View Full Version : Beer in Aluminum Bottles
Sacamuelas
08-25-2004, 06:37
Beer in Aluminum Bottles on the Way
By CHARLES SHEEHAN, AP
PITTSBURGH (Aug. 24) - How much would you pay for a bottle of beer that stays cold nearly an hour longer? Pittsburgh Brewing Co., maker of Iron City Beer, is asking an additional $1 per case.
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20040824210909990003&_mpc=news%2e6&cid=842
Is this for sissy's that can't drink a glass bottle beer before it gets warm? LOL ;)
Actually, what do you think? Will you buy it?
Jack Moroney (RIP)
08-25-2004, 07:12
Originally posted by Sacamuelas
Beer in Aluminum Bottles on the Way
By CHARLES SHEEHAN, AP
Is this for sissy's that can't drink a glass bottle beer before it gets warm? LOL ;)
Man I would love to see that up here. Folks in the hunting camps and no-necked, snot nosed, teenagers stick their beer they steal out in the snow to cool. I can see it now, the damn place will look like an anteaters convention with all these folks running around with aluminum containers frozen to their lips.:D
Jack Moroney
This is a bad day for me, I guess. I don't understand. What is the difference from other aluminum containers that beer already comes in? OTOH some people actually can "taste" the metal in cans and prefer glass.
Another of Terry's gems: While on a trip on an LCM in Panama the fish we caught were thrown on top of the beer i9n an ice chest.. Balboa only came in bottles. Without thinking, I took out a bottle of beer, opened it and put it to my lips and consumed a foul amount of fish slime. To this day I pour beer into a glass. That fish slime is still lingering.:D
Bill Harsey
08-25-2004, 07:44
You have a colorful group in your part of the country Jack. The new aluminum bottles will be great for shooting. This could increase the litter you see in the woods. By the way, where the hell is aluminum being made now? Reynolds Aluminum used to run a no. of big smelters up and down the Columbia River (cheap power) but they all seem to have closed. Aluminum isn't cheap anymore.
NousDefionsDoc
08-25-2004, 07:58
Brewmonkey's going to have a heart attack!
brewmonkey
08-25-2004, 09:25
Next fad in the beer industry. Remember Keystone's glass lined cans?
Actually though this is a smart move for them just as PET bottles were a few years back. This is a way to get into more venues like arena's and stadium's where bottles are not allowed and cans are not sold or allowed.
I still don't get it!!! What is the difference between an aluminum can and an aluminum bottle???:confused:
Originally posted by QRQ 30
I still don't get it!!! What is the difference between an aluminum can and an aluminum bottle???:confused:
May be you can still crush it thus, reducing the amount trash you have?
Technology is something else.
brewmonkey
08-25-2004, 10:40
Originally posted by QRQ 30
I still don't get it!!! What is the difference between an aluminum can and an aluminum bottle???:confused:
Not exactly sure what the major difference will be. I have fired off an email to a few guys who should be in the know on this one.
Originally posted by brewmonkey
Not exactly sure what the major difference will be. I have fired off an email to a few guys who should be in the know on this one.
I remember German Breweries wouldn't "bottle" local beer in cans. They even had wars over the color of the bottles -- green vs. amber.
Jack Moroney (RIP)
08-25-2004, 11:40
Originally posted by QRQ 30
I still don't get it!!! What is the difference between an aluminum can and an aluminum bottle???:confused:
The difference is that chick in the Australian Beer commercial is going to smoke her globe if she tries to crush that bottle by banging it on her forehead. :D
Jack Moroney
Sacamuelas
08-25-2004, 12:04
QRQ30-
The AL in the bottle is 3x's thicker... it gives it much more insulating capability compared to a normal al can. It is supposed to keep your Ice cold beverage , colder- longer. This would be better than the plastic bottles they sell down here in stadiums (if it really works).
That is what the article says anyway. I hadn't thought of Brew's idea... very clever and very smart. it could be brought to the beach as well. Down here it is illegal to have glass on the beach.
Does the link I gave not work if you are not an AOL member? :confused:
Originally posted by Sacamuelas
Does the link I gave not work if you are not an AOL member? :confused:
No Saca, you have to 'sign in' with your AOL ID...so us non-subscribers can't access it.
Sacamuelas
08-25-2004, 12:27
PITTSBURGH (Aug. 24) - How much would you pay for a bottle of beer that stays cold nearly an hour longer? Pittsburgh Brewing Co., maker of Iron City Beer, is asking an additional $1 per case.
The brewery has partnered with Alcoa Inc., the world's largest aluminum maker, to produce aluminum bottles that keep beer colder for as much as 50 minutes longer than a glass bottle, Alcoa officials said.
About 20,000 cases of the new aluminum bottle beer are en route to as many as 28 states and should be on shelves this week, Alcoa and Pittsburgh Brewing said Tuesday.
The bottles have three times the aluminum of a typical beer can. That gives them superior insulation, Alcoa spokesman Kevin Lowery said.
It's not the first time Alcoa has teamed up with the local brewery to put out a new product. In 1962, the two put the first pull-tab beer cans on shelves, freeing beer drinkers of the need to carry openers with them.
"We think it's much better than a can and as good or better than glass," said Joe Piccirilli, vice chairman for Pittsburgh Brewing. "There's no doubt in my mind that this has the same potential as the pull tab we did with Alcoa."
Iron City wants to expand sales. But the aluminum bottle may be more important to Alcoa. The aluminum giant wants to win back a share of the market it lost to beer bottles - both glass and plastic, which are now common at sporting events nationwide.
About 40 percent of all beer consumed comes out of cans, 43 percent from bottles and 8 percent from the tap, according to the Beer Institute, which tracks industry trends. Bottles, however, have gained ground over the past decade.
Plastic bottles make up only 0.5 percent of all beer sales, according to the Beer Institute. But having aluminum bottles at sporting events would introduce the product to thousands, who might buy a case for home.
Pittsburgh Brewing said it won't drop glass bottles or cans from production.
Some people say they can taste the difference between beer in cans and bottles.
Lew Bryson, an author of two books on breweries, said those complaints are psychological, since the aluminum is coated. But, he said, there may be a lingering taste when the seal of an aluminum can is broken.
The aluminum bottle could eliminate that, he said.
One microbrewery based in Missoula, Mont., has been using aluminum bottles. Heineken released a limited edition aluminum bottle last year.
Aluminum bottles also have proven successful for a few breweries in Japan, but Iron City is the first company in North America to ship the bottles nationally, company officials said.
Alcoa and brewery officials say the biggest selling point of the bottle may be its appearance.
Bryson agreed, and said plastic bottles have also been problematic at some bottling plants because they are lighter than glass and can become jumbled.
But he said the advantages may not outweigh the price.
"It seems a bit like an answer in search of a question," he said.
Pittsburgh Brewing said aluminum bottles cost more than twice than glass - about a nickel more per beer - but Alcoa and the brewery said the cost will come down if other beer companies follow suit.
Pittsburgh Brewing, which sells about 6 million cases of beer annually, has opened a six-figure marketing campaign to try to make the idea stick.
"I think in the next 12 to 18 months, more people are going to get into this like we are," said Piccirilli. "We're not kicking the tires."
So how would you open these "Bottles"?
You couldn't have a "flip top" on top, and if you were to put a regular bottle top on that, when you go to open it, once the pressure is released, you'll just twist the 'bottle" top, like wringing a Chicken's neck.
My first inclination was apparently correct. This is just another marketing play on words. In my limited vocabulary if it is metal it is a can and if it is glass or plastic its a bottle. There are exceptions such as gas bottles. I believe the distincctio is in the cap vs, puncturing or "flipping off":D the lid.
Aluminum "bottles" have been around dor some time. I think Kirin, Tsing Tao(sp), and Fosters can come in "glass bottles", usually in the 4oo - 1000 cc editions.
Sacamuelas
08-25-2004, 15:20
... this better QRQ30? :D
Originally posted by Sacamuelas
... this better QRQ30? :D
Dat's a can. :D
You'll see some cans with screw off lids. I believe Heinekins makes one, as well as Kirin and others.
Like someone said in English class: "A rose by anyother name is a rose.":p
Don't force me to look for my Schlitz Draft Beer Handler's Diploma.:cool:
Shudder Schlitz, you had to bring up the Schlitz
The Reaper
08-25-2004, 17:06
Originally posted by Air.177
Shudder Schlitz, you had to bring up the Schlitz
He could have put up the Carling Black Label or Falstaff.
TR
Originally posted by The Reaper
He could have put up the Carling Black Label or Falstaff.
TR
True, or Olympia or PBR for that matter.
Edited to add: or so I've heard:D
Originally posted by Jack Moroney
The difference is that chick in the Australian Beer commercial is going to smoke her globe if she tries to crush that bottle by banging it on her forehead. :D
Jack Moroney
Is that the ad where the guy makes a wish and some Svedish girls turn up?
Originally posted by Huey14
Is that the ad where the guy makes a wish and some Svedish girls turn up?
I think He is referring to the Fosters Ad where the young lady crushes a can on her head and the Narrator says,"Australian for Girlfriend" but I am not Positive.
The Reaper
08-25-2004, 17:36
Originally posted by Air.177
True, or Olympia or PBR for that matter.
Edited to add: or so I've heard:D
Oly ain't a bad cheap beer.
Tastes like a Light Beer, and it is made by the Artesians.
TR
Roguish Lawyer
08-25-2004, 17:41
Originally posted by The Reaper
Oly ain't a bad cheap beer.
Tastes like a Light Beer, and it is made by the Artesians.
TR
Is there such a thing as bad cheap beer? Some are certainly better than others, but if money is an issue and quantity is a requirement, cheap beer is good beer!
Brew, I would hope you're with me on this one!
As for Cheap beer around Here, Lone Star Pretty well Rules the Roost. At least in most groups I associate with.
Originally posted by Roguish Lawyer
Is there such a thing as bad cheap beer? Some are certainly better than others, but if money is an issue and quantity is a requirement, cheap beer is good beer!
Brew, I would hope you're with me on this one!
Yes. In RVN you couldn't give away Ballentine's Beer - not Ale. I must admit though that we drank it when a pallet made it to Khe Sahn.:cool:
Being a poor old retiree when money is an issue, I chose Old Milwaukee. These days my limit is a 6-pack per year.:boohoo
As an aside, Schlitz used to be one of the top two, Bud being the other. IIRC the brewmeistefr was of the old school and took his recipe to the grave with him/ What with new corporate contracts the processes now belong to the company.
The Reaper
08-25-2004, 18:09
Blatz was the worst cheap beer I ever had.
Terry, are you in need of financial support for beer procurement?
Schlitz had one of the worst ad campaigns in history (sort of a "Drink Schlitz, or I'll Kill You" campaign) and actually cost them a lot of customers.
More Schlitz Malt Liquor sold than real Schlitz these days, when you can find it.
TR
Roguish Lawyer
08-25-2004, 18:44
Originally posted by The Reaper
Terry, are you in need of financial support for beer procurement?
:munchin
(Always looking for opportunities to thank the fine men of MACV-SOG . . .)
Jack Moroney (RIP)
08-25-2004, 19:28
Originally posted by Air.177
I think He is referring to the Fosters Ad where the young lady crushes a can on her head and the Narrator says,"Australian for Girlfriend" but I am not Positive.
That's the one. Couldn't remember the brew, but could remember the add. Got to give me a break here, the strongest think I drink is day old mess hall coffee.:D
Jack Moroney
brewmonkey
08-26-2004, 05:02
Originally posted by Roguish Lawyer
Is there such a thing as bad cheap beer? Some are certainly better than others, but if money is an issue and quantity is a requirement, cheap beer is good beer!
Brew, I would hope you're with me on this one!
All I can say is that if anyone ever asks what your favorite beer is you should reply, "the one I am drinking."