Bottle/can changes flavor, why?

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dm1217

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This might not necessarily be "home brewing" related, but possibly could be, since we all use either bottle or keg.

I'll use Heineken as a prime example . From a fresh bottle (The 50% of the time when it's not skunked) it's very smooth, one of my favorites. (Yes, I wish they sold Heinken in brown bottles too)

From a can, it's almost undrinkable to me. It tastes like a completely different beer. Very dark and musky, and a lot more harsh.

Is this only in my head, or is there a real science to this?
 
Try pouring them in a glass and do a blind taste test. I have done this experiment before and drinking from a bottle or can definitely makes them taste much different compared to drinking from glasses.
 
I personally think the Heineken cans are far superior to bottles, just because they're never skunked. You're not drinking OUT of the can are you?
 
I personally think the Heineken cans are far superior to bottles, just because they're never skunked. You're not drinking OUT of the can are you?

No, I had a can yesterday, poured it into a glass. It still seems to taste completely different than from a bottle.
 
Yea I would think the bottles would be the ones to skunk since UV light can get to them but not the cans.
 
Yea I would think the bottles would be the ones to skunk since UV light can get to them but not the cans.

That's why I'm emphasizing "when it's fresh, not skunked" when mentioning Heineken, to not get this confused with a "green bottle skunking" issue.

This topic applies to any bottled/canned beer in general.

Has anyone done a blind taste test, of pouring bottled and canned beer into glasses to see if there's a taste difference? Etc.
 
Has anyone done a blind taste test, of pouring bottled and canned beer into glasses to see if there's a taste difference? Etc.

Yes. Can vs bottles for Moose Drool, Fat Tire, SNPA, and Shiner Bock. Bottling/best by date was as close as possible between cans/bottles. All beer was poured into identical glasses and served blind.

In three cases, the cans was superior to the bottle. The exception was Shiner Bock, which I can only assume must have sat in a 100+ degree truck for hours to be so dramatically bad from the can vs. the bottle.
 
The new can technology that many breweries are using to save money is surprising good. Our local NOLA brewery has put some beers in cans and it tastes almost as good as draft. I can't say why and don't care but am just happy about it.
However, though I'm no longer a fan of Heineken, I definitely can't drink it in cans and notice a huge difference.
 
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