And we have Albert Einstein to thank for splitting the beer atom to get carbonation!
Posted on 03/11/2023 6:04:43 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage?
(NEXSTAR) – You can get it by the glass, the can, the growler or the keg. But for some reason, you can’t guzzle it from a plastic two-liter.
Beer — at least in the United States — is rarely sold in plastic bottles. The most common mediums are glass bottles and aluminum cans, with the exception of the occasional “drinkable ornament” around the holidays. (We’re looking at you, Miller Lite.) Plastic bottles, meanwhile, are rarely ever seen in the beer aisle, despite being widely embraced by the juice and soft-drink industries.
Why is that? Well, as it turns out, beer tends to lose its carbonation and become stale in plastic bottles, whereas soda does not.
“Plastic is simply not a good package for beer,” said Chuck Skypeck, the director of technical brewing projects at the Brewers Association. “The molecular structure of most plastics is not good at keeping carbonation in the package/product or keeping oxygen out to prevent staling.”
“Putting it another way, both cans and glass are superior packages in regards to delivering beer to consumers with the freshness and carbonation levels that brewer intends for the consumer to experience,” according to Skypeck.
Another reason has to do with cost. In addition to possibly going flat, beer is also more susceptible to going “skunky” if it’s not stored in a light-filtering bottle — and light-filtering plastic bottles just haven’t caught on yet. They may even be harder to recycle, and, in some cases, more expensive to produce than cans or glass bottles, according to Gizmodo.
Then again, it’s possible that the industry’s preference for glass and aluminum has less to do with the difficulties outlined above and more to do with aesthetics. According to Skypeck, many brewers tend to believe that plastic bottles are seen as an “inferior package” that may tarnish the perception of the beer.
“Using plastic packaging can damage a brewers’ brand image both from a quality perspective and a sustainability perspective,” he said. “I can’t think of many folks that want more plastic introduced into the environment.”
Of course, not everyone in the global brewing community sees eye-to-eye. In other parts of the world, certain beers are more commonly packaged in plastic bottles, including brands that traditionally only come in glass or aluminum in the U.S. And even in the U.S., many major breweries will package beer in plastic bottles for sale at sporting events, concert venues, or places where glass might not be allowed.
At the moment, however, beer aisles across the country are bubbling over with glass bottles and aluminum cans. And it’s likely to stay that way, unless the industry suddenly takes a cue from Franzia and starts selling their beer in a box.
What about milk? It has long been established that light - even in two hours - always noticeably negatively affected the taste of milk. I knew this via taste and reading over 40 years ago and thus bought milk in cardboard half-gallons, yet this is often treated as recent discovery (but thank God we even have lots of milk):
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-science-of-better-tasting-milk-1481811012
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030216001351#%3A~%3Atext%3DLight-induced%20oxidation%20of%20milk%2Ceasily%20degraded%20by%20UV%20light.
https://blogs.cornell.edu/sensoryevaluationcenter/2016/04/19/consumers-dont-like-the-taste-of-milk-exposed-to-even-a-few-hours-of-greener-led-lighting/
https://www.dairyfoods.com/articles/83251-new-study-validates-light-blocking-efforts
https://www.packworld.com/home/article/13372477/oberweis-sees-the-light-and-switches-to-amber-bottles-for-milk
Lots of beer sold in plastic bottles at sports and other events. Probably better than draft in open plastic cups, but I pass on both.
Thought I read on FR the benefit of glass is that it is more recyclable than plastic. Something along the lines of glass simply is melted down and formed into another product. But since I read that I’ve probably had a bunch of beers from glass bottles.
LOL! True dat!
Cans just aren’t the same. Neither is plastic. That first Coke in a bottle with your friends set the precedent.
As for beer, there were those hot summer days as a kid when you visited grandparents for a cookout. All your cousins were there. Danny, the troublemaker, but always fun suggests going into the cellar and getting a bottle of beer from the fridge. “C’mon”, he says, “all the grownups are drinking. They’ll never miss it.” Ice cold Ballatine beer from a glass bottle on a hot summer’s day hit the spot. It reminds you of the independence you felt going to the filling station with friends to get a refreshing Coke. Same sweltering heat, same beads of perspiration on the bottle, but this was beer and you were getting away with something. It tasted terrible. But at later family gatherings, we would regale about this great moment and how grandpa asked us boys as we departed if we enjoyed our beer.
Later in in high school I learned beer has a metal taste coming from a can. It’s much better from a glass bottle or a keg. It was definitely preferable from a keg because you need a group to drink, and that’s a party.
To this day, I don’t buy beer in a can. Hopefully I never will have to buy it in a plastic bottle. As for Coke, I don’t buy it at all. They went woke.
Precisely
When you need water you usually just want it to be clean
I used to have a Mr.Beer kit and I saved up a bunch of A&W Root Beer bottles to put the beer in. I stored the beer in the refrigerator and it turned out fine. That might not be the same result for factory beer that is shipped and stored in various conditions before it gets to the customer.
Glass bottles also stay cold longer, they have insulation properties
I think that plastic is used almost exclusively at any of the ‘brew your own’ places that I’ve used in the past....
Well, Ive always liked the metal 5 liter hand kegs...
They suspect aesthetics are involved...
Its not a real party until weapons are involved...
Maybe they could package it in a something like a baseball bat. You could drink from the pommel and when you swing it the weight would go to back to the bigger end.
And we have Albert Einstein to thank for splitting the beer atom to get carbonation!
A few days ago in the checkout I noticed a display of...some sort of Coke with a new label. Called itself “Move.” Couldn’t figure out from the label what it might taste like. Cherry? Vanilla?
Whatever!
They should have called it “Whatever,” instead.
There is a factual error supporting your question.
Well, my backyard pool is already filled with plastic vodka bottles, and I haven't got around to ruining the oshums yet.
Misfire, I think that was for Lizavetta (20).
Facts be damned, Im going to suggest that people might start looking into it and discover that they should be drinking more. Cant undermine all feds anti propaganda.
Correct ... misfire, response was indeed intended for #20.
2 Liter bottles of beer are not a problem. Just drink it as soon as you get to the car.
Say it, D21!
Tell the Man.
Are you 92?
LOL jk
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