What is the reason that commercial beer is so much better on tap?

I recently tried Magic Hat #9 due to some recommendations on this forum. I found it at my local liquor store and bought a 6 pack. It was good, but not great. Last night I was at a local bar that had it on tap, it was GREAT!!!! I also notice this every year with SA Oktoberfest(my personal favorite beer(on tap at least)). I buy a 12 pack and it is just OK. But when I go to the bar to get it it is GREAT! I have also noticed this with a lot of other beers too.

My guess would be freshness. The kegs are moved through the system faster there for taste better on tap. While bottles sit in wearhouses longer and have a longer trip to the store/bar.

Anyone know why?

Most draft beer in the U.S. is not pasteurized...I'd say that's the biggest difference.

I just drank the first bottle of my batch of Amarillo IPA (the keg was gone a week ago), and I noticed the same thing about it. It was way, way better from the keg. It's still good in the bottle, but the hops aroma is not nearly as pronounced. (I'm drinking it from the same glasses as from the keg.)

I wouldn't have expected that from the one week time difference alone. Only other thing I could attribute it to was I think the bottles are carbed a little bit more than the keg was.

I think some breweries vary the recipe slightly depending on whether the batch will go into bottles or kegs.

CaptYesterday said:

I think some breweries vary the recipe slightly depending on whether the batch will go into bottles or kegs.

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I believe I heard Ken Grossman, of Sierra Nevada, mention something like this the other day.

I always use to swear there was quite a noticeably difference with Fat Tire. I mean like 2 different beers different, I never notice it that much with other beers.

Anyone else experience this with Fat Tire?

One is pasteurization. I don't know that it makes a huge difference, but maybe a little. The other factors are travel, age, and storage. They all make a big difference in how a beer tastes. This is why I believe all beer should be dated and beer should be refrigerated.

I don't believe that brewers largely vary their beer for the package. I can't understand why they would do that from a brewing or business sense, but I don't have any proof. It would be interesting to investigate.

I think most of the reason for a difference is that they are treated differently. Kegs are usually always cold, and they are generally served closer to their brew date. That won't make them better, but it will make them different.

A brewer has little control over what happens to a bottle once it leaves the store. It's exposed to heat (small temp swings affect bottles more than kegs), and light.

BlindLemonLars said:

Most draft beer in the U.S. is not pasteurized...I'd say that's the biggest difference.

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This is partly true, but not for most craft beer. Many brewers don't pasteurize their bottles, and rarely (though I'm open to opposing examples) would a brewer pasteurize 'some' of his beer but not all.

I, too, heard that Sierra Nevada's draft version (at their own brewpub) and bottled versions of their beers are different.

Shooter said:

I believe I heard Ken Grossman, of Sierra Nevada, mention something like this the other day.

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Thats one beer I have noticed a difference in between bottled and on tap.

Turbodog would be an example of a beer that tastes completely different when served in bottle as opposed to on tap.

On tap it tastes delicious, with all of the flavors coming together nicely. From the bottle it tastes like syrup. Unless I've been getting bottles of severely underattenuated Turbodog, the only explanation I can think of is changes to the grain bill.

I know this probably seems obvious, but I'll say it anyway since I haven't seen it mentioned. When you drink from a bottle do you pour into a glass or go straight from the bottle? That makes a huge difference. So does the temperature it's served at.

CaptYesterday said:

Turbodog would be an example of a beer that tastes completely different when served in bottle as opposed to on tap.

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This is a great example. Turbodog on tap is great, fresh at the brewery it is fantastic, but in the bottle it is not as good. I know for a fact that Abita pasteurizes the beer that goes into bottles and does not pasteurize the beer that goes into kegs.

Other than the pasteurize/not pasteurized reason, I think there are a couple other reasons draft tends to be better:
-The beer in the kegs has never seen light (even though brown bottles help this cause a lot).
-It is easier to handle kegs correctly. In my experience (at package stores, etc.) kegs are almost always stored cold, not on shelf under lights at room temperature.
-Kegs are a bigger investment for stores/distributors, they do not order pallets and let them sit around for months (or years) like bottles.
-It is also very possible that breweries have ways of purging kegs of oxygen better than bottles and depending on the headspace in the keg, there is a lot less room for oxygen exposure. Oh, and caps don't always keep all oxygen out.

I think recipe differences between draft and bottle are very much the exception, not the rule. You need to have a much larger capacity and demand (like SN) to be able to do this, it is essentially like having to brew 2 different beers.

I was told a while ago that SNPA from a keg is brewed to be more of a session beer than the bottled counterpart. A bartender told me that one time, but who knows if it's true.

CaptYesterday said:

Turbodog would be an example of a beer that tastes completely different when served in bottle as opposed to on tap.

On tap it tastes delicious, with all of the flavors coming together nicely. From the bottle it tastes like syrup. Unless I've been getting bottles of severely underattenuated Turbodog, the only explanation I can think of is changes to the grain bill.

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I would bet my left nut that this is due to shipping and handling. I get DFH 90 in Vancouver that taste syrupy. I blamed it on age because it simply has to be better than that (otherwise why would all you guys want to clone it!!)

I really think it's handling. I don't know about SN, but none of the brewers I've talked to brew different beers for kegs vs bottling.

Beerrific said:

I think recipe differences between draft and bottle are very much the exception, not the rule. You need to have a much larger capacity and demand (like SN) to be able to do this, it is essentially like having to brew 2 different beers.

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I would think that is probably the case. I believe I heard Grossman talking about this on either the Brewing Network or Basic Brewing Radio's coverage of the National Homebrew Conference. I think he mentioned that the ABV was different and that the tap version is closer to the original recipe that they developed.

I think ambiance and effect are a bit part of it as well. Your perceived reality has a huge effect on your tastes.

Kegs do have several things going for them though. Bulk storage is more stable, less affected by temperature swings, and is completely concealed from O2 and light.

Boerderij_Kabouter said:

I think ambiance and effect are a bit part of it as well. Your perceived reality has a huge effect on your tastes.

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This is a very good point.

MBasile said:

Thats one beer I have noticed a difference in between bottled and on tap.

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SNPA kegs say "draft style" or something along those lines right on them, pretty much stating that it's a little different. I'm pretty well versed in buying SNPA kegs.

Boerderij_Kabouter said:

I think ambiance and effect are a bit part of it as well. Your perceived reality has a huge effect on your tastes.

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Someone with more $$$ than I needs to do an experiment:
Buy a keg and a rack of SNPA and invite a few friends over. Don't tell em it's the same beer. Ask which they think is the better beer.

skadalajara said:

Someone with more $$$ than I needs to do an experiment:
Buy a keg and a rack of SNPA and invite a few friends over. Don't tell em it's the same beer. Ask which they think is the better beer.

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Sneak a bud light lime in there...just for fun! God help us if it wins.

Oh, and coincidentally, my local happens to have SNPA and Fat Tire on tap and I alternate between the 2 depending on my mood. (They also have Moose Drool in bottles, which I sometimes have.)
The Fat Tire is noticable different there vs in a bottle from Topps Liquors, who seem to turn over a lot of it.
The SN seems to be about the same to me. But I haven't been drinking it from the bottle much lately, as I usually only do so when I go camping.

Shooter said:

I would think that is probably the case. I believe I heard Grossman talking about this on either the Brewing Network or Basic Brewing Radio's coverage of the National Homebrew Conference. I think he mentioned that the ABV was different and that the tap version is closer to the original recipe that they developed.

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Yes this is the case with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. But AFAIK it is the only one.

humann_brewing said:

I always use to swear there was quite a noticeably difference with Fat Tire. I mean like 2 different beers different, I never notice it that much with other beers.

Anyone else experience this with Fat Tire?

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Yes! major difference in the hop aroma! Way better from the keg!

my FT clone in my bottles taste pretty much like the real FT bottles, was hoping that it would be more like the kegged version

woollybugger2 said:

my FT clone in my bottles taste pretty much like the real FT bottles, was hoping that it would be more like the kegged version

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Recipe? Mash and fermentation schedule?

A lot of bars use a blend of C02 and Nitrous on all their draft beers. It truly does change the flavor of the beer. There is a place like that locally, and whenever I have a beer there (no matter what it is) I always say "Wow, this is the best {fill in the blank} I've ever had!"

macabra11 said:

A lot of bars use a blend of C02 and Nitrous on all their draft beers. It truly does change the flavor of the beer. There is a place like that locally, and whenever I have a beer there (no matter what it is) I always say "Wow, this is the best {fill in the blank} I've ever had!"

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"Wow, this is the best {balls in my mouth} I've ever had!"

HopheadNJ said:

SNPA kegs say "draft style" or something along those lines right on them, pretty much stating that it's a little different. I'm pretty well versed in buying SNPA kegs.

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OK, I think they discussed this on The Jamil Show (American Pale Ale). What they said there (if memory serves) is that there are two versions of SNPA, but it's not as simple as bottled and draft. Away from the brewpub the bottled and draft versions are the same recipe. So if I go to my local BW3's the draft SNPA is the same (recipe) as the bottled. However there is a different draft version that's apparently available only at the SN Brewpub, a bit softer and closer to a Mirror Pond according the the BN.

Now, they may be wrong, or something may have changed. But per that show the keg and bottled versions are the same...unless you're getting the special "draft" version at the Sierra nevada Brewpub itself.

Dos Equis Amber is barely drinkable in the bottle, but is actually pretty good on tap.

Paulaner Hefe is MUCH better on tap, too.

ambiance. yes. if youve ever been to costa rica and drank an ice cold bottle of Imperial after a few hours of surfing, it is a thing of beauty. bring a 22oz back to the states and try it. not the same, to say the least.

My favorite beer, Stone Ruination IPA tastes awesome on tap (at the Yard House) but in the bottle its just OK, the hops taste harsh rather than pleasently bitter.

I know that this message board kind of died off. But did anyone consider the environment/social aspect? I believe that most of the time that we drink the beer from the tap, we are usually at a bar with lots our friends having a good time. On the flip side when we drink the same beer from a glass bottle we may be drinking the beer at home alone and not having as much fun. Therefore, I think that we may make the connection that the tap beer tastes better since we were having a better time while drinking the beer.