Steve Koenemann

Outside the Beer – Bottles

For years my father maintained a eclectic collection of beer bottles and other beer-related paraphernalia. He worked at the Sterling brewery in Evansville, IN during college and this set the stage for a near lifetime of collecting bottles and other odd “beer stuff” that struck his fancy. Pieces of this collection of his were sometimes visible around the house at various times throughout my life; its quantity and location carefully negotiated with my mother I’m sure. All of it now sits in boxes in their basement waiting for its next destination (likely my son). I guess that I was fortunate to discover Ratebeer early enough in my serious craft beer drinking days and simply avoided the need to maintain any kind of a physical beer collection… I have plenty of “stuff” already (my wife agrees). I have to admit though, some of the more interesting pieces of his collection were the various types of beer bottles. While it might be interesting in a future article to look, historically, at beer bottles, today I will examine the state of the beer bottle in the current marketplace. Beer bottles over the years have taken many forms and shapes, but today, while there is still some variation by brewer and by region, most bottles today fall into just a few major/broad types and sizes. I apologize, in advance, if I have left out one of your “favorites” or another bottle type of which you are aware.

• Stubby – Used extensively in Europe, Australia and almost exclusively in Canada (1962-86). Range in size from 330ml (11.2oz) to 375ml (12.7oz). Reintroduced by several bottlers in Canada in the early 2000s. The original styles were made of thicker glass and designed to stand up to many refillings. Advantages of this bottle type include smaller storage space, less breakage and a lower center of gravity. Much of the Canadian beer I drank after becoming “legal” came from these bottles.
• North American Longneck (355ml, 12oz) – The Industry Standard Bottle (ISB) for most major brewers in North America. In the US, these bottles are all 355ml (12oz), while in Canada (same bottle shape) the bottle is 341ml, which more closely matches the capacity of the stubby bottles long used in that country.
• Large Bottle (Bomber, 22oz) – The standard large bottle packaging for many American craft brewers (and homebrewers too).
• Large Bottle (750ml, 25.4oz) – The standard large bottle packaging for many European craft brewers as well as craft brewers from many other countries, including the US. Can be capped or corked (typically wire-caged).
• Growler – Typically made of glass with a standard capacity of a US half gallon (64oz), although 2-liter sizes are becoming more common, this container is used primarily for “take out” beer from stores, brewpubs and breweries. Usually has a screw on or swing top closure and, under proper storage conditions, can be expected to keep beer drinkable for less than a week (I try to not go past a couple of days, so that it is closest to “draft quality). Less common is a 1 liter/quart version of this vessel.
• Caguama (Litro) – Mexican in origin and typically 940ml in capacity. Translated this is is the word for a loggerhead turtle and is also called “ballenas” (whale) in certain parts of Mexico. Still sold by a number of Mexican brewers (Tecate, Corona, Sol, etc.) in Mexico. Not to be confused with a beer by the same name, which is brewed in El Salvador by Cerveceria La Constancia (SABMiller) for Kroger Foods.
• Darwin Stubby – Also called the Northern Territory Stubby, this Australian classic is not commonly found these days (expensive if found) and the older bottles are real collector’s items. With a standard capacity of approximately two liters (ranging from 1.25L to 2.25L), the larger varieties are the largest commercially available beer bottles ever offered.
• Beugel (Swing-top) – The classic Grolsch swing-top bottle with the rubber-gasketed porcelain stoppers. Has seen a resurgence recently among homebrewers and some small commercial brewers.
• De Nederlandse Bierfles (pijpje) – Exclusive to the Netherlands, this 300ml (10.1oz) is refillable and typically carries a deposit to ensure its return.
• British Pint – Also know as the London Brewer’s Standard bottle, it has a capacity of 568ml and was intended to be refilled. It has largely been replaced by the non-refillable 500ml (half-liter) sized bottle.
• Half-Liter (500ml, 16.9oz) – Originally adopted by UK and European brewers, the popularity of this size bottle has spread to many brewers across the world.
• Third-Liter (330ml, 11.2oz)- Mostly used by European brewers, there has been some spread of this bottle sized to other world brewers.
• Plastic “Bottle” – Introduced, experimentally, by Miller Brewing in 1998, Miller took this new packaging phenom national in 2000. The unbreakable nature of the multi-layer PET plastic bottles is an obvious advantage, but the bottle’s construction has caused problems with its ability to be recycled, like standard PET plastic.
  
• Aluminum “Bottle” – Known as the “bottlecan” in Asia, this new package was first introduced by Anheuser-Busch in 2004, these containers are made of recyclable aluminum rather than glass. Popular in many parts of the world (Japan, China and US), these containers have many benefits over the traditional glass (or plastic), such as no breakage and valuable recoverability (versus glass or plastic).

I don’t think that it would be proper to talk about all of these bottle types without mentioning importance of the color of the bottle. Typically beer bottles are made of brown, green or clear glass. Likely every beer drinker is familiar with “skunked” beer and the type/color of the bottle that the beer is packaged or stored in has a lot to do with the “skunking” process. “Skunking” is caused, primarily, by a chemical reaction facilitated by the exposure of some of the chemicals found in beer to light. Light causes a reaction between the riboflavin (vitamin B2) found in beer and the isohumulones from the hops used to make the beer. This complex chemical reaction ultimately produces 3-Methyl-2-butane thiol (MBT), which is a compound related to the mercaptans used as a “marker odor” in propane gas and are found in a skunk’s odor (smells really bad!). The color of the glass bottle makes a difference by prohibiting the transmission of light into the beer in the bottle. Brown glass bottles offer the best protection, followed by green glass and finally clear glass, which (obviously) offers no protection of the beer from light exposure.

I hope that this article was as interesting to read as it was for me to research and write. I discovered many things that I did not previously know about bottles used for beer… it is a much bigger topic than I anticipated or expected. There are many other containers used to store beer (cans, kegs, casks, barrels, etc.) and, over time (future articles), I will present a discussion of many of them.

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