If it's important to have sediment in the beer, bottle is better
If you're doing some sort of nitrogen carbonation, keg is better
otherwise, no idea. IMO Carlton Draught tastes better on tap, bot that could be because of what I'm eating at the pub at the time, or because I know a pint of Guinness is coming up next .
I can actually taste the difference between HB that has been kegged and bottled. Bottled HB tastes slightly less tangy/tinny (not sure how to describe it) and I do prefer it for that reason.
Kegged beer tastes way better IMHO. The only time bottles come into their own is when a big beer has been laid down for a long period of time to mature, but then again, a kegged version might be better, it's just rare to leave a keg for so long without drinking
kegged beer , and this is just my opinion so disagree if you wish, tastes a lot better than bottles. i believe its for a number of reasons and on my kegging journey( done the hard way before i had the net and advice was sparse) this is what ive discovered. there is no priming agent in a keg, so no other flavour is added to the beer, dextrose, sugar even malt leave a taste that you can notice which detracts from the beer. also the beer reaches maturity quicker than a bottle. the head is perfect with every glass. you can adjust the gas levels of your keg to your own tastes. keggged beer tastes better than the bottle of the same batch. the different gasses that you can get for your keg also vastly improve the taste. any style of beer( from the blackest of stouts to the lightest of lagers) tastes even better when carbonated and distributed with a nitro mix. the fine bubbles that last, no joke, as long as 25 mins and maybe longer is pure heaven. the downsides: kegs leave little room for error, bad tastes are very noticeable and a 50l leg of bad beer is a sad prospect. good advice is needed straight away to get it going, but this forum fixes that minefield. once you have the technique down, ie cleaning, cooling, filling, sealing, which gas to use, pouring technique, you will find it hard to go back to bottles. just my opinion. regards, heathen
...and the serpent said nothing, just grinned with knowledge.
Kevinlis, according to something I read recently, kegged HB can get a bite if it is badly overcarbonated, degassed, overcarbonated a few times. Apparently it is called 'soda-bite.'
As for commercial kegged beer tasting better than bottled, Charlie P recons that it is because breweries do not pasteurise their kegged beer. For that reason, it is often kept cold during transportation.
With kegged HB, at least you don't have to worry about the airspace at the top of the bottle.