well, what is it, bottles or cans for your beer?
I am a bit worried about glass on the boat, BUT, I really don't want cans of carib....

so, which is it, bottles-o-cans?

much preferred the bottles. Carib or presidente.

Definitely bottles if you get Red Stripe. The cans are nasty <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Sick.gif" alt="" />

Bottles - always - get yourself some beer koozies and you won't need to worry about the bottles - we've never had anything but bottles on board and have never had breakage.

You can even order custom koozies for your trip through Laura at Custom Sailing Shirts - customsailingshirts.com.

Canned beer is generally foul..never ,ever, had a problem with bottles on board..coozies are great..help cushion the bottles..for me,, Red Stripe, Presidente, Dutch Heineken..keep the fruit the for bad tasting stuff!!

We drink our Red Stripes from bottles every time, use koozies and never had a broken bottle (knocking on wood right now...)

Bottles! Never a problem with breakage.

I agree that the likelihood of skunked beer is higher with cans, but there's another consideration that the other posters so far haven't mentioned and that's the difference in the volume and weight of the accumulated trash from bottles vs. cans.

We tend to go with a mix of mostly cans, but plenty of bottles as well. Maybe 2/3 to 1/3. If we're on our own, we're more likely to do more bottles and less cans. If we're with non-sailors, more likely to lean more heavily to the cans as they are less used to watching out for their beverage when the boat moves around.

It is SO much easier dealing with trash though when you have a bag full of crushed cans vs a bag full of clanky, bulky and heavy bottles.

Have you ever tried to break a bottle on fiberglass? We always buy 55 gallon heavy duty trash bags to back up the usual 13 gallon trash bags. We tie the large bag to the aft rail and it holds many small trash bags.

Bottles only way to go for us, unless cans are only lawful option available! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

I much prefer bottles for my beer but have had broken bottles on more then one occasion. Worth the risk however!
G

Urban myth alert! Skunked beer is due to light exposure which leads to chemical reactions that generate in particular a compound called 3-MBT (google it). This is impossible to happen in cans but very much a possibility with bottles. Even if you are scrupulous to keep da beer outta da sun, the shop you bought it from might not have been.

There have been many blind tests that showed that experienced testers could not distinguish beer from cans ("mini kegs") from bottles, once both were poured in a glass.

These guys take their beer seriously, and they come down nearly unanimously on the canned side: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/thoughts-on-canned-vs-bottled-beer.142079/

Canner here, I like the "compress-ability". Just wish they'd figure out a way to compress the full ones! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

But to each their own!

Well, if you want compact beer, how about an envelope. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Sick.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

I like beer. If you are buying, can or bottle doesn't matter.

Bet they were sitting around drinking when they thought of that!

We buy bottles for the boat and cans for the St. John NPS beaches. $50 fine for bottles in the National Park.

Skunked beer from UV light on hop compounds producing mercaptan... sure, but we've found that the bottled beer is generally fresher tasting. The cans seems to be more likely to have a strong heat shock flavor, same for a lot of the red wine we come across.

We've done side-by-side on Presidente and Heineken and bottles won over cans. But then, bottles of Hoegaarden, Schneider Weisse, Duvel, Sierra Nevada torpedo and Guiness Foreign Extra Stout beet the lagers handily.

Cheers, RickG

There is a reason good beers come in dark coloured bottles and why Corona , Sol and Carib dont work for me...

I prefer cans - they are lighter and so easier to carry since I put them in my back pack, they take up less space, they cool faster in the fridge (less thermal mass), don't break and I crush them when I'm done so they use way less trash space.

Probably gonna get filleted, flogged, flailed and handed my head on a platter by guys like tradewinds as usual for having a contrary opinion ... heavy sigh - hit me!

Bottles or cans, when will the BVI recycle? Feels so strange to throw everything away. The glass studio in CGB comes to mind.

Our guys always preferred bottles, but then you also have the issue of cardboard cases the bottles come in. While the cases are easy to store, and protect the glass bottles inside, you risk bringing " livestock" aboard the boat, too. Pays yer money, takes yer choice.

Breeze

Were your tests done blindly? Contents poured into identical glasses without any identifying marks? If yes, your results contradict those of all that I have read about.

Bottles of rum and whiskey!! If it came in a can I would drink it that way too. Does a metal flask count?

We always buy bottles -- and we always empty the cases BEFORE we store the beer below -- we have never had breakage. We use a cooling system <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> We put some beers in the bottom of the freezer, some into a cooler with ice secured under the salon table, some get stored. Then...we rotate - beers going from freezer to cooler means our ice lasts a little bit longer. And we always get an extra cooler from the charter company to have in the cockpit. Never had a problem with "livestock" on board in the last 5 charters <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Because of the volume we buy, we buy the bulk of the beer in cans. I'm ordering 17 cases of beer. The bulk is Bud Light and Budweiser. Those will be in cans. The Heineken and IPA will be in bottles. The reason we buy cans is because of the trash, not the fear of breaking on the boat.

Also, no cardboard ever comes on board.

Always bottles.

Yep, Colleen - no cardboard on board for us either....

I'm with you.
Heineken in cans.

I have to disagree. There is nothing better than the way cold Heineken from a bottle hits the back of your throat. Something about the shape of the bottle and lip.

Does anyone remember the square Heineken bottles, maybe from the 1960's? Way before recycling and ecology, the idea was to use the empty square bottles as bricks to construct buildings with instead of leaving them all over the beach as litter. I don't think the idea ever took off though.

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/how-brick-...ears-ago-143190
check it out