Bottle or Tap: Why Is Draft Beer Better?

If you’re ready to enjoy a cold one with friends or all by yourself, you can’t beat McCray’s Tavern in Midtown. Located in the Atlantic House on the corner of 13th Street and West Peachtree Street, McCray’s Midtown Tavern has been serving great food and good times for years. We offer a full menu, a wide selection of festive cocktails, and the best brunch in the city. 

Today, we’ll look at one of our favorite adult beverages, beer, and why it tastes better from the tap. 

Beer is fresher when served on tap

With over 40 beers on tap, we’re serious about the products we serve and want our customers to enjoy their time with us. One of the reasons that we feel beer tastes better out of the tap is that it is fresher. Draft beer is kept in kegs with unique flavors and isn’t exposed to oxygen as often as bottled beer during the packaging process. 

Many beers are manufactured using hops, which adds flavor and aroma to the beer’s flavor profile and helps keep the head of foam at maximum levels. When exposed to oxidation, the head won’t be as foamy, and the beer can taste stale.

Exposure to light can be harmful

Another reason beer is better out of the tap is that it isn’t exposed to sunlight like bottled beer. Sunlight penetrates beer bottles and reacts to the hops inside the bottle, which creates compounds that can make the beer taste bland or off-putting and have a sour smell. Many beers are manufactured in dark-colored bottles, but this still isn’t enough to keep light away from what’s inside, and the longer it sits on the shelf, the more exposed it is to the light.

The right temperature and carbonation

Draft beer is kept at a regulated temperature, unlike bottled beer. However, you’ve probably seen delivery trucks carting bottled beer into convenience stores, so it’s hard to know how often your favorite brand has been cooled or left out in the heat.

When our staff pours you a draft beer, you can expect a head that is foamy and rich, and full of flavor. Draft beer is pushed with carbon dioxide or nitrogen when it comes out of the tap to give it perfect carbonation, and that’s what makes the creamy foam head. In bottled beer, the carbon dioxide usually escapes, and it doesn’t have enough fizz left to keep a foamy head for long.

Ready to try one of our beers on tap? Stop in today!

Now that we’ve made you thirsty, it’s time to check it out for yourselves. Wherever you are in Midtown, you need to make time to visit the local tavern. We’re open any day of the week, and if you’ve been looking for a friendly place where everyone knows your name, then you should add a visit to McCray’s Midtown to your weekly to-do list. We can’t wait to serve you!