Question on beer...

I'm doing my best to figure out why some beer is great on tap, and terrible in the bottle, and vise versa, is it because of of the type of beer? For example Bass Ale in the bottle seems to always taste better than on tap..and a local example would be the APA at BBC, while I love it on tap at The St Matthews location, I find the bottles I bought from Kroger to be a few notches below...I have heard that recipes for draft and bottle need to be different, or that some beer will taste better after a while in the bottle, is it the carbon-dioxide?

Are you pouring the bottle into a glass? That is a must for any beer. When drinking beer out of a bottle 1. you won't get any of the floral character that you get out of a glass and 2. there is the potential to taste "cap rust" on the neck. The portion of a cap that touches the beer has a specially designed liner to prevent metal to beer contact. In most craft breweries the bottles and kegs come out of the same finished beer tank. Hope that helps and thank you for trying our beer.

i'm going with david on this one
use a glass and see if there is a difference

then i'd suggest an age issue
bottled beer from anywhere may sit on the shelf a bit longer than the kegs

then we can talk light / storage issues

if stored correctly, there should be no difference, but lets say the kegs have been stored correctly, but the bottles have been on display in direct sunlight for a few weeks at around 70+ degrees

then there's probably going to be at least a slight difference in taste

as far as beer style goes, i think it's a big big world of beer out there
bottle fermented vs not (additions of sugar and yeast at the bottling stage certainly affect the flavor, a lot of draft may not have the additions)
corks vs none (no corks in the kegs)
filtered or unfiltered
alcohol content

then we always have brewery variations
BBC usually kegs and bottles from the same batches
but some breweries may run a bottle batch and then a batch for kegs

so lets see
use a glass
style and storage issues will affect the differences between bottle and draft, but usually on a pretty minor level
and specific brewery operations may impact the differences between bottles and kegs

i can't really think of a beer that was "terrible" in the bottle/keg and "great" in the opposite version
different absolutely,

Thanks guys, I thought we had some BBC representation here and yes I do use a glass when I'm home, I had never heard of cap rust so that may be a factor when I don't, I just know it as to be more than the amount of time on the shelf.
thanks again

...some beer is great on tap, and terrible in the bottle

I noticed this same phenomenon when I was in college with Molson Ice. It was a big beer in Virginia at the time (early 90's) and was on tap everywhere, but it never tasted the same from the bottle - the draft was smoother, cleaner, while the bottles had a lingering aftertaste.

that reminds me

some larger brewers may have additional facilities throughout the world
i think Guinness used to have a brewery in Jersey and thus the water going into the beer was different
i think flying dog brewery has facilities in colorado and maryland maybe

Shawn I know that Guinness brands Harp and stout are both made in Canada and Guinness draught is only produced in Ireland. Neither of their brands have ever been produced in the USA . I worked for the distributer for a while.. as for flying dog I would not know. But brewers are pretty particular about there water and will tend too filter and match water from the original brewery. Age and distress are the major factors, if you have the means draft is how the brewer meant their beer to taste and it is how it should be drank. Bottles have their place but nothin beats a cold draft.

that reminds me

some larger brewers may have additional facilities throughout the world
i think Guinness used to have a brewery in Jersey and thus the water going into the beer was different
i think flying dog brewery has facilities in colorado and maryland maybe

Yes, FDB has facilities in the states you named. At least that was the case when I did the brewery tour there (the denver location) last summer. Someone on the tour actually asked about the taste difference between the two locations. I don't really remember the whole conversation, as I was battling mono at the time and wasn't worth much, but I do remember that the "water difference" was mentioned. Not sure if the tour guide mentioned this or some guest offered it as a possible cause for a taste difference. The tour guide did say that the MD location handled most of the lesser-named bottling, as to limit the possibility of a taste difference.

Import beer has this problem way more then domestically made beer.


"I have heard that recipes for draft and bottle need to be different"

Complete Mythe.

"if you have the means draft is how the brewer meant their beer to taste and it is how it should be drank"

this may be true to some extent,
but just to be realistic, most brewers that have bottling facilities know that many of their beers will be "first" experienced via the bottle (i should probably qualify this statement by limiting the scope of my comments to non-regional breweries - those that participate in interstate/national distribution)

additionally, many specialty beers are only distributed in bottle format ("only" excludes people like Roger who manage to get their paws on every rare draft beer in the US)
but for instance,
you are more likely to try a flying dog gonzo porter in the bottle than on draft
and more likely to find dogfish head pangea in the bottle than on draft
and in the case of a single brewery - you're more likely to find sierra nevada pale ale on draft than porter or stout on draft (in fact i don't think i've ever had the sout on tap before)

so i certainly disagree a little with this statement
)mainly because i love bottle conditioned beers(

- on this fine note of beer-
i spent last night at a food show at Belterra Casino - my beer options were really, really bad - bud, coors, and miller products; sam adams boston lager, and heineken
i drank one heineken (and several captain and cokes - my usual choice if bad beer dominates)
BTW the bad beer was free, but i'd rather pay for rum and coke than drink bad beer for free

Belterra was pretty nice though, nice room, decent food, & good service

shawn

A lot of good info in the posts above but there are two other things that might also be causing the taste differences. The first is carbonation. Depending on the style of beer, carbonation levels can vary dramatically. English styles like Bass or Newcastle tend to be fairly low in carbonation whereas most domestic beers have a bit more fizz. When the beer leaves the brewery, carbonation is dialed in to the level desired by the brewer regardless of whether it is packaged in bottles or kegs. And, baring badly mishandled product, things remain that way until the bottle is opened or the keg is tapped.

Now, here's where things can get a little screwy. When a keg is tapped, carbon dioxide is pushed into the keg and displaces the beer. The amount of CO2 pressure applied is determined by the system through which is being poured and with an end goal of a relatively foam free pour. This pressure almost always exceeds the internal pressure of the keg. Over time, as the pressure is applied, the volume of CO2 in the keg will increase and the beer will become more carbonated. If the keg is emptied quickly, there will be no real perceivable difference but if it is tapped for more than a few days, the difference is pretty marked. I think that's why you are finding such a difference between bottled and draft Bass.

On the BBC issue my guess, as some noted above, is that it is a storage issue. While temperature can be a factor it seems like this may be more time related. Since the APA is a hoppy beer with a wonderful hop taste and aroma, freshness is absolutely key. Those flavors, and aromas in particular, are very volatile and over time will dissipate. If you wait long enough the practically disappear. Usually that's not an issue around here as we are fortunate to be able to get BBC very fresh in most stores and bars, and to me that is when it really shines.

god point Ryan

Guinness in a bottle and Guinness Draught, either from a can or on tap, stands out in my mind as one beer that tastes markedly different depending on the form. I prefer the bottled Guinness.

I believe all the Flying Dog product on the east coast is coming from the Frederick Brewery in Maryland now along with Wild Goose and some other smaller brands. Flying Dog has undergone some changes at the top in the last couple of months. They basically stole the Frederick brewery for a song a dance about 2 years ago. It's a decent facility with plenty of space to brew lots of beer.

Sometimes I think people confuse the St. Matthews BBC pub draft with the Main/clay brewery's draft...there are some differences, two different spots...two different brewers(both good brewers though). That being the case, there should be some differences in the finished product, however small.

I personally think draft is always the way to go unless bottles are your only option.

uinness in a bottle and Guinness Draught, either from a can or on tap

the guiness xxx stout (in the 12oz bottles with out the widget)
is an entirely different beer than guiness draught (can and bottles with widgets)

shawn

and i second Brad's notes about the Frederick Brewery in MD