Long story but it's time we snuck beer into play in this derailment as well.
Re. cans vs. bottles.
I toured a Pepsi plant here once and I asked if I was crazy thinking that small glass bottles tasted best and that the large plastic bottles seemed flatter. They explained to me that the container actually plays a big part in taste. They have to modify the level of carbonation to suit the container and that can mean playing with the recipe in the larger degrees. Although, just changing carbonation levels does noticeably effect flavor, even without a recipe change.
They were moving away from glass bottles at the time and had to significantly change the recipe as the glass could hold a lot more C02 safely than plastic. Cans could hold lots of C02 but he admitted the metallic taste does bleed into the product. He finished with "People like their bubbles."
Somewhat in argument to the "bubbles are good" concept, during my OH SO surprisingly convenient CSE conference that allowed me to visit Axiom during their 30 birthday celebrations, I attended a conference dinner hosted by a celebrity beer taster/expert. We spent the evening eating and following his entertaining directions as he explained the finer points of all the various varieties and styles of beer.
More to the point.. Sometime during the evening, he had us open a bottle, pour half the bottle into a glass and take a sip or two. Then he asked how many people took the time to carefully achieve the perfect pour? In other words, very little foam.
Then he asked us to take the remaining half and dump it into another glass as fast as we could manage without spillage. We let the copious amount of foam disperse and took another drink. The result was surprisingly different and the almost 100% majority preferred the taste of the quickly poured beer.
He explained that C02 is definitely not a tasteless gas and as demonstrated it's actually less than pleasant. I now make a point to pour my beers quickly, a half a bottle at a time to enjoy more of the beer and less of the C02 taste. Not that I'm a stickler though. Pass me a bottle, out on a hot deck with no glass. I have no second thoughts about enjoying it as is.
