Craft beer in a can

It might seem odd to learn that downtown craft-beer bar Eternal Tap doesn’t have a single bottle of craft beer in it. But that’s how general manager Kevin Maguire likes it.

“I personally like my beer out of cans,” he says. “I think it tastes better.”

Rather than a bottle cooler, Eternal Tap has a “can cabinet – a wooden bar-closet with dew-frosted glass panels, in which it stows the numerous types of canned beer for sale. It’s the first of its kind in downtown Orlando.

“Part of our beer is striving for uniqueness – offering new experiences our customers may not have found elsewhere,” Maguire adds. “I think our cabinet certainly does that.”

Though many may associate canned beer with cheap beer, there’s no shortage of high-quality canned product available on the market these days. Tampa’s Cigar City Brewing, which was recently named one of the world’s top 5 craft breweries by RateBeer.com – began canning its products just months before Eternal Tap’s grand opening in December. Eternal Tap also carries cans of Abita, Shipyard, Ten Fidy, Dale’s Pale Ale and Magners Cider, as well as some traditional American lagers like Budweiser, Coors, Miller and Yuengling.

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