Why Does "Premium" Beer Come In Green Bottles?

Cafe Society
1

{I suspect there may not be a factual answer to this, so I haven’t put it in GQ, but mods please feel free to move it}

In the course of, ahem, recent research, I’ve noticed that “premium” - that is, more expensive and often imported - bottled beers tend to come in green bottles, often with white paper labels: Stella, Becks, Heineken {here in NZ it’s positioned as premium}, Steinlager, Tuborg, Carlsberg, Haagen, Grolsch. This doesn’t seem to be a local phenomenon, as most of the overseas magazine adverts I’ve seen - Becks and Stella, for example - follow the same pattern.

In contrast, most of the local mass-market {and cheaper} beers tend to come, if not in cans, in brown bottles. There are exceptions to this, of course: Macs and Monteiths, two local boutique breweries, do use brown bottles, and Mexican beers seem to come in clear bottles, but in general the pattern seems to hold true. Green is expensive, brown is cheap.

So why is this? Unless there’s something about glass-making I’m unaware of, it doesn’t seem that green glass would be substantially more expensive than brown or clear, so why does imported, expensive beer - or local beer that aspires to the same cachet - come in green bottles?

The only explanations I’ve been able to come up with are marketing ones. The first is that green bottles are more aesthetically appealing - well, they *do[/I look nice - the second, and the one that I lean to, is that they’re aiming for an association with {supposedly more prestigious} with wine, especially when you consider the white paper labels. Beer in green bottles wants to look like wine.

The marketing implication seems to be that if you drink from a green bottle - or even if you’re civilised and use a glass - you’re not just Joe Schmo sucking down the piss after work, that you are a gentleman of taste and discrimination, akin to a connoiseur of fine wine: hence both the price and the cachet.

2

It’s marketing. Green and clear bottles are much easier to skunk. That is, UV rays from opened cases quickly break down the beer and produce rancid, skunky tastes. Doesn’t matter what the quality of the beer inside the bottle is.

Brown bottles on the other hand blocks UV and keeps beer tasting like it should for longer.

Good beer comes in brown bottles - the rest is marketing. End of story. Someone will be along shortly with cites to prove this.

3

I’ve never understood how Stella Artois, Carlsberg or Heineken developed the reputation as premium beer over here. Especially Carlsberg.

Anyway, I don’t really see it as an expensive vs swill argument. Rogue comes in brown bottles, Anchor comes in brown bottles, Sam Adams comes in brown bottles, Sierra Nevada comes in brown, Pete’s comes in brown bottles, etc. Very few American beers period, whether cheap mass market or not, come in green bottles - the only ones I can think of off the top of my head is Yeungling and even then it’s just their lager, and Rolling Rock.

Anyhoo, yes, beer in brown bottles keeps longer.

4

I can cite as it was an article in my Brother’s Beer Lovers newletter.
Brown Glass is the best bottle to store Beer & Ales in. It has to do with UV light.

BTW Bass is another excellent Premium Ale in a Brown Bottle.

5

The places you’re looking at must have a pretty limited beer selection. There are a couple stores around here that carry any number of upscale beers–both imports and domestic microbrews–and I’d say about 95% of them come in brown bottles.

6

I don’t know how to find a cite, I tried and failed. :frowning:

Brown bottles are the best coice for beer. It’s the UV blocking properties. Clear can be used if the brew has been designed for that use. See: Miller High Life. No cite to offer here, but a friend’s dad retired from the Miller plant and once told me the brewing process is somehow different for High Life and could therefore store better in the clear bottles. No idea if the shelf life is lessened, but it still holds up longer than another brew in clear bottles.

Green is just wrong, unless it’s Pilsner Urquell or Grolsch. They seem to have that whole green thing down.

7

The watery state of the brand leaders is the reason. Stella, Heinie and Carlsberg are head, shoulders, knees and toes above Bud, Miller and Coors. In comparison to such prole pisswater, they’re highly refreshing, with good body and even a modicum of taste. But it’s true, Stella and Heinie are lawnmower beer in the Low Countries. (Denmark has basically no beer except from the Carlsberg-Tuborg combine, and during the July heatwave in Copenhagen I actually thought Carlsberg tasted pretty damn good.)

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The color vs UV light question (GQ) has been answered and the rest is commentary related to cuisine (in the broad sense), so this discussion will continue in Cafe Society.

[ /Moderator Mode ]

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There are a lot of good beers, tastes will be what they will but I’ll have to agree on this one. A cold Carlsberg meets no resistance with my taste buds either.

On green bottles I don’t know why they do it. Brown is the best as others have pointed out but I’ve had plenty of good beers from other colored bottles and some garbage from brown bottles.

I wonder if they know turn over is fast enough (on other colored bottles). That storage conditions from truck to store to consumer is such that UV will not have a chance to degrade the beer “enough” for it’s target market to care. :confused:

10

Or when you artfully leave the bottle on your table so everyone can see how expensive your beer is.

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I really can’t conceive of UV light being a major culprit here. Just plain old indoor/outdoor light yes, but UV??? Thru dark glass???

I know Beer Buffs believe all sorts of things, but I don’t think their notions of “facts” should be counted. After all, these are people who think adding hops to stuff makes it taste better.

If someone has a non-Beer Buffs, actual Science-type link, I’d like to see it.

12

:eek:

You should not be allowed to post on any more on beer related topics. :smiley: :smiley:

13

ftg, wait until you know what you are talking about before opining. Otherwise you just embarass yourself.

*Blue light, and to a lesser extent green and a bit of near ultraviolet are the most damaging to beer. Most wavelenghts of ultraviolet light are not a concern because glass blocks them quite effectively (that’s why you don’t get sunburned in your car). The color of glass is the color of the light that it transmits, so green bottles allow the green light though. Similarly, blue light passes unhindered through pretty, cobalt-blue bottles. Clear bottles transmit all of the visible light. That is the reason beer in green, blue, and clear bottles is almost always skunked. Yes, even some very expensive imports.

The photochemical reaction that skunks beer occurs very quickly; a well-hopped beer in clear glass can become noticeably offensive with just 30 seconds of exposure to sunshine. Brown glass transmits less visible light than the previously mentioned colors, and therefore offers some protection from skunking. It does allow some light through, so beer in brown bottles will skunk after a few hours of light exposure.*

From here. Or you could try here. Or here. Or here.

14

Interesting. We don’t really get American beers here, except maybe Millers, and most of the genuine imports are European {or locally brewed “foreign” beers like Heineken}, as per my OP, and do tend to come in green bottles: either that or green bottles are local or Australian brands aiming for a pseudo-European cachet, complete with the whole faux umlaut thing.

So if it is just a marketing thing, as **China Guy ** suggested, why do expensive European brands think that green bottles make for better marketing, especially if, as the evidence suggests, brown bottles have are better for the beer? Is it the green bottle=wine thing? And if green bottles are so bad, why doesn’t wine come in brown bottles?

On the subject, I can’t say I’m wholly convinced by the argument “brown bottles are better because they block degrading UV”, by the way - I don’t doubt that it’s strictly true, but as John F suggested, no matter what the colour of the bottle, how often does beer, either in stores or in your fridge, sit in direct sunlight?

Unless of course you’re posing at the outside table of a cafe with the label of your Stella turned so all can marvel at it…

15

Beer comes in brown bottles? Don’t be Silly :wink:

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I drink lots of Belgian beers and have retained many of the bottles, all but 2 of which are brown. The 2 exceptions are both lembics: a Lindeman’s Faro and a Belle Vue Kriek.

It’s generally light-coloured lager/pils types beers that seem to come in green bottles. Gawd knows why (i.e. I don’t).

17

Mmm, Silly Pils.

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Because wine isn’t beer. The molecules affected by UV light in beer come from the hops.

Doesn’t need to be sunlight. Fluorescent lighting inside a supermarket gives off UV light.

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I really don’t understand the nature of the language silenus uses in his/her reply to my post.

  1. His/her first link and quote actually reinforces my intuition that UV is not the main culprit.
  2. He/she ignored my suggestion that non-Beer Buff analysis be sought for.
  3. Of the 3 other links, there is heavy cribbing between them. (Note the near identical use of the phrase: " Bottled beer can become lightstruck in less than one minute in bright sun, after a few hours in diffuse daylight, and in a few days under normal flourescent lighting.") and 2 of them don’t even mention UV!

So, he is backing up my intuition but somehow decided that disparaging a mere guess on my part was worthwhile???

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From here:

or here: