Packaging
Aluminium can
The best mainstream package for beer quality: completely lightproof, very low oxygen ingress, and quick to chill.
Cans are objectively better for beer than bottles on the two measures that matter for staleness — light and oxygen. The lingering perception that canned beer is inferior comes from an era of poor liners and from what was typically sold in cans, not from the format.
How well it protects the beer
| Light | complete. Opaque, so no light reaches the beer. Lightstrike is not a risk in this format at any point. |
|---|---|
| Oxygen | very low. Very little oxygen crosses the seal. Staling is driven by whatever oxygen was picked up at packaging rather than by ingress afterwards. |
| Conditioning | Beer does not referment in this container; carbonation is set before or at packaging. |
| Material | aluminium |
| Typical volume | 330–568 ml |
Questions
Is canned beer worse than bottled?
No — on the measures that determine how beer degrades, cans are better. They block light completely, so lightstrike is impossible, and modern seams admit less oxygen than a crown cap. Cans also chill faster. The old reputation comes from historical liner problems and from what used to be packaged in cans, not from anything about the format today.
Other formats
- Brown glass bottle — good light protection, low oxygen ingress.
- Cask — complete light protection, high oxygen ingress.
- Clear glass bottle — none light protection, low oxygen ingress.
- Green glass bottle — poor light protection, low oxygen ingress.
- Keg — complete light protection, very low oxygen ingress.
- Mini keg — complete light protection, low oxygen ingress.
See the side-by-side table on the packaging index, or how this plays out over time in storage and freshness.
Last reviewed 2026-08-15.
Evidence
What BeerHQ knows about this, and how. Every statement carries the state of the evidence behind it rather than being presented flatly as fact.
An aluminium can is opaque, so beer cannot become lightstruck while it is in the can, however it is stored — though it becomes as vulnerable as any other beer once poured into a glass in sunlight.
Backed by a source
Source: Brewing: Science and Practice — print
Beer was first sold in cans in the United States in 1935, in steel cans with a flat top requiring a separate opener; aluminium and the integrated opening tab came considerably later.
Backed by a source
Sources: Beer: The Story of the Pint — print; The Oxford Companion to Beer — print
BeerHQ declines to name a best package format: cans protect better from light and usually from oxygen, which matters greatly for a hop-forward beer and not at all for a cask, whose air exposure is deliberate.
BeerHQ’s own reading