Who wants canned beer? Canned beer is mass market beer … no thanks. Maybe not so fast. I admit I have not been a canned beer advocate since I started drinking craft beer. However, I am coming around.
I am an admitted hophead, so I like very hoppy beers. I was told some time ago by someone who knows brewing that the hop aroma escapes through very small gaps around the cap of bottled beer. Over the past few months I have consumed IPAs that I’ve had on the shelf for some time. It seemed like the usual hoppyness wasn’t there. I wondered if in my advanced age my taste buds were gone, but quickly put that thought aside.
I then tried some “fresh” beer of the same brands and they tasted hoppy again. It further (anecdotally) seems as though canned IPA, even if not new, retains its hoppyness.
A lot of craft beers are going the canning route now. Those who do say it is better for the beer as the can precludes the beer being exposed to light which is not beer’s friend. So I’ve come all the way around and now enjoy canned craft beer as much as I do bottled.
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The new Whole Foods store at Ina and Oracle roads in the Casas Adobes Shopping Center opened Aug. 27. There’s a nice selection of craft beers in the cooler, but the real star of the store is the beer and wine bar. Bar 77 is a standalone bar in the southeast corner of the store. There’s a horseshoe bar with adjacent tables as well as an outdoor patio. There are 20 rotating craft brews on tap.
Until now, the only bar with a big beer selection has been Noble Hops at Lambert Lane and La Canada. This is a great addition to the north/northwest sides of town.
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I recently went to Prague to check out the beer scene. I didn’t find any craft beers because bars and restaurants serve only one brand of beer.
Can you imagine walking into an American bar and only one brand of beer is available? That’s the way it is in Czech Republic.
And, it’s the way it was here in the late 1800s. In fact in that era, brewers started buying up bars to ensure the distribution of their beers. (For a great history of the American brewing business, pick up a copy of “Ambitious Brew” by Maureen Ogle).
We’re very fortunate to have a vast variety of beers in America and a number of great places to enjoy beer.
