Who wants a clear bottle anyway?

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 | Breweries

Fresh Hops

Sleeman Breweries, Canada’s third largest brewer, is suing Langley, BC based, Dead Frog Brewing over their use of a clear bottle. This brings me to the question, who wants a clear bottle anyway? Clear bottles, and green bottles, are not a good choice when it comes to bottling beer. Believe it or not, many people assume that Heineken, packaged in green bottles, is supposed to taste “skunky”. Nothing we consume should taste “skunky”, especially not beer.

Like most food, beer is affected by light (UV exposure) and oxygen. Any regular glass bottle will eliminate the oxygen problem, but not the light problem. The hops in beer are extremely sensitive to UV light, and when exposed to most light sources a compound from the hops will make the beer taste and smell like it lost a fight with a skunk. A proper beer bottle should be brown or opaque; a brown bottle will filter out most of the UV light that causes beer to go bad.

I understand that in order to sell more beer, marketers are coming up with new creative ways to package beer to make it look sexier. But rule number one of marketing is to make sure you have a good product to sell. Good products need less marketing support and sell themselves. Packing in a clear bottle is taking a good product and turning it into a bad product – why do that?

I hope that both brewers realize the error of their ways and switch to a more appropriate bottle.

Erik

Tags: Dead Frog Brewery, Heineken, hops, Skunky Beer, Sleeman Brewery

3 Comments to Who wants a clear bottle anyway?

Chris
December 16, 2008

Why do they need a clear bottle with a name like Dead Frog? It’s good beer, I hope they get wise.

Erik
December 16, 2008

I agree, it is good beer. Dead Frog’s Nut Brown is particularly tasty.

The life of a beer bottle | Love Good Beer
February 2, 2009

[...] Another common perception among beer drinkers is that bottles are superior to cans. I do find that I enjoy drinking beer out of a bottle more than out of a can, but this has only to do with feel. I’ve heard complaints of beer tasting metallic when consumed out of a can, but pouring into a glass easily solves this problem. Cans are actually a better storage vessel for beer because they let no light through, plus they weigh less and are cheaper to ship. Exposure to light can greatly affect beer quality, which is why a darker bottle makes a better brewing vessel than a light bottle. Erik wrote a great post on the affect that light has on beer, because really, who wants a clear bottle anyway? [...]

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