Why does canned beer taste different

Does Kombucha have alcohol in it? Don't miss a drop! Get the latest in beer, wine, and cocktail culture sent straight to your inbox. Bottled beer remains colder for longer and many people argue that it tastes much better than cans.

To understand how to make beer taste good, we must first understand what makes beer taste bad. Three factors can affect the taste of beer - heat, oxygen and light. Bottles and cans are both great materials that can stop the negative effects of heat and oxygen. But, when it comes to light, things are a little more tricky. When beer is exposed to sunlight, it can become skunked. Skunked beer is appropriately named because of the similarity in smell that is sprayed by the black and white skunk.

Skunked beer tastes off and smells pungent. Skunking is a photochemical reaction which makes things occur inside beer at a molecular level. During the brewing process hops are boiled, releasing bitter flavour compounds known as ISO-alpha acids isohumulone.

Participants were told nothing about the beer. After tasting, participants answered some questions regarding demographics and had to indicate which beer they preferred if they even had a preference toward one or the other. The results of the first questionnaire suggest that people have preconceived preferences for beer packaging types.

Specifically, the researchers found that The results of the main test showed that participants rated the beer poured from the bottle as tasting significantly better than the beer poured from the can. Perceived quality was also rated as slightly higher in the beer coming from the bottle, but this result was only marginally significant.

Results from the blind taste test — when participants had no knowledge about the beers or where they came from — showed that there were no preferences for bottled or canned beer , one way or another. It is important to note that the demographics of participants from all three phases of the study were similar, indicating that comparisons between phases is justified. The results of this study confirmed what was already known both in the literature and in casual conversations that people tend to prefer beer that is from a bottle compared with beer from a can.

What was most interesting, however, was that when you take away any knowledge of the beer and what the original packaging format was, the preference for bottled over canned beer disappears. So, in essence, your preference for bottled beer over canned is likely all in your head.

There appears to be some psychological aspect regarding preconceived preferences for certain packaging types that influences consumer preference for beer, which is a concept well known to researchers and beer marketers alike.

With the rise in cans as a packaging format for beer and wine, for that matter , marketers can use this study to help change the stigma of the can.