Infographic: Beer drinkers think bottles provide the freshest beer

The Glass Packaging Institute, the trade association representing the North American glass container manufacturers and suppliers, shared the results of its consumer preference survey with us.

We all know that aluminum cans are getting the publicity these days, with a bunch of breweries going that route for the additional portability, stackability and brandability, but cans are no panacea, especially considering the shortages starting to happen. Brewers in this feature noted that they have been denied can orders for no reason other than they are just too small. So, that’s not great.

RELATED: Craft brewing canning trends: We review the numbers and confirm the hype

Anyway, if you find yourself in a similar situation, this might not be a bad thing for your brewery. The Glass Packaging Institute’s research indicates that craft beer consumers still overwhelmingly prefer glass packaging for beer. Moreover, the research indicates that the reasons beer consumers prefer glass are unlikely to change any time soon, because they are rooted in the unique characteristics of glass as a packaging material. If you don’t believe us or them, maybe you will believe this infographic.

Understanding consumer preference or assumptions are important, and as you see in the above graphic, 64 percent of craft beer consumers surveyed say glass bottles offer the freshest beer — 19 percent have no opinion and only 16 percent think cans offer the freshest beer.

Further reading: Loading bottles by hand? Meet the Manual Bulk Depalletizer from GR-X