beerasia: The expat beer lover’s question of life – bottle or can?
A recent comment was made about cans of imported Carlsberg tasting bad, raising an ever important question – bottle or can?
In all fairness most expats in Asia don’t have a lot of choice thanks to national beer monopolies, excessive import taxes and poor distribution systems.
As a rule domestic brews are always the freshest but it is always necessary to ask yourself a number of questions when buying a beer:
– Is the bar, shop or restaurant busy enough to ensure a regular turnover of their stock?
– If not, then which beer appears the most popular or reasonably priced?
– What brew are the locals drinking?
– Are the locals poor, alcholic peasants or rich urbanite?
– Are you a poor, drunk backpacker or an microbrew swigging jetsetter?
You have to weigh up the information and figure out what will work out best for you.
Country to country and beer to beer quality varies wildly but I would have to say that bottles are best if the selection is very fresh, if more than a few months then cans are a better option if good storage has been maintained.
Anything more than a few months old and you are pretty much screwed either way [beerasia.blogspot.com]