'Can' you taste the difference?

By Brewery Bird

Following on from her foray last August into the uncharted underworld of canned beer, and news of the country’s first ever Indie Beer Can Competition (hats off to Adnams who took first place with Ghost Ship), Brewery Bird has this month mostly been drinking from said aluminium receptacles in order to bring you an update – it’s a dirty job etc.

But with more breweries turning to tin in order to access markets previously closed to the bottle/glass option due to various ‘elf n safety’ considerations, and the continuing rise of ‘craft beer’, has a year made any difference to the selection on offer? Firstly, let’s look at the can itself. For years these have been seen as the cheaper product in comparison to their bottle counterparts – not helped perhaps by the humungous pallets of cheapy canned lager the supermarkets are always keen to press upon thirsty and cash-strapped customers. Of course, beer in cans has been around for decades, but for the majority, it’s pretty main-stream, consisting of big-brand bitters with, shall we say, little to tickle the taste buds. And then there’s ‘real ale in a bottle’ which many purist beer drinkers consider the only way to drink beer outside of a cask. Bottle conditioned beer as its otherwise known allows for a secondary fermentation which creates fuller flavours and natural carbonation. But wait, what’s this? Can-conditioned beer? Shut. The Front. Door. The Beers The Wild Beer Co. Somerset – Fresh Pale Ale 5.5% Funky yellow and black can packaging. Can-conditioned. Beer pours cloudy golden, with aromas of zingy grapefruit and lemon. Lashings of smooth yet zingy fresh hops assault the mouth, followed by a light, spicy bitter finish. Very refreshing and very drinkable. Moor Brewery, Bristol – Return Of The Empire (English IPA) 5.7% Pours a deep golden, with a light haze and enticing floral, hoppy notes. Toasted malt, citrus, grapefruit and grassy hops gently caress the mouth. Light carbonation carries hedgerow hops to a dry bitter finish. A great example of this style of beer. Harbour, Cornwall - Antipodean IPA 5.5% The aroma is musty-sweet with hints of caramel and citrus. The flavour is predominantly malty with hints of grapefruit, resinous hops and light caramel. A bitter-sweet finish. Not can-conditioned. Beavertown, London - Black Betty Black IPA 7.4% Jet black ale, with a lovely creamy tan head. Strong aromas of grapefruit and pineapple with underlying roasted malts assault the nose on opening, teasing the taste-buds. And it doesn’t disappoint. A lovely blend of dark chocolate, liquorice, coffee and zesty bitter hops balanced with a smooth, grassy bitter finish. Verdict Labelling-wise the Moor can stands out with clear instruction on how best to store and pour. When pouring, the opaque packaging means it’s harder to determine how close the sediment is to hitting the glass, but with careful monitoring, it can be done, if this is your preference. If I didn’t know otherwise, I would have automatically assumed I was drinking bottle-conditioned beers in three out of the four beers tasted. (I hadn’t realised the Harbour wasn’t can-conditioned until I’d taken a few mouthfuls and checked the legend more closely). It just didn’t have as much depth as the others and of course was clear as a bell with no sediment.