Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Cold-filtered Inebriation

You have to love thermochromic ink. Think about it. How often have you grabbed a canned beverage and thought "this isn't as cold as I hoped." Essentially, this new area in design for the classic aluminum can has been out for about a year but I haven't seen many companies make good use of it. If you look at the photo on the right, one can of Coors is cold enough to drink and the other isn't -- this is noted by the color of the little mountain at the bottom of the can. I mean, no one wants a warm beer (unless you are desperate or in college) but most want a consistent level of freshness. There is also another reason why I mention this.

You see, I tend to fall back on Coors Light when I'm drinking. Sure, I like many other beers and some wines but I actually like the taste of a good cold Coors Light. And the process for brewing beer at the Coors brewery is "a unique cold filtering and sterile-fill system that stabilizes the beer at its freshest point without heating it by pasteurization." Remember all the Coors commercials where they rave about "ice cold Coors" or the Coors train seemingly bringing snow with it? There's a reason. You see, heat pasteurization kills the good bacteria fermenting the beer. (I was lucky to taste a beer right from a brewery prior to the heating and cooling... it is amazingly much tastier than the end product.) Coors just brings it to a very low temperature so it remains inactive. Early on this method limited growth of the chain nationally as it needed to be distributed cold also... and possibly another good reason for them to consider that little temperature guide on the can. Did I mention that they were the first to introduce the two-piece all-aluminum beverage can in 1959? Personally, I will only grab mine from the store refrigeration unit. I do need to look to see if some stores actually sit some of the cases out in displays (which would kind of ruin temperature control.)

4 comments:

Bar L. said...

Hey! The Silver Bullet was my brew of choice back in the drinking days! I don't drink much now but if I do it's usually a Corona.

I think these little "cold indicater gadgets" are brilliant! I had never heard of it till now! Thanks!

LoraLoo said...

I got to liking the more fattening types of beers, but my favorite lite beer is Miller Light. I had a bad experience with the Coors many years ago and haven't been able to drink it since!

I'd love to taste a beer fresh brewed - I have heard from others it tastes better than the end product.

Fred said...

Don't forget about our cousins in the U.K. They drink warm beer, and love it. While it did take a bit to get used to, I eventually warmed up (ha!) to the tradition.

Beer choice? Bud Select.

Lucy Stern said...

I'm not a beer drinker, but I have been to the Coors plant in Golden, Colorado. It was a wonderful experience.