I prefer cans these days
so which is better, cans or bottles? Does it affect the taste?
A lot of beer lovers aren’t too fond of the idea of drinking beer from a can. That has a lot to do with the past: not too long ago, untreated tin was used as packaging and the metal gave the beer a bad flavour. I for one am old enough to remember the awful metallic taste that tainted the canned food of my youth. It tasted like blood. But those days are over now, as there are various coatings inside the tin to prevent unwanted tastes.
Then heavier alcoholic lagers became available in pint-sized cans at very low prices, and thus conjured undesirable asscoiations for many consumers.
Packaging?
There is no better packaging for beer than cans.
If you’ve not heard about the benefits before, here’s the top line: cans are the best way to protect beer against the inevitable decrease of flavour over time. Beer is a product made from natural ingredients, and therefore, sadly, does not have an eternal life. The taste reduces rapidly when beer is exposed to light, air and high temperature. Light, especially UV-rays, react with hops and cause nasty sulfur compounds - but tin is 100% light-tight, and thus beats every bottle. Oxygen reacts with beer and causes it to oxidize, making the beer smell like a wet newspaper - but tin is also 100% airtight. The colder a beverage is, the slower biochemical processes that cause the taste to slowly deteriorate - cans cool faster than glass.
