Why does some beer continue to be sold in green bottles? + A question about clear 1's

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@pulykamell

I was not much of a beer geek at the time. All I remember about it was the Heineken came in a brown bottle. It would not have even occurred to me that Heineken makes a brown lager.

It was almost certainly a Heineken Dark Lager and that explains the difference.

@pulykamell

I’m much more of a beer geek (and occasional home brewer) now, and it certainly does not explain the fact that Pilsner Urquell in the US tastes like crap to me and pretty much all the Czech people I know.

Maybe the Czech people you know (and you’ve already stated that they have told you “they keep the good beer for themselves”) are speaking of the unfiltered Pilsner Urquell that can only be had in the Czech Republic which is head and shoulders better than the stuff that makes it here (Heineken and Lowenbrau formulas are the same, though). Maybe since you are now more of a beer geek your taste preferences have evolved. Maybe you’re getting old bottles here; I don’t deny that a Pilsner isn’t a style that was meant to be drunk a year or more after bottling.

@pulykamell

Also, Goose Island does not have that much variation in batch to batch

You know that how? You know they don’t tweak their beer recipes from batch to batch? Even without tweaking tastes are no where near identical from batch to batch as you’ll find in macro brews. They could never afford the QC measures and they’re usually open to batches varying. Micro brew drinkers look forward to seeing how this batch matches up to the last one.

@pulykamell

–they DO have a lot of variation with how different stores keep the beer, in my experience. I’ll have one bottle from one store, and you could smell the Amarillo and Cascade hops from across the room and I’ll have another bottle, from another store and presumably the same batch (judging by the expiry date), and something’s off.

Sure, keep an IPA around past its prime and it’s definitely going to suffer. Beers of this style especially were meant to be drunk ASAP. What I’m saying is that your average Heineken, Lowenbrau, etc. purchased in the States in a store with a reasonable turn-over rate hasn’t suffered from light damage or age to a significant degree and the “Heineken is so much better in Amsterdam” meme is B.S.

@pulykamell

Apparently, I’m not crazy. According to this, the domestic Heineken comes in a brown bottle.

I never implied you were crazy. It could be, but I’m thinking that’s a mistake. I’ve never seen these brown bottled Heinekens on my two visits to Amsterdam. If they were intended for the domestic market, it wouldn’t make sense that I encountered green bottles all over Amsterdam.

@pulykamell

This also offers support (at the end).

This person talks about a brown bottle with a full red star. My guess is that he’s talking about this

@pulykamell

A-ha! A picture.

Link no worky.

[pulykamell]

@x-ray vision

Link no worky.

It works when I click on it.

Try this one.

I’m sure that’s what I had.

[pulykamell]

@x-ray vision

I never implied you were crazy.

I didn’t mean you implied I was crazy. I was questioning my own sanity.

FTR, I don’t think most Heineken tastes skunky here, but I do get enough skunked Heineken. It’s mostly that the Heineken I’ve had here just tastes stale. The taste I was expecting vs. the taste I got from that one bottle I had in the Netherlands was enough of a shock to my taste buds that I remember thinking “What the hell? This can’t be Heineken I’m drinking.” I didn’t order a Heineken because that’s what I wanted. I ordered it because that’s the only beer they had at the fish & chips shop. I fully went into the experience not expecting to like the beer at all.

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@pulykamell

Try this one.

I’m sure that’s what I had.

Hmm. I know you’re going to think I’m just being stubborn, but I have a feeling that someone peeled off the labels and put them on a brown bottle. One of the posters said, “Although this is a funny picture”. Maybe it was a joke? I’m sure I would have came across one if they exist or that one of the international members of the boards on my site would have mentioned that it comes in brown bottles in our many discussions about Heineken and green bottles. I’ll ask around and get back to you.

[pulykamell]

@x-ray vision

Hmm. I know you’re going to think I’m just being stubborn, but I have a feeling that someone peeled off the labels and put them on a brown bottle. One of the posters said, “Although this is a funny picture”. Maybe it was a joke? I’m sure I would have came across one if they exist or that one of the international members of the boards on my site would have mentioned that it comes in brown bottles in our many discussions about Heineken and green bottles. I’ll ask around and get back to you.

Is that you posting over at ratebeer.com on the Heineken bottles?

Anyhow, I did find this old ad, which features brown bottles.

I’m even more puzzled now, because if Heineken came in brown bottles, why is it so damn difficult for me to find a picture of one? I’m back to questioning my memory and sanity again.

Here’s more Heineken with brown bottles, but who knows.

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@pulykamell

Is that you posting over at ratebeer.com on the Heineken bottles?

That’s my nephew. I’ve got a few folks on the case.

@pulykamell

Here’s more Heineken with brown bottles, but who knows.

Well, that definitely looks genuine and recent to me.

[pulykamell]

@x-ray vision

That’s my nephew. I’ve got a few folks on the case.

Well, that definitely looks genuine and recent to me.

One last source from a brewer in the Netherlands who says, while posting a Heineken clone recipe:

Thank god, we get our Heineken in brown bottles over here. Then again, it’s still not my favourite pilsner (in bars from the keg it’s pretty ok).

This recipe gave me a gold medal & overal champion in 1998 of the Open Dutch (Brewing) Championship (ONK=Open Nederlands Kampioenschap). Personally, i wasn’t too happy with the result, as it tasted just like Heineken.

I’m still surprised at how difficult it is to find any photographic evidence of this on the internet, though.

[gonzomax]

@Christopher

Yes, but you ,like myself, are an ignorant midwesterner. There are portions of this country that think that bitter is the only flavor to beer, and those beers don’t come in cans, they come in brown glass bottles. The fact is that a bitter ale, is the easiest beer that a beginner can brew. Homebrewing a pilsner on the otherhand requires skill. Lambics are even better. I love lambics, and that is what I will ultimately brew.

I drink Canadian beers., readily available here. Cans have an advantage that you can stack them in a refrigerator. They take much less room.
The tin taste was solved many decades ago
I never tried brewing . I don’t drink enough to justify it anymore.