Does freshly tapped beer taste better than bottled beer?

What really matters: bottle or barrel

Which tastes better is of course a matter of taste, but there is indeed a small difference. And even if the expression “freshly tapped” sounds delicious, the process of tapping it doesn’t really matter.

What matters is where the beer is beforehand – in a bottle or a keg. The difference is that draft beer contains a little more carbon dioxide – around 5 percent. More bubbles also form; This makes it appear fresher in the mouth and gives it more of a zing. Or, as the experts say: it has a higher “recency”.

Beer barrel can withstand more pressure

Draft beer contains more carbon dioxide because the keg can withstand the corresponding pressure, while too much gas pressure in the bottle can cause problems with the closure. There is then a greater risk that the liquid or foam will blow out the crown cap – especially if the beer is shaken. That’s why slightly less carbon dioxide is added to bottled beer than to draft beer.

When the draft beer tastes stale

However, it can happen that draft beer doesn’t sound that much, but on the contrary, seems a little more lax. This can have two reasons:

1. It could be due to the dispensing system: the more a keg empties, the more air it contains in relation to the beer. In this air, more and more gas bubbles can escape in the barrel – at least if the appropriate pressure is not maintained in the barrel at the same time. A good dispensing system ensures the necessary pressure. But the barrels that you can buy as a private person from a drinks retailer – there is no pressure behind them. This is why it can happen that the emptier the barrel is, the staler the beer tastes. This is an explanation for the fact that draft beer sometimes doesn’t taste very “recent”.
2. Another reason could be that it isn’t really freshly tapped, but rather that, for example, at a party, the people at the bar stocked up on the beer and it had been sitting around for a while when you ordered it.