There are several benefits to opting for canned beers while tailgating. You can fit more of them into a cooler, they are easy to dispose of, and they are more discreet if the situation calls for it. But only so many quality beers are available as cans. Within the last couple of years it’s become more common for liquor stores to stock Mexican beers in cans. But when the temperature dips lower I like a heavier beer. My local liquor store, Tower Package, sent me a newsletter today with a profile of the beers available from Oskar Blues Brewery. Wondering about the cans? Here’s what they say on their website:
In 2002 we became the first US microbrewery to brew and can its own beer. We started hand canning our beer two cans at a time, on a small table-top machine.
Why cans? We thought the idea of our bold, hoppy pale ale squeezed into a little can was hilarious. It made us laugh for weeks.
But then we discovered that the belief that cans impart flavor to beer is a myth. The modern-day aluminum can and its lid are lined with a water-based coating, so the beer and the can never touch. Cans, we discovered, are actually good for beer. Cans keep beer especially fresh by fully protecting it from light and oxygen. Our cans also hold extremely low amounts of dissolved oxygen, so our beer stays especially fresh for longer. Cans are also easier to recycle and less fuel-consuming to ship.
Below is Tower’s guide to four of the canned selections from Oskar Blues:
Dale’s Pale Ale is their flagship beer and America’s first hand-canned craft beer. It’s an assertive but deftly balanced beer brewed with hefty amounts of European malts and American hops. It features a copper color, and a hoppy nose. To complement its hoppy first impression, Dale’s also sports a rich middle of malts and hops, and a bracing finish at 6.5% alcohol by volume.
Mama’s Little Yella Pils is a delicious, small-batch versionMama’s Little Yellow Pilsner of the beer that made Pilsen, Czechoslovakia famous. Mama’s is made with hearty amounts of pale malt, German specialty malts, and traditional (Saaz) and 21st century Bavarian hops. It’s fermented at cool temperatures with a German yeast. While it’s rich with Czeched-out flavor, Mama’s gentle hopping and low ABV (just 5.3%) makes it a luxurious but low-dose beer.
Old Chub is a Scottish strong ale brewed with hearty amounts of seven different malts, including crystal and chocolate malts, and a smidge of US and UK hops. Old Chub also gets a dash of beechwood-smoked grains imported from Bamburg, Germany, home of the world’s greatest smoked beers. Old Chub is 8% alcohol by volume.
Gordon is a hybrid version of strong ale, somewhere between an Imperial Red and a Double IPA. Made with six different malts and three types of hops, it’s then dry-hopped with a motherlode of Amarillo hops. It is 8.7% alcohol by volume and features a gooey, resiny aroma and a luscious mouthfeel. The result is an assertive yet exceptionally smooth version of strong beer.
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