In the US, certain bottled beers are packaged in (at least) two differently shaped bottles, one with a “neck” that rises about 2 1/2 inches above the liquid, the others that have a longer neck, called “longnecks”.
The questions:
Why are both types made?
Why are longnecks advertised?
Q1 probably has something to do with the longnecks being reusable and distributed to places where they are likely to be picked up (bars) and the short necked bottles being sold to consumers who will throw them away.
Q2 pertains to bars who advertise, for example, “$0.75 Bud longnecks!” Why do I care if it is a longneck? Does anybody care?
Longnecks are to beer bottles as unfiltered Camels are to other cigarettes–they carry the aura of 50’s style coolness. You go into a redneck bar, and you’ll see the tough cowboy holding his Lone Star by the neck, unfiltered Camel hanging from his lip.
Of course, it’s more economical to make shortnecks, so that’s why they make both…
Dunno if this is true, or an UL. It will probably require some major experimentation on my part:
I’ve heard that the purpose of the longneck is that if you hold the beer by the neck, it will stay colder longer than if you held it around the middle – somehow by way of the lack of contact of your warm hand and the liquid against glass.
I’ll second this by a science I call “Robenomics” (to be explained later).
With a longneck, you have more surface area of glass against ice with which to cool beer. True, your aluminum can may conduct heat better, but it’s only so thick with so much beer in the middle. Your glass will conduct heat away from the beer somwhat slower, but there’s more glass than can, so your beer will get colder quicker.
That’s the way it works, according to Robenomics: Science of Economics and Practical Science according to Rob (me).
Along with the eminently acceptable “gets warm slowly” theory, I’d add that long neck bottles have been around longer. In glassblowing, all bottles have been made by hand throughout history, save for the last few centuries), it is far easier to ‘draw’ out a flask’s neck to considerable length (i.e., long neck) than precisely form a shaped termination so close to the bottle’s main cavity. In addition, flame polishing a small outlet so near the flask’s bulk increased chances of stress fracturing the main body due to temperature inequalities.
Long necks allowed more than one chance at forming a lip or crowning flange on the neck. A chipped longneck could be reworked many times after its original manufacture. As in all flasks, the neck itself serves a vital function. Historically, a glass bottle was incredibly expensive to fabricate. Glassblowing was an energy intensive manufacturing process. The inert nature of glass made it ideal to store chemically reactive fluids (i.e., wine or oil) as the contents remained free of imparted taste. The cost of glass containers was such that they were reserved for equally (or more) costly contents.
An extended neck has a much lower ‘conductance’ value than (by way of contrast) an open beaker. The outflow rate from a long tube is greatly reduced by such constriction. This was a highly desirable function as it reduced chances of spilling an entire tipped-over bottle before one might right it again. The same applies to precious fluids like perfumes and apothecary storage as well. Shortneck bottles probably evolved parallel with bulk manufacturing, where less glass used per bottle meant lower cost of goods produced. They are also most likely a byproduct of profit sensitivity to the increased shipping and storage volume longneck bottles require.
Humans are most used to drinking from long neck flasks. Their use has a resonance that is older than most utensils save for the edged blade and fire itself. The shortneck was brought into a world where drinking glasses no longer cost the same as China and silver. As with the storage volume sensitivity mentioned above, the shift in temperature preference for beer consumption has also driven this a bit. Until lately, refrigeration represented an enormous expense, be it via ice or gas cycling. Glass was wonderful because, once chilled, its insulating properties kept the contents cold for longer than other materials. The smaller shortneck glass bottles permitted higher packing density in mechanically refrigerated compartments. This may also have driven their popularity.
I don’t understand this at all. Throughout history, in every culture, humans drink from cups and bowls and glasses, goblets and steins and tankards, and every other variety that comes to mind this late at night. Wide bodies that one sipped or gulped from, in other words.
But long neck flasks? Not in any glass or ceramic museum I’ve ever been in.
I remember a visit by these media/ advertising awareness freakshows who insisted that the short-necked or stubby bottles were made to appeal to men because they were shaped like a breast, and when more women started drinking, they came out with the long-necks, which are a phallic symbol. Sounded like BS then, and it sounds like BS now. And they say high school was a waste of time
If you go to a bar (a pub) and drink beer out of a bottle, you’ve clearly missed the concept of bars and the concept of bottled beer.
Bottled beer makes home consumption convenient, but it’s not how you should drink a beer if given the choice. Beer should be poured from a tap.
The ulitmate loser is one who goes to a bar/pub and not only orders a bottled beer, but gets a ‘lite’ beer.
Sorry for sidetracking this, but I am always emabarrassed by this goofy American habit of drinking bottled beer in a pub.
Longnecks are great for recycling when you have to refill the boxes/cases with them, and they are handled better by workers getting them back on line for cleaning and refilling.
Rolling Rock (my favorite American Beer) comes in 8 oz pony bottles too. When I was a kid in the late 70s early 80s, they were perfect for sneaking into school, because you could fit 2 in each jean jacket pocket
I’d heard the same before, but the question it begs is, why aren’t twist-offs refillable? Have they just not updated the machinery to clean and refill the shorter bottles, or is there something intrinsic in shorties that make them unable to be refilled?
Maybe its a local thing. I live about an hour and a half or so from the glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe. The 8 oz 8 packs probably aren’t distributed outside PA.
