You can do it! Cans are the preferred packaging choice.

In the past 3 years, I’ve only had one 6 pack of bottles that would explode upon opening compared to ~1:4 cans. Plus I can age bottled beer without the plastic can liner breaking down after 8 months. As with cans, beer in brown glass can’t get light-struck.

Beer is meant to be in a bottle, not a plastic bag inside of an aluminum cylinder.

 

I prefer bottles over cans, even green ones. I used to drink Moosehead back in the day, this cans only trend will likely continue.

I was shocked when i first saw Weihenstephaner in cans, it tasted the same.

Cheers.

 

I used to buy Moosehead in bottles too. Saw the last bottled 12 packs here in October

 

As a home brewer, you don’t appreciate the advantages of the bottle?

 

Cans for me

 

I would think it is higher than 60% in the US. Especially when you take into consideration all the macro breweries - Coors, Bud, Miller…

 

I like bottles aesthetically, but will admit cans may do better preserving and delivering beer.
I used to have a beer bottle collection with almost 4000 bottles, but the move to cans really slowed collecting (and finally my wife convinced me to get rid of it).

 

I used to refuse canned beer. I’m slowly coming around to cans because the beer does tend to last longer. And I’m almost over the taste issue (whether real or imagined).

If it’s local and available in glass, that’s still my preferred. But if it’s a European import and can only, I don’t mind as much as I once did.

 

I can’t remember the last time I had a Moose Head, I rarely see it in stores anymore.

I do remember when home brewers would somewhat influence corporate decisions like this to a degree back in the 1990s when it was more popular.
As much as some big breweries did not want to encourage home brewing, they were afraid to switch to twist off tops because home brewers were buying their beer and reusing the bottles for home brew.

Same for switching entirely to cans.
They were afraid to alienate any segment of their customer base.

 

You have 25% of your cans explode? Probably 80% of the beers I drink come in cans, and I rarely have any beer end up on the counter, probably less than 2% of the cans I open. What do you mean by exploding?

 

My use of “explode” in this sense is very liberal. I’m counting anything from a full-on foam gush down to a moderate liquid droplet sprinkling. Either way, cans are messier and opening the can slowly doesn’t necessarily help. I’ve also started opening cans with a paper towel placed over the top but that’s no match for the all-out geysers.

Also, there’s one brewery here (Alibi) who exclusively cans their beer and no matter the style or the temperature, the cans ALWAYS gush. I usually lose at least a half ounce of beer on each of these Alibi cans.

Cheers!

 

I had a 12 pack of 60 Minute that just about every can was a gusher. I used the double paper towel under these. The next 12 pack was just fine,go figure. I've had random gushers here and there but not many. I prefer cans because they are lighter to carry and store in the beer fridge.

 

As cavedave often explained, glass bottles are far better for the environment.

 

I remember fondly in the late 1970s when we crossed into Illinois (legal to purchase at 19) to score cases of Olympia in longneck returnable “bar bottles.” We convinced ourselves the beer was brewery-fresh, and so much better tasting than in cans. We would even ice them down a little longer to ensure a Nirvana like experience.

Of the approximately 20 St. Louis area craft breweries that have good local distribution of their packaged products, only three still have bottled options to be had. The largest (Schlafly) still has many bottled options. Another (Urban Chestnut) recently discontinued its Euro bottle (500 ml) and converted to 12-ounce bottles for its core beers; but it also cans those core beers, and all of its other styles. The third (Side Project) is more of a specialty/high-end brewer.

The bottles that are in my fridge anymore are from Germany, Sierra Nevada, KC Bier, Boulevard, and various stouts.

 

Not all brown glass is created equal. The brown bottles Hofbräu (as one example) is using allow too much light and I've had skunked Festbier this past season.

Buyer beware.

 

Canada used to be in a good position to provide bottles at competitive prices. The standard Canadian stubby was interchangeable among breweries making sorting and return easier. In Ontario, the Beer Store carried almost all domestic beer making buying and return a one-stop trip. Now even reuseable bottles are almost all special molds, and sorting and return to brewery is less efficient. Also, the Ont. liquor stores (LBCO) and a variety of other licensed retailers are now competing with the Beer Stores. Shipping distances are big factor for bottles. Shipping distances have become longer because beer can now be distributed across province boundaries. Shipping costs are especially a factor for Moosehead, with their fairly isolated brewery (but some beers are contract-brewed in Quebec). A competitive factor in Canada is that the standard bottle volume is 341 ml (12 cdn fluid oz) while the cans are 355 ml (12 US fluid oz). I prefer bottles, especially if the beer is provided in large formats.

 

I lived on the West Coast until late 1975, where Oly was readily available. I never saw it in a 12 oz. export (longneck) returnable; Oly used the 11 oz returnable stubby in the west. By 1979, Oly was operating the Hamms plant in St. Paul where they had a ready supply of 12 oz longneck bottles and bottle line.

 

I think it has mostly been what breweries I've been buying over the past six months but my fridge has been way more bottles than cans lately. Something I've noticed is that I always get better pours from bottles because I can control the flow better and it comes out smoother and cleaner.