Saw a bottle shop post they had just gotten in some St. Bernardus. Looked at the photo and it was their Witbier in a can. Somehow this just seems wrong…
I think you mean shelf stable! Had some the other night after my local store got it in. Delicious.
It’s fine by me.
As with any wheat beer, I might feel inclined to tip the bottle or can upside down one time gently to get a little yeast back into suspension… just in case. I don’t mind kristalweizen, but something about a kristalwit would just seem slightly wrong to me… moreso than it being in a can. In a bottle, I can look for haze prior to popping the cap. In a can, cannot. So my little ritual of turning wheats upside down might make even more sense now then.
Belgian witbiers have a different sort of haze than German wheat beers and shouldn’t have any sediment to stir up. They should be hazy without any rousing.
St. Bernardus to me says Westvleteren…I just have nightmares of seeing 12 in a can.
Makes even more sense for an import beer than domestic (and it makes plenty of sense for domestic). Glass is heavy and expensive. More and more breweries are moving to cans. Cheaper to ship them empty and full, safer to work with on the line, preprinted labels that don’t come off them wet…
As far as the style, I do agree a little bit, but at this point it seems pretty far game. They have sours in cans, barrel aged stouts in cans… it’s not just pilsner anymore.
Wittekerke has been canning their Witbier for years. Nice, refreshing beer.
I can see how one could find cans of high gravity Belgians off-putting, but anyone who is any sort of beer geek is going to pour it into a proper glass anyway.
[quote]Guess who else cans their Witbier?
[/quote]
Celis. :o
lol
Dumb question: Can commercial breweries “bottle condition” in cans or does the beer need to be already carbonated at canning?
Sierra Nevada “can conditions.”
Actually, they do both at the same time. Beer is partially force carbed, then bottled or canned with yeast. The yeast is more for oxygen scavenging than carbing.
It’s my understanding that is pretty much the standard modern method for commercial bottle conditioning – carb to within 0.2v/v of target, then dose and package. But that doesn’t preclude any imaginable variation, does it?
Nope. But after going to Beer Camp at SN and having a chance to brew on their pilot system, I’m pretty certain about how they do it. Others may vary.