Wax Seals: Why?

I think it's mostly for visual appeal. Maybe also for sealing, but I agree that a cork and cap would probably work just as well.

 

Asked and answered.

 

So they can charge more for a fancier product.... it’s lame. Don’t buy beers with wax tops.

 

I think it's like how they used wax to seal envelopes back in the day. Proves it hasn't been tampered with. Though in all honesty I think it's just to make it look more premium and charge more

 

I was always under the impression that it was to minimize oxygen leeks as much as possible making the beer better suited for aging/cellaring.

 

I hate wax tops. So annoying to open. Almost as bad as corks in beer.

 

I don’t think there has ever been a scientific study saying that it helps reduce oxygenation. Why do wine producers not wax their bottles? Maybe some do but I have never seen them.

 

It's all marketing. An attempt to make a beer look highfalutin.

 

This is always what I've heard as well. It would make sense that wax would help prevent oxidation, but honestly I think it has a lot more to do with marketing. It does make it look fancier and I'm sure that the ability to charge more definitely plays a role

 

Such studies have been done, Waxing the cork does reduce or prevent oxygen ingress to the wine bottle.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1755-0238.1999.tb00154.x


The crown caps used on most beers do not create a perfect seal. Proper waxing should reduce oxygen ingress to beer as well.

We don’t see waxed bottles of wine or beer very often because most beers and many wines are not meant to be cellared for 10-40 years or more, so it just makes unneeded work.

@DEdesings57

 

I think it's just to add $10 or so to the bomber price

 

That study was done on cork bottles and I was actually familiar with that study as I googled it before my post.
Wine corks are not metal crimped caps so I don’t think you can claim this as scientific evidence.
Sort of similiar to eating an orange a day is good for vitamin c deficiency. Apples must be the same because they are both fruit.
I’m not buying that waxing these bottles does anything for the beer except make them more expensive to produce. Most people aren’t aging their beers long enough for the wax to matter if it matters at all.

 

Put away the knives and torches. Many metal bottle openers such as the one I use - shown below - will push right through the wax and open the bottle just fine. Takes a bit more muscle, but works great. But I agree, wax is annoying and unnecessary.

 

Maybe they bypassed the whole wax thing and went straight for Screw Tops which "Theoretically" are better then corks and also prevent the possibility of Cork Contamination. Personally I prefer corks on wine out of mere tradition but........

 

You also can't prove something to be scientifically truthful with only one supporting study as well.

 

Welcome, time traveler from olden times! Let me introduce you to 2018...

 

I can think of one instance where the wax on a bottle worked, kinda. The difference in how the wax was applied on a counterfeit bottle of a TG beer (Assassin or KBBS I think, can't remember) led the person who was scammed to realize he'd been scammed.

Otherwise it is just to increase the interest and confidence of consumers, like the other features applied to the outside of a bottle.

 

If I remember right, the scammer did it multiple times and never could get the waxing down properly.

 

Yes, as I mentioned the study was done on corks, which are not crimped crowns (some of which have oxygen scavaging liners).
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But the logic/conclusion/inference is that it’s more like saying, “Apples also have vitamin C in them, so eating Apples should also help with vitamin C deficiency.”

True, most people don’t age any beer long enough for waxing to matter, and most beers, like many wines, are not intended for aging in the first place. But it doesnt follow that waxing can make no difference on beers with crimped crowns that are/can be expected to age well. Some people do actually purchase and age such beers.