# Aluminium Beer Bottles - Soon To Reach Our Shores



## HoppingMad (27/2/09)

Look out, here comes the latest marketing gimmickry. 

Apparently a beer by a boutique brewery called Frost is soon to be launched in Sydney if you believe the article below. A low carb beer packaged in an aluminium bottle. Never heard of Frost Brewery. Anyone tried a beer by these guys?

Article

The yanks have been tinkering with these things for a while. Think Anheuser Busch (Budweiser etc) had some beers in these containers back in 2004. 
Over there the jury seems to be out on whether aluminium bottles are any good - here's what one researcher has had to say:

Research Summary

Recall a post last year about some homebrewers looking into a bulk purchase of some of these bottles by way of experiment (might have been TrevC? Can't remember). Looks like Frost stole your idea guys!

Hopper.


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## Adamt (27/2/09)

Aluminium bottles are not really that new of an idea. The main idea behind them is to have bottled beer sold at large events where glass is not allowed... remember TED in plastic stubbies?

Bottles of other materials are preferred to cans, especially for breweries without canning equipment. The troubles have been designing a plastic/aluminium container that is able to be filled and handled in the same or similar fashion as the glass bottles, without expensive upgrading/retrofitting of the packaging plant.


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## peas_and_corn (27/2/09)

I personally like the idea of aluminium bottles- though that could be mostly to do with my 2L asahi can I put HB into!


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## zabond (27/2/09)

They had crown larger in aluminium stubbies at the golf at huntingdale this year,couldn't find out if they were going to be an on going thing or just for sports events,Irecon they would be great for homebrew if the inside coating stood up,looked like a laquer[same as cans]could have been anodised but from what I could see in the neck I think laquered
Russ


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## boingk (27/2/09)

I'll stick with my crown-seal longnecks, thanks.


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## chappo1970 (27/2/09)

No good for me, the way I clunk and bump around, by the time I finished with them a 750ml would be 330ml.


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## vicelore (27/2/09)

They have the Crown larger ones on airplanes, and i also saw them at the big day out this year... they are rubbish.

Cheers Vice


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## staggalee (27/2/09)

Interesting idea, but not really new.
If memory serves me {and it usually does  } the topic was on Grumpy`s Forum at least a couple of years ago.
God that was a great Beer Forum.........the bunfights, the tears and jeers and cheers, the blokes that were banned trying desperately to sneak back in under another name and getting shown the door again :lol: , it had a bit of everything.
Ah well......things change.
{sniff}

stagga.


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## Online Brewing Supplies (27/2/09)

Make great ash trays on those big drinking nights.Yep had some on the plane and kept them , If I save enough I can take them to the scrappy and buy my next plane trip.Better than throwing glass in the recycle bin for free.Glass is coming to the end of its transport and storage life.Glass takes up more room and costs more to transport. Get use to Alli containers!
GB


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## Batz (27/2/09)

I don't drink beer from a can,a can shaped like a bottle? don't think so <_< 


Batz


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## /// (27/2/09)

peas_and_corn said:


> I personally like the idea of aluminium bottles- though that could be mostly to do with my 2L asahi can I put HB into!



Jeez living in Japan moment for me there. Have you ever heard one of those rumble out of a beer vending machine? Better still the 5l Asahi 'rocket ship' as the local kids called them in Wakoshi where I lived.

Funniest moment was an Anglo/Indian mate and I having a session in front of my local machine one evening when he came to visit. The neighbours got all a-stir...

1 litre cans of Kirin Ichiban were my poison though... such great lager ...

Scotty


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## peas_and_corn (27/2/09)

Ahh yes, I got one of those when in Kyoto- out of a vending machine, of course!


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## 3GumsBrewing (27/2/09)

peas_and_corn said:


> I personally like the idea of aluminium bottles- though that could be mostly to do with my 2L asahi can I put HB into!



OK, I will bite, how do you do this? Sounds bloody brilliant! I love my 3L Grolsch bottle but if i could use 2L Asahi cans i will be in heaven!


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## Muggus (27/2/09)

Arn't there a few wines out there in aluminium bottles these days?

There's definately a place for aluminium bottles, not just for events and such, but for general retail considering the cost over glass. Not to mention the weight!
But, as with the cork (for wine), I think there will always be glass bottles. The visual appeal of seeing beer in a transparent bottle of sorts is one of those things (some) people savour, and an opaque metal bottle just makes what should be a thing of beauty into a cold, sterile, mechanical looking beverage that could come out of Blade Runner.

I'm happy enough seeing aluminium bottles for cheaper, mass market beers...just like cans. As for the good stuff, i'm happy to pay that bit extra for the glass.


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## Carbonator (27/2/09)

Alloy HB bottles. Every time you unscrew the cap and have a swig, just imagine every extra month of Alzheimer's your are ingesting.


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## Swinging Beef (27/2/09)

I have some horrible crown lager in aluminium left over from last years Peats Ridge Music Festival.
As much fun as a bag full of festering arseholes.
:icon_vomit:


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## Luka (27/2/09)

/// said:


> Jeez living in Japan moment for me there. Have you ever heard one of those rumble out of a beer vending machine? Better still the 5l Asahi 'rocket ship' as the local kids called them in Wakoshi where I lived.
> 
> Funniest moment was an Anglo/Indian mate and I having a session in front of my local machine one evening when he came to visit. The neighbours got all a-stir...
> 
> ...



I used to live across the street from one and I still remember the 10.55pm dash in the middle of winter because we'd run out of beer and they would switch off at 11. Good times....  A mate and I would grab a couple of 1litre cans and go to the local bowling alley and play for a few hours, don't know if we were allowed to take beer in there but they never stopped us.


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## hoohaaman (27/2/09)

Carbonator said:


> Alloy HB bottles. Every time you unscrew the cap and have a swig, just imagine every extra month of Alzheimer's your are ingesting.



Oh dear here we go again,that nasty alzheimer jumping from every aluminum vessel and attaching itself to ones brain :unsure:


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## Online Brewing Supplies (27/2/09)

Batz said:


> I don't drink beer from a can,a can shaped like a bottle? don't think so <_<
> 
> 
> Batz


Batz you are an idealist dreamer! I do admire that ,but if you are going to drink commercial beer in the distant future, get use to Alli.It is the next stage.  Whazts nexts beer in Pet bottles ? been done.Pomes have got use to it. :lol: 
GB


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## /// (28/2/09)

Luka said:


> I used to live across the street from one and I still remember the 10.55pm dash in the middle of winter because we'd run out of beer and they would switch off at 11. Good times....  A mate and I would grab a couple of 1litre cans and go to the local bowling alley and play for a few hours, don't know if we were allowed to take beer in there but they never stopped us.



Ahh, you just had to find the one that did not switch off ....


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## tangent (28/2/09)

I remember making a wall of them in Lan Qwai Fong. Heinekens back in 2004.


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## Bribie G (28/2/09)

The original beer cans were derived from bottle shapes. _Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose_. B) 

linky


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## browndog (28/2/09)

staggalee said:


> Interesting idea, but not really new.
> If memory serves me {and it usually does  } the topic was on Grumpy`s Forum at least a couple of years ago.
> God that was a great Beer Forum.........the bunfights, the tears and jeers and cheers, the blokes that were banned trying desperately to sneak back in under another name and getting shown the door again :lol: , it had a bit of everything.
> Ah well......things change.
> ...



Stagga, are you the same Stagga from the said forum that had a pallet of Haagen Gold that he was slowly going through?

cheers

Browndog

Sorry about the OT..


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## mje1980 (28/2/09)

The best vodka i ever tasted was in an aluminum bottle. Danska was its name, and i haven't been able to find it for ages. Had it once at russian xmas with my wife's family. Went down ridiculously smooth. Bottle was cool too.


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## Sunshine_Brewer (28/2/09)

Jeez, if we took lessons from the German's(and others) we could use the glass bottles over and over. What a stupid world we live in sometimes, using glass bottles once...now we have to look forward to al. :angry:


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## HoppingMad (28/2/09)

There you go. Didn't realise that Crown had aluminium bottles here already (gotta get on a plane or go to the golf more :huh: ).

Remember that some guys here were interested in buying these bottles wholesale for their home brews. I guess now all you have to do is collect a few crownies then. The screw cap feature would come in handy at bottling time I guess.

Hopper.


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## boingk (1/3/09)

Sunshine_Brewer said:


> Jeez, if we took lessons from the German's(and others) we could use the glass bottles over and over. What a stupid world we live in sometimes, using glass bottles once...now we have to look forward to al. :angry:


My sentiments exactly. I mean, what fool thought it'd be better to remelt, remanufacture and redistribute bottles instead of just blasting them with steam and microwaves to sterilise and rocking on? WTF??? Come to think of it, Germany is a generally cool place. Good skiing, great food, excellent beer, and liberal public advertising laws (read as 'pornography everywhere'). 

Cheers - boingk


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## PostModern (1/3/09)

I've got some Lithuanian 500ml beer bottles here and you can see quite clearly from the wear on the widest point of them that they've been thru the bottling plant more than once. Regardless of the brewery, the bottles are identical. Makes perfect sense to re-use rather than crush, grind, melt, recycle.


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## kook (1/3/09)

PostModern said:


> I've got some Lithuanian 500ml beer bottles here and you can see quite clearly from the wear on the widest point of them that they've been thru the bottling plant more than once. Regardless of the brewery, the bottles are identical. Makes perfect sense to re-use rather than crush, grind, melt, recycle.



Westvleteren recycle their bottles - and even sometimes use recycled Westmalle bottles too! Westmalle bottles are embossed on the glass, so it looks kind of funny to see the glass with a Westvleteren cap on.


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## LexP (1/3/09)

So what happens when one of these bad boys is overcarbonated? :lol:


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## staggalee (1/3/09)

browndog said:


> Stagga, are you the same Stagga from the said forum that had a pallet of Haagen Gold that he was slowly going through?
> 
> cheers
> 
> ...



Yes Browndog
And I wish it was still here :lol: 
Nothing wrong with your memory........that was 3 years ago  

stagga.


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## Online Brewing Supplies (1/3/09)

PostModern said:


> I've got some Lithuanian 500ml beer bottles here and you can see quite clearly from the wear on the widest point of them that they've been thru the bottling plant more than once. Regardless of the brewery, the bottles are identical. Makes perfect sense to re-use rather than crush, grind, melt, recycle.


Shit Im 50% Lithuanian and never found a beer from there, Whats it called ? must get some.
"Sveikas" Cheers in Lith
GB


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## peas_and_corn (1/3/09)

DK said:


> OK, I will bite, how do you do this? Sounds bloody brilliant! I love my 3L Grolsch bottle but if i could use 2L Asahi cans i will be in heaven!



Photo-






It's easy to refill, and holds a lot of beer!


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## Bribie G (1/3/09)

I agree, 2L is the perfect size


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## Wasabi (2/3/09)

The HUGE advantage is for filling!

You can't double evacuate a can (it implodes) so the the oxygen left in the can from a simple CO2 flush can age the beer quickly. Not a big issue for the big boys as they spend the annual GDP of a small country in research that eliminates oxygen, but oxygen is a killer for the micro's.

So why use cans at all! They offer 100% resistance to light! Nothing worse than going to the local, ordering that green bottle from the top shelf, and stinking out the whole pub with polecat!

The aluminium bottles are much stronger than the cans and so they can be double evacuated to get rid of 99.9% of the oxygen. The other big advantage is that they work in a regular bottle filler, so you don't need to buy new equipment. 

Micros...producing unoxidised beer...that isn't lightstruck...is cheaper for them to ship....sounds good to me!

Its about time we caught up over here.

Plus as mentioned, its much cheaper for the brewers, its much lighter to ship, it gives the marketers a massive surface with which to work and it chills faster than glass (though only marginally).


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## svyturys (2/3/09)

"Shit Im 50% Lithuanian and never found a beer from there, Whats it called ? must get some.
"Sveikas" Cheers in Lith
GB"

Kalnapilis, Utenos, Svyturys...the list goes on GB. (Just some of the breweries.) Over 200 different beers available, milkbars, bus stops, service stations, kiosks...gee they treat beer as soft drink over there.
Price for premium brands...$1.00 per 500ml stubbie at the milkbar.


Svyturys is available in Australia through an importer in Thomastown, Melbourne.

Sveiks and Iki.


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