Beer from a can just ain't the same as beer from a tap, and a lot of it's about the foam. The Japanese take their beer foam pretty seriously, it would seem, and a design team reckons it's worked out how to deliver the perfect pour using an extra tab.
In the team's estimation, a proper head is an essential barrier between the beer and the ambient air, locking in aroma, flavor and carbonation. I don't know about all that, but I do know that Guinness, with its vaunted floating Widget technology, is one of the only canned beers I've been truly impressed by.
The widget, though, is all about nitrogenation of the beer for that creamy lip-smear of a head you expect on a stout. Lagers are different, and lagers are the name of the game in Japan. Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo, they're all rolling out pale lagers as their biggest sellers.
The design team had a goal in mind: the 7:3 "golden" ratio of beer to foam. They investigated bubble formation, finding that some bubbles are created when the beer is first opened, and others happen due to friction between the liquid and the can during pouring. They noted that more bubbles were generated when you pour with a lid that's only narrowly opened.
And so they deigned a beer can with two numbered tabs to pull when you open it. The first tab cracks the opening just a little, so you can pour a nice, foamy first half of your beer. Then, wait til the bubbles settle a bit, crack the second tab to open it right up, and top up the rest of your beer.
The greatest thing about this invention, of course, is that you don't need to buy one to try the idea out. Just get a regular can, crack it open just a smidgin, and pretend you've got a fancy twin-tab can while laughing all the way to the bank. Check out the idea in the video below.
Source: Nendo
