Beer bottle

Assortment of beer bottles

A beer bottle is a glass (or, less commonly, plastic) container filled with beer. Bottled beer has been in use since as early as the 16th century. Alexander Nowell, the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, left his bottled beer by a river bank in 1568, and when he found it again a few days later the bottle "opened with a bang" and "the beer was very tasty". Beer bottles come in various sizes, shapes and colours. Dark glass prevents light from spoiling the beer. However, lighter colored bottles are often used for marketing reasons.

The first nationwide standardised beer bottles were introduced in Sweden in 1886. The medium size, 33 cl, is still in use today, but is being phased out.

Stubby

A stubby is the general term for short glass bottles used for beer.

Stubbies are shorter and fatter than longneck bottles and therefore pack into a smaller space for transporting. The bottles are sometimes made with thick glass so that the bottle can be cleaned and reused before being recycled. The capacity of a stubby is generally somewhere between 330 mL (11.5 Imperial fl. oz., 11 US fl. oz.) and 375 mL (13 Imperial fl. oz., 12.7 US fl. oz.) in Australia.

Australian 375mL stubbie

Some of the expected advantages of stubby bottles are:

• easier to handle
• chills faster
• less breakage
• lighter in weight
• less storage space
• lower center of gravity

Stubbies are used extensively in Europe, and were used almost exclusively in Canada from 1962 to 1986 as part of a standardization effort intended to reduce breakage, and the cost of sorting bottles when they were returned by customers. Due to their nostalgia value, stubbies were reintroduced by a number of Canadian craft brewers in the early 2000s. Ontario's monopolistic beer retailer, Brewers Retail, caused an uproar in 2002 when it withheld industry standard longneck bottles to those breweries that were offering stubbies. In the U.S., stubbies have fallen out of favor, but Red Stripe, a Jamaican brand, is still packaged in them for U.S.-bound export.

Another often over looked benefit of the "Stubbie" is the ability to "throw it back" meaning that there is little chance of the beer foaming and creating a "head" thus overflowing the bottle.

Longneck

A longneck is a type of beer bottle with a long neck. It is known as the standard longneck bottle or industry standard bottle (ISB). The ISB longnecks have a uniform capacity, height, weight and diameter and can be reused on average 16 times. The long neck offers a long cushion of air to absorb the pressure of carbonation to reduce the risk of exploding. The American longneck holds 12 US fl. oz. (355 mL). The Canadian longneck holds 12 Imperial fl. oz. or 341 mL.

In Canada, in 1992, the large breweries agreed to all use a longneck bottle of standard size, thus replacing the traditional stubbie bottle.

Bomber

Bomber

A bomber is a 22 ounce (650ml) glass bottle that is commonly sold in American speciality markets and brewpubs. Bombers typically contain two to three servings of beer, which may be shared amongst friends. They are also a popular bottle type with homebrewers. A 22 is commonly known as a 'deuce-deuce' or 'double-deuce'.

Australian Longneck

In Australia, the most common volume of a longneck bottle is 750 mL (approx 25 US fl. oz.). Carlton & United Beverages in Australia have previously increased their longneck size to 800 mL (approx 27 US fl. oz.), but have recently reverted back to producing 750 mL longneck bottles. In Queensland a longneck is known as a "tallie". In Western Australia a longneck is known as a "king brown".

Forty

A forty is American slang for a 40 US fl. oz. (1.18 litres) bottle commonly used for malt liquor. Forties are more than three times as large as the standard American 12-fluid ounce (355ml) serving of beer. Forties tend to be inexpensive. They are popular due to their large size. According to a study by Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in California, forties are the alcohol of choice of the homeless and unemployed. Moreover, in the United States, a disproportionate number of African Americans consume forties. While approximately 13% of the United States population is black, studies have shown that approximately 28% of forties is consumed by African Americans.

Growler

A "growler" is a half gallon (64 US fl. oz.) (1.89 Litres) glass jug used to transport draft beer in America. They are commonly sold at breweries and brewpubs as a means to sell take-out beer. Some breweries also offer a one-litre version.

Growlers generally are made of glass and have a steel or plastic screw-on cap or a hinged porcelain gasket cap which can provide freshness for a week or more. A Growler will hold carbonation indefinitely, but since it is not a sanitized form of packaging, it is not an appropriate means of long term beer storage. Growlers can be reused indefinitely.

Darwin Stubby

In Australia's Northern Territory, a "Darwin Stubby" is available containing 2L (67 US fl. oz., 70 Imperial fl. oz.), but is quite expensive and thus mostly a tourist gimmick. In the past , these were 2.25L (76 US fl. oz., 80 Imperial fl. oz.). Picture of some variations: [2]

Lightstruck beer

Lightstruck, or skunked, beer has been exposed to ultraviolet and visible light. The light causes riboflavin to react with and breakdown isohumulones, a molecule that contributes to the bitterness of the beer and is derived from the hops. The resulting molecule, 3-methylbut-2-ene-1-thiol, is very similar to a skunk's natural defenses.

In some cases, such as Miller High Life, a hop extract that does not have isohumulones is used to bitter the beer so it cannot be "lightstruck". Bottles with dark glass give some protection to the beer.

See also

• Aluminum can or Beverage can
• Box wine
• Widget (beer)
• Wine bottle

Resources

• Colin S. Burns, Arne Heyerick, Denis De Keukeleire, , Malcolm D. E. Forbes, (2001) "Mechanism for Formation of the Lightstruck Flavor in Beer Revealed by Time-Resolved Electron Paramagnetic Resonance"
• Richard Pozdrik, Felicity A. Roddick, Peter J. Rogers, and Thang Nguyen, (2006) "Spectrophotometric Method for Exploring 3-Methyl-2-butene-1-thiol (MBT) Formation in Lager"

External links

• Most Bigger Retailer In Custom Koozies
• Historic beer bottles
• Website for The Canadian Stubby Beer Bottle
• Article on stubbies which mentions the newer longnecks.
• rec.food.drink.beer FAQ
• Curious Cook - In the dark: olive oil, milk, butter, and beer