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It’s a great debate: which provides better packaging for beer? Cans or bottles? Each option brings its own benefits. Sleeved cans are gaining in popularity, while traditional amber bottles provide excellent overall product protection and delivery.
Benefits of Beer in a Can
Contrary to previous beliefs, aluminum cans have not been proven to leach chemicals or create a metallic taste in your beer. The benefits of canned beer are many.
Craft Breweries Use Them: Over 500 craft breweries are now packaging their delicious products in cans instead of bottles. Cans block out all UV rays from the sun, which are commonly blamed for “skunking” a beer or affecting how good it tastes. When sunlight gets in, it can affect the delicate chemistry of hops, carbonation, malt, barley, and other ingredients that make up an award-winning beer.
They Cool Quickly: The time between you putting them in the fridge and the time they’re ready to be consumed is considerably smaller with aluminum cans. The thin metal conducts cold temperatures quickly and surrounds the liquid more fully than a glass bottle does.
Cans Contain Polymers: A thin coating of polymer membrane on the inside wall of a beer can creates a small but effective barrier between the aluminum and the liquid itself. This ensures that there is no metallic flavour when you’re ready to drink the beer. Many consumers argue that there is a presence of metal, but this likely comes from the aroma of aluminum near your nose, not from your taste buds. Smells and flavours are closely intertwined, of course. If you want to avoid this risk, simply pour your beer from the can into a pint glass.
Benefits of Beer in a Bottle
Before aluminum technology was readily available for the mass market, glass bottles were the industry standard. The green bottles of yore were proven to have a “skunking” effect on beer, which resulted in the innovation of amber glass.
Glass Guarantees Fermentation: While aluminum cans may cause a beer to go flat more quickly if the tab seal is not properly constructed, glass bottles are reliable vessels of fermentation. This is especially relevant for ales, which will not be hurt by a little extra yeastiness or added time during the aging process.
They Stay Cold Longer: A great advantage that bottles have over aluminum cans is that, even though it takes them longer to get cold, once they are cold, they don’t warm up as quickly. The thin walls of aluminum cans do not keep your beer cold for as long as the thicker-walled glass bottles do.
Tradition and Aesthetic: Bottles just look better! Not only this, but for craft brews, bottles can be customized for many shapes, sizes, colours, corks, and tops. The only thing that can be customized on aluminum cans is how many ounces they hold (12, 16, or 22), and what the label looks like.
Sleeved Cans and Bottle Sleeves
At Kinsbrae Packaging we have developed a 360-degree area of advertising that uses as much real estate on the can as you desire. Our sizing is versatile, fitting up to four inches of width and 14 inches of height. Text-printed sleeves are highly durable and resistant to heat, cold, and wet conditions, whereas traditional labels can melt, peel, dissolve, or smudge.
We offer similar options with bottles as well. Custom-made bottle sleeves catch the eye of customers and help you stand out against the competition. Whatever your innovative art design is, we pride ourselves on making the most of your corporate insignia. Enquire today about the many packaging solutions we offer to breweries.