jao@valid.UUCP (John Oswalt) (07/15/86)
Why is is that beer bottles are sometimes brown, sometimes green, and
sometimes clear, but never blue or red or anything else?
--
John Oswalt (..!{hplabs,amd,pyramid,ihnp4}!pesnta!valid!jao)rob@dadla.UUCP (Rob Vetter) (07/15/86)
In article <443@valid.UUCP> jao@valid.UUCP (John Oswalt) writes: >Why is is that beer bottles are sometimes brown, sometimes green, and >sometimes clear, but never blue or red or anything else? Hypothesis 1: Brown, green and clear are colors which are "natural" for glass (or cheaper). Blue, red, etc. would require the addition of costly dies. Hypothesis 2: Red make the bottle/contents combination look bloody, blue makes it look "murky". Bad marketing. Hypothesis 3: It's all part of a plot by the government to make us accept the mundane and, eventually, to fall for the Big Brother mentality. George Orwell was right. (I KNOW they're watching me through my T.V.) %-] :-) -- Rob Vetter (503) 629-1044 [ihnp4, ucbvax, decvax, uw-beaver]!tektronix!dadla!rob " " !psu-cs!vetterr "Waste is a terrible thing to mind" - NRC (Well, they COULD have said it)
stirling@fortune.UUCP (Patrick Stirling) (07/15/86)
In article <443@valid.UUCP> jao@valid.UUCP (John Oswalt) writes: >Why is is that beer bottles are sometimes brown, sometimes green, and >sometimes clear, but never blue or red or anything else? >John Oswalt (..!{hplabs,amd,pyramid,ihnp4}!pesnta!valid!jao) It's because some beers are affected (adversely) by light. However, at least judging by their taste (or rather, the lack thereof!), it really doesn't matter with American 'beers' (which we Brits would call Gnat's piss!) - bottle colours are probably a marketing ploy to make the beer appear more desirable than it actually is. Maybe green and brown are easier/cheaper to make than other colours. patrick {ihnp4, hplabs, amdcad, ucbvax!dual}!fortune!stirling
stolfi@magic.DEC.COM (Jorge Stolfi) (07/15/86)
John Oswalt wrote in <443@valid.UUCP>: > Why is is that beer bottles are sometimes brown, sometimes > green, and sometimes clear, but never blue or red or anything > else? (-: Ahhh, at least, a completely irrelevant question in net misc! :-) Anyway, here is my $0.00000002 guess: Glass colors are usually due to dissolved metallic salts. Iron is a common impurity in sand, and threfore in cheap glass. There are two main types of iron salts, ferrous (Fe++) and ferric (Fe+++). The former are usually green and the latter are usually orange-brown. Which you get depends on how much oxygen is available when the glass is melted. Therefore, cheap glass has either a greenish or a brownish tinge. It is possible that bottle makers pour in more iron on purpose to get stronger colors, partly for aesthetics, partly to protect the contents from sunlight, (-: and possibly to hide occasional yuccky stuff on the bottom, roaches, etc. :-). I vaguely remember that manganese salts (purple? reddish?) are sometimes added to neutralize the greenish tinge of ferrous impurities. The result is a slightly dark but uncolored glass. (It may also be that brown glass is dark green one with excess manganese; I am not sure). To get other colors you must add salts of other metals to otherwise clear (a bit + expensive) glass. I am pretty sure the blue ones have cobalt. Copper should give turquoise color, but I don't know if it is used. Uranium (-: non-enriched, of course :-) was once used to get yellow. Also a fine suspension of colloidal gold particles was sometimes used for red. Hope I got at least some of it right... j.
rcd@nbires.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (07/16/86)
> Why is is that beer bottles are sometimes brown, sometimes green, and > sometimes clear, but never blue or red or anything else? Beer bottles are brown or green because these colors help absorb light at wavelengths that cause unwanted photochemical reactions in the beer. Beer which has been exposed to light develops an off-taste, technically known as "light-struck" and colloquially known as "skunky" or "this stuff tastes like$#%! A darkish brown is probably the best choice. Green works OK but not as well. Clear bottles are used by brewers who either don't care or don't know any better (or are more influenced by their marketing dept than by sound practice, which amounts to one of the two preceding conclusions:-). Green and brown glass also happen to be cheaper to make. (If you're in an area which gets Coors products, you may have heard their endless hype and hoopla about Killian's, in the "red" bottle--which if you've seen it is just ordinary brown glass.) Blue probably wouldn't make it, just as a matter of violating tradition, even if it were a good color choice. (I suspect it's not, since it would pass the shorter visible wavelengths.) -- Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086 ...At last it's the real thing...or close enough to pretend.
jcz@sas.UUCP (Carl Zeigler) (07/16/86)
In article <443@valid.UUCP>, jao@valid.UUCP writes: > Why is is that beer bottles are sometimes brown, sometimes green, and > sometimes clear, but never blue or red or anything else? > -- > John Oswalt (..!{hplabs,amd,pyramid,ihnp4}!pesnta!valid!jao) Believe it or not, it is because the color of the *sun* light hitting the beer will affect its preservation and quality. This may no longer be important with refrigeration units in stores, but the bottle designs were already worked out. -- John Carl Zeigler "Just once I'd like to meet an alien menace SAS Institute Inc. that wasn't impervious to bullets !" Cary, NC 27511 (919) 467-8000 ...!mcnc!rti-sel!jcz
hsu@eneevax.UUCP (Dave Hsu) (07/18/86)
In article <5989@fortune.UUCP> stirling@fortune.UUCP (Patrick stirling) writes: >In article <443@valid.UUCP> jao@valid.UUCP (John Oswalt) writes: >>Why is is that beer bottles are sometimes brown, sometimes green, and >>sometimes clear, but never blue or red or anything else? >>John Oswalt (..!{hplabs,amd,pyramid,ihnp4}!pesnta!valid!jao) > >It's because some beers are affected (adversely) by light. However, at least >judging by their taste (or rather, the lack thereof!), it really doesn't >matter with American 'beers' (which we Brits would call Gnat's piss!) - bottle >colours are probably a marketing ploy to make the beer appear more desirable >than it actually is. Maybe green and brown are easier/cheaper to make than >other colours. > >patrick Didja ever notice how only better paperback books DON'T have the edges stained yellow? Of course, there are exceptions; my copy of Ringworld was printed with about a hundred pages of lower-grade pulp in the center. Tor books, let that be a warning to you! -dave -- David Hsu (301) 454-1433 || -8798 "It was Dave, not me..honest!" -eneevax Communication & Signal Processing Lab / Engineering Computer Facility The University of Maryland -~- College Park, MD 20742 ARPA:hsu@eneevax.umd.edu UUCP:[seismo,allegra,rlgvax]!umcp-cs!eneevax!hsu "Who cometh to the bridge of death must answer me these questions three, 'ere the other side he see....aiggggh!"
daw@mhuxo.UUCP (Douglas A. Williams) (07/22/86)
>> Why is is that beer bottles are sometimes brown, sometimes green, and >> sometimes clear, but never blue or red or anything else? >Beer bottles are brown or green because these colors help absorb light at >wavelengths that cause unwanted photochemical reactions in the beer. Beer >which has been exposed to light develops an off-taste, technically known as >"light-struck" and colloquially known as "skunky" or "this stuff tastes like >A darkish brown is probably the best choice. Green works OK but not as >well. ... Good old Rolling Rock beer comes in green bottles. It's also one of the most sensitive to sunlight. It goes skunky in less than one minute on a real sunny day, so opaque mugs are a must! Their billboard ads show a Rock bottle in the middle of a bunch of brown bottles and states "Other beers are brown with envy." Oh well, what do you want from a small PA brewer? At least they treat their customers good: I wrote them a letter one time about a spoiled bottle and two weeks later some guy knocks on my door and hands me a whole case of beer! Not a bad deal. 1 1 1 1 2 1 Doug Williams 1 3 3 1 AT&T Bell Labs 1 4 6 4 1 Reading, PA 1 5 10 10 5 1 mhuxo!daw 1 6 15 20 15 6 1