I
love to hear the "snap" of an ice
cold Warbird opening. That's
the sound of Craft Beer In Cans.
Many people expect really good beer
to be in a
bottle of some kind. As the
founder and owner of Warbird Brewing, I frequently
get asked, “Why do you put your beer
in cans
instead of bottles?"
The answer is pretty simple.
Cans protect beer better than
glass bottles. Why?
Because cans completely protect beer from light.
Exposure to light is the number one
threat to good tasting beer. When
light strikes beer, it starts to
cause an actual chemical reaction
that changes the flavor of beer.
Brewers call this "light-struck"
flavor. It reminds people of
"skunk." If you've ever had "skunky"
beer, this is probably what
happened, unless it was bad beer
before the light got to it.
Glass bottles of any kind allow some
light to penetrate and strike the
beer. Hold an empty bottle up
to a light. See the light? The
beer sees it too. For plain bottles,
dark brown bottles are the best
solution. That's why you see
so many craft beers in brown
bottles. Green bottles protect
less than brown and clear bottles
don't protect at all.
Cans completely protect beer from
light. You can hold a can of Warbird
up to a light and see for yourself. From a quality
standpoint, that is a cool thing.
Cans have other advantages as well.
They weigh less than glass, they
chill faster than glass, they do not
shatter when dropped, they can go
many places bottles is discouraged
or not allowed, and they are easier
to re-cycle. The cost of
recycling aluminum is lower than
glass and people are generally more
likely to recycle aluminum than
glass, so the can is more
environmentally friendly.
So,
why did we decide to buy a bottling
machine and sell Warbird beer in
bottles, too? Is it because we
"changed our minds"? No.
There are a couple of reasons.
First, most people prefer to drink
beer out of a bottle. They say
it tastes better. The fact is,
it probably doesn't taste any better
at all. But the EXPERIENCE of
holding a bottle is more pleasant
than that of holding a can (to some
people...not me!). There is
also an image issue. Many bars
and restaurants simply refuse to
carry canned beer (not all, and we
appreciate those who have carried us
from the beginning!). Third,
as a microbrewery, we have a lot
more flexibility with bottles as
opposed to cans. When we buy
cans, we buy enough pre-printed cans
to produced about 6000 cases of one
type of beer. With bottles, we
can buy relatively small batches of
labels that allow us to make as few
as 250 cases of one style of beer.
You can see the direct result in our
current line-up. We now have 4
beers available in bottles, where we
still only have one in cans.
So,
now we have both. Cans and
bottles. Either way, we hope
you enjoy them, and we thank you for
your business. Cheers!
