Casks, Kegs, Bottle, or Cans?

What is the ideal beer container?

Enquiring minds need to know: What is the best way to store and dispense beer? This was the question posed during Toronto Beer Week on Wednesday September 21, 2010. Five different styles of beer were compared, each from two different containers.

The results went contrary to what many beer experts would have guessed in advance (well, at least to what we would have guessed). Two beers of styles that would have traditionally been served in cask; Flying Monkeys Smashbomb Atomic IPA and Arkell Best Bitter were prefered on draught and in bottles respectively. Denison's Weissbier and Steam Whistle Pilsner which, it could be argued, would benefit from the higher carbonation of a can and bottle were favoured on draught. The only thing that went true to form was the St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout which was deemed better from nitro-dispensed draught instead of bottles.

Another surprise was the parity in overall scores with an IPA, a Pilsner, a Weissbier, and a Stout all within a finger width of head away from each other in ratings. So it would seem that the favourite container for beer is, really, yourself.

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Median

38.5

37.5

37.0

37.0

35.5

34.5

34.0

35.5

25.5

25.0

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