

 

This is true. It doesn’t make much difference to me unless there is some kind of significant difference in the draft system, like a faucet pour, nitro, or even a mliko pour at Notch. These things can change the impact of a beer significantly. Other than that, I’m not too particular. The OP is right, fresh beer is the way to go, but if you fear the brewery is serving you old product just ask for the freshest beer they have before ordering. I typically assume that a brewery wouldn’t serve you a bad product that got that way due to age, but who knows. As an aside, I was once at HF and I ordered an Edward, assuming it was a pour. The server instead handed me an unlabeled 16 oz. aluminum can and said “enjoy”. It was as fresh as any beer I had that day. Drank it right from the can, and I don’t recall if he offered me a glass.

 

Ive always assumed places did this to move through some excess can inventory.

I like BHZ but dont see their cans sell that well at stores, so that would be my assumtion there also.

 

Or for a beer that they want to serve, but maybe dont want eating up a draft line

 

I was at Brewery Extrava just after Christmas, and they were doing can pours of Red, their dubbel. I thought it was the best beer from them out of the few I tried that day. (All others were draft). The co-owner told me that the kegs of Red had kicked so they decided to offer can pours of it because, well, they had them, and Red wasn’t going to be brewed again for a few weeks.