What percentage of your packaged beer purchases are cans?

Oh, I was not aware of that. I thought that was a brewery wide thing.

 

80% cans, growlers and crowlers, the occasional bottle, because some beers only come that way.
Cans supposedly keep beer fresher, ice down quicker, prevent UV damage and aluminum is supposedly 100% recyclable.
Drinking out of a bottle or can? In that scenario I'm usually at a cookout, or outside, or in a boat, so again in that instance, again the can seems to make sense.
I used to believe that beer was better out of a bottle, now? I'm unconvinced that is true.

 

Now most of the beer I buy is canned - occasional 4- or 6- pack, plus my yearly BCBS. I'd guess probably 95+% is canned right now. I do use bottles (hoarded bombers, mostly) and kegs for my homebrew.

 

Glass is 100% recyclable now also. But you touch on a point I mention often when the whole glass vs can debate comes up and that is mining for aluminum (nowadays it's more bauxite) is pretty harsh on the planet so for all of the green pros to cans that is one negative.

 

I go to the store seeking cans. There are certain breweries that I would buy more of, but they've only been in bottles (e.g. Port City, who have started canning now). I will buy bottles when I am purchasing from a brewery (bought draft bottles and regular bottles from Wheatland Spring), but I will rarely buy bottles at retail. I am mostly going for cans of lager. My last bottle purchase at retail was Oxbow's Hexen.

 

Most of the beers I prefer come in bottles, however many of those beers are not sold in my area, therefore I end up buying a lot more beer in cans than I would like to since they are easily accessible to me.

So, right now I'm buying what I'd estimate to be about 75% of them in cans but if I lived in a different geographical region that number would probably be reversed.

 

Probably 75% for me. I definitely prefer cans for obvious reasons but I’m not a fan of the 16oz 4 packs, usually pass on these unless it’s something I really want to try.

 

If Sierra Nevada canned Celebration Ale (maybe 2020 will be the year), I would never buy another bottled beer (hyperbolic).

 

Bottles and cans just clap your hands!

 

They canned it for one of their hoppy mixed packs years ago but the beers were a little different, as the can was either not conditioned or was for less time; I don't recall the exact specifics but SN confirmed that they were slightly different beers. It happened because the canned Celebration was a last minute substitute for another beer in the pack that didn't turn out how they had wanted it to.

 

I'm with you on that!

 

@SierraTerence posted that the canned Celebration was not can conditioned. No mention of any other differences:

“The canned Celebration did not go through secondary conditioning in the can like the Pale Ale.”

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...h-hop-pack-in-cans.529947/page-5#post-5701316

Cheers!

 

5 years ago, would have been 75% bottled, now 75% cans and growing. I rarely buy bombers, so can see 90% cans in a year or so. And cans don't topple over in the beer fridge.

 

I have used plastic wrap on half full cans overnight in refrigerator, carbonation holds up well.

 

I've built a decent collection of cool openers, so of course the industry is swinging towards cans. About 75-80% of my purchases are cans, mostly 16oz singles, with a few 12oz and 19oz thrown in.

 

We're into trailer camping and glass is reserved for wine. Cans pack tighter, don't break and cool faster and finding recycling is easy. There's plenty of high end beer here in the PNW, so the few bottles we do buy (German imports, some bottles of limited edition stuff from Russian River, Founders and pFriem, etc) can stay home in the beer fridge.

 

I do that as well w a rubber band. Still prefer bottles.

 

Get rid of all the glass. I work in transportation and I cannot even begin to tell you the cost it saves with can packaging. Environmental I dont know the cans vs bottles breakdown, but I think of the amount of emission saved on lighter payload the cans offer is extremely significant in the overall aspect.

 

From a logistics perspective do you think that shippers send the same volume at a lower weight or do they tend to try to fit more beverage volume on a load?

 

Unsure, probably depends on the company. Some ship to fill and some ship solely based on the customers need. I remember when I was in high school working at warehouse that distributed Gatorade our logistics department said the switch from glass to plastic bottles saved $200 a load on diesel. Granted that's was 20 years ago. Think of the sheer emissions to the environment that where saved. Present day the cost to ship bottled water is 500% more than what the product is worth.

 

Estimating 50-75% cans. Most of my local breweries are doing cans, but a couple only do bottles. The imports I see are almost all bottles.

All else equal, I'd prefer cans. My city currently refuses to take glass for recycling (something about cost), and I hate throwing away bottles that are, in theory, recyclable. But I don't really base my beer purchases on the container.

 

What a waste of resources.

I sometimes feel like I am the only person who drinks water from the tap.

Cheers!

 

But the petroleum used to produce those plastic bottles...probably not much of a gain, unfortunately.

Water quality in parts of the Philly metro are not the best but I use a filter and it definitely makes the tap water taste better and has wiped out the single use plastic.

 

Nope. Manufacturing of paper cup is worse than a plastic bottle. Plastic is the highest recycled material. I ship plastic returns for PepsiCo through my company. They use almost 66% recycled returns because you get a government kickback. Not sure with the cans beings how they do have a liner in how that affects the recycling process/ chain.
The serving vessel will always be there. It has to be the better of 2 evils. My snobby beer guy side says ya to cans. No light, less likely to break, better beer. After all this is a BEER site.

 

Yep. There's still brand new product being made. That's great that you have one example and recycling of plastics is important but we are far from new product created > product used and fully recycled > that same product back on the shelves without any new production.

 

Only glass can do that. Its a shame we don't use the infrastructure we have to work that out, maybe someday (again)

 

I’d guess 90-95% cans, I greatly prefer them.

 

I feel like in the early days of craft beer transitioning to cans, there was a perception problem. For so long, bottles signified a better product. Yes, the macros bottled too, but pretty much all of craft was in bottles. Better meant bottles. Given these results and the comments here, it seems like a lot of that perception has changed.

 

Probably around half, but I love a cool bottle cap. I'm a bit sad to think that one day, cans might be it and bottle cap designs will be an old school novelty.

 

My love of Belgians brings it down from easily over 90% to maybe 70%. I’ll admit it would be weird to buy Gulden Draak in cans, but Duvel does it and if it tastes the same I don’t care.

 

Belgian lover here too, and I can't imagine pouring an Orval, St Bernardus 12, Cantillon, etc from a can either. Long live bottles!

 

90% bottles. I drink mostly Belgian imports. I also drink a lot of Unibroue in bottles as well.

 

I have never really thought about this and am not sure how to "vote". Most of my regular favorites (SN, 3 Floyds, etc.) are bottled, but many newer "try-outs" are canned. I tend to buy what I like and what is fresh regardless of the packaging. Recycling sways my decision to some degree.

My rural garbage/recycling company has stopped taking glass, and aluminum goes towards stocking fish in the lake. So if I think about it more when I buy, I might go towards cans.

 

They won't take glass, that is nuts. Was there an explanation ???

 

Correct, only Pale Ale... The year we did Celebration in a can it was tank conditioned.

Note: In Utah, like the UK, we are doing "draught-style" Pale Ale that is not can conditioned and is at 5.0%... The same beer as the our kegged Pale Ale.

 

Any chance that sometime in the future we might see a can conditioned Celebration (or whatever) beer?

Is the 'issue' here limited capacity in the area where store beer to bottle/can condition? Or is it a production time issue (i.e., adds to much time before releasing the beer)?

Cheers!

 

The canned Duvel is not the same beer. It is "Duvel Single" and it has that name because it does not undergo the secondary fermentation that the classic Duvel undergoes in the bottle (a process they consider essential to the character of the beer).

 

Cans make lagers taste funny

 

Consider this: When someone looks at a picture of themself from a long time ago, they sometimes feel that their haircut and clothes from back then make them look ridiculous from their current point of view. It is harder to look in the mirror right now and notice the same things about one's current haircut and clothing... but surely these things will be more clearly revealed in time.

 

Glass recycling was suspended in my county a year ago.
“Can” flavor is not an issue ( I’ve never had a tin-tainted can of Heady Topper)
Cans are easier to move and manage safely and “cooler-pack” better