Serving Style

I think the vessel from whence it came is important. With that being said, I don't remember Serving Style being a thing on here.

Bottles vs Cans are very similar, if not identical, in my mind. Draft can alter a beer and growlers can make a beer seem different.

For me, it's:

Bottles/Cans vs. Draft vs. Growler

I think denoting where it came from is helpful. A beer on draft is different from its bottled version

 

I agree that it is important to show or tell whether the source vessel was can, bottle, growler, tap or other. I post a picture of EVERY beer I have, and I always show it in a glass next to the container I poured it from . When I am in a taproom I try to show the taps in the background.

 

I would like to say this may be miniscule but I'm under the impression that also drinking straight from a bottle is smoother than a can because of a larger opening. And due to a minimal but there leak of carb through the cap, canned beers to me feel slightly more carbonated. I prefer can>draft>bottle.

Also ive heard stories of on tap barleywines that toward the end of the keg it gets hoppier because of settling.

 

I guess I should add that I think Cans/Bottles are equal solely because I pour almost every beer into a glass

 

I too used to enjoy being able to compare my thoughts about a beer from bottle and keg or even occasionally cask (where the impact of the difference was even more noticeable for me).

IIRC, a least one of the reasons given for doing away with that feature had to do with the fact that there appeared to be several folks abusing it to simply game the system and inflate their number of reviews. Since the data were not publicly available it's hard to know how widespread this was.

Also, IIRC some requests to bring it back were met with a negative response.

So it seems a case where the differences didn't seem meaningful (e.g., the effects of bottling vs. on tap) and also one where we can't have good things because of the abuses committed by some.

 

Unfortunately no wisdom, except that involved in recognizing what I can't change.

 

Good to know it was my memory at fault.

 

I always thought "serving style" meant like whether you do a backflip while pouring the beer. Like beer-pouring break dancing. It's messy as hell, but fun to try.