It appears this is a persistent myth! Draught beer is not necessarily better than bottled beer, says beer sommelier Sofie Vanrafelghem. ‘Whether draught beer is better depends on the beer style and the maintenance of the pipes,’ she says. VRT News asked Sofie to tell us how to make the best choice and what it is better to avoid. Read the story: https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2025/03/18/is-draught-beer-better-than-bottled/
sommelier/cicerone is to alcohol what the art school kid is tryina explain art to a normal person with 'artspeak' . Nice try, Diddy
It’s interesting that the only cask ale mentioned in the article is from Duvel. You can get beers that are carbonated by a secondary bottle fermentation, but I don’t think that really captures the essence of a good English cask ale. Also, while it’s not a rule, the stronger, the beer is, the more likely it will be bottled, not served on draft. Most people or pubs don’t want to keep kegs around for months and years like you can easily do with a couple of bottles, so it may not always be about what is “better“, but what is more practical.
There are certain beers I’ve had where the beer seems much better on tap than bottle/can. Two Hearted, 90min and Modelo Especial are my 3 that come to mind. I’ve never really been crazy about Modelo (had at least 10+ times from a can of bottle), but had it on draught for the first time at a Mexican restaurant a few weeks ago and thought it was much better than the can/bottle I’ve had over the last decade or so. I do like Two hearted in a bottle (when fresh), but the few times I’ve had on draught it seemed to take the beer up another notch in taste. Actually I’ve never really cared for 90min in a bottle but I love it on tap. Oh one other beer I forgot…Founders Porter on tap the one time I had it recentlybwas outstanding. Still enjoy in bottles as well.
I didn’t read the article but proper maintenance of beer lines is a real issue. When I took a tour of The Alchemist brewery I commented upon the lack of kegs in the brewery’s cellar cold room. The tour guide replied that John Kimmich only provides a few kegs and only to a handful of trusted bars. John doesn’t trust other bars/restaurants to serve his kegged beers. Cheers!
I tend to think IPAs are better on tap than out of a can. I’m skeptical about a beer sommelier/cicerone
Typically, bottled beer is pasteurized and draft is not (but unpasteurized bottles and flash pasteurized beer in kegs exist). I think many US domestic beers were brewed to taste the same from bottles as from kegs. That is, the aromatic aspect was minimized in the brewing so as not to stand out in the draft. I think there were exceptions. I distinctly remember Schaefer in the 70s having a distinct aromatic hop character on draft. More recently, I had Brooklyn Lager draft that exceeded the expectations I based on the bottled version. At home, with bottled/canned beer I can control the serving temperature, the glassware, and, to some extent, the carbonation. At the bar, I drink the draft beer as it's served (possibly too cold, too fizzy, or even infected), so any extra benefits of draft beer are usually not perceptible.
It’s a Belgian news site and essentially talking about beer available in that part of the world. __________________________ Quoting from the article: Anybody know what they are referencing here? This makes no sense to me. I guess I am unaware of the fictional rule that kegged beer is always fresh beer.
YES! In every way possible unless the place is nasty and serving it out of uncleaned draft lines into a dirty glass. Then, bottle please. But, that rarely happens these days, unless you're drinking in a total shite hole. The only exception would be for bottle conditioned ales, but even then, the casks are usually conditioned in the same manner, but not always.
I guess the fact that kegs take up so much precious refrigerated space, pubs are more likely to have fast moving beers on draft, but that’s obviously not a guarantee of freshness. I read posts in another thread about pubs keeping Pliny the Younger around for months or even a year so that they have something “special“ that other bars don’t have, but that seems to be more case of ignorance than beers staling due to low turnover.
Why? Have you ever looked into the Cicerone program? It's pretty extensive and has gotten good reviews. That said, I guess not every graduate of Harvard is a genius.
I am not sure this is the case. I am only aware of breweries that pasteurize prior to both bottling and filling draft. Why would these be separated?
I know that some breweries in SoCal have issues with cleaning keg lines. Typically, a beer goes from the brite tank to both the bottling line and draft lines simultaneously. I am not sure why these would end up tasting any different, other than the possibility of keg lines being dirty.
Most bottled/canned beer is pasteurized after bottling. Most kegged beer has not been pasteurized , but some keg beer is flash pasteurized. In the 70s, Anchor Steam was notable for flash pasteurizing before fillling, both kegs and bottles. Coors bottled and kegged highly filtered beers in clean conditions. I'm not sure of the methods used among craft brewers these days.
How can a beer be pasteurized after bottling? I would say that pasteurization generally occurs prior to both bottling and filling draft. It's a process that typically occurs from a storage tank to the brite tank. The final tank delivers to the canning/bottling/draft lines. All of these can be done simultaneously.
I'm aware of the fictional rule that kegged beer is always fresh. That rule has existed for as long as I have been drinking. And as you noted, it is fictional.
By heating the bottles to pasteurization temperature. The longer time that the beer is hot with this is a bad thing compared to in-line flash pasteurization.
My only observation is that packaged beers are almost always nicely carbonated, but draft beers are often foam-free and not so pleasantly spritzy. Not a problem with English ales, tho!
That article is…..empty calories. Yes, beer line cleanliness matters. I don’t know why she assumes kegged beer is fresher though. You can generally figure out when a beer has been bottled or canned with date stamps (some brands obviously easier than others). You have NO IDEA how old draught beer is. If it’s a busy corner pub with 4 tap handles, then sure, it probably rotates. If it’s a massive chain like Yard House with hundreds of taps, I’d be pretty wary. It all comes back to knowing your proprietors IMO. Do they know the beer? Details about the brewery, how the beer was made, the style. Do they take good care of it, clean the lines? Serve in proper glassware? Temp and pressure right? All things being equal, I prefer draught.
