Are large format bottles done?

@Errto I would recommend the Salute to Saisons thread to you:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/salute-to-saisons-2023.670678/

You will see photos of 750 ml bottles in that thread.

Cheers!

 

I always took bombers to mean 22oz bottles that are essentially the same shape as a 12oz longneck with a standard cap. 750ml bottles tend to have heavier glass, either a bulbous neck for those otherwise shaped like a usual beer bottle, or champagne bottle shaped. Cork and cage is always a nice touch, and it's only recently that you found the capped ones with a standard sized cap instead of a slightly wider cap (I forget the exact diameter). Definitely was something I was on the lookout for when I was saving bottles for homebrew.

That said, I rarely see bombers anymore. Usually only at older small brewers putting out a one off or high abv seasonal. Price point per ounce was always out of whack for beers that were available as both 22 and 12oz bottles. Rogue was the leading culprit of this. I think that the move to cans in general due to cost savings (aluminum being lighter for shipping, dented cans easier to recycle than broken bottles, etc.), innovation in smaller canning lines and mobile canning, less oxygen exposure, and ease of drinking (Most folks aren't necessarily bothered by drinking a 16oz can of a high abv beer, but will balk at taking a 22oz of the same beer to the dome).

Personally, I don't mind drinking out of a can, but I almost always have to pour a bottle into a glass. I will say that I've found that carbonation levels on canned Belgian style beers is almost always lower than what I have expected from a glass bottle.

Lots of Belgian imports are still available in 750s, as well as domestic Belgian-styles, but they have definitely lost popularity in the past decade. You definitely have to search them out.

For what you want, pretty much any cork and cage bottle will probably work. Make a ritual of opening it, and wine folks will eat that up. I remember at a cellar cleaner gathering before moving 12 years ago, I completely wowed my bosses (older gay couple, one an old money Scotsman, the other old money from Charleston, SC, so you can imagine the snobbery) with a bottle of Boon Old Gueze.

 

I really miss the $3.99 Lagunitas bombers, Gnarleywine, The Hairy Eyeball, Imperial Stout, Cappuccino Imperial Stout.....

 

To this day I am quite perplexed by the desire to have 750s over multiple 12oz. For something like a special occasion, I can see the desire for it to “look pretty”, but it’s just not as customizable and usually a more expensive format.

One option takes away your ability to make a choice, the other one gives you a choice. Why would you rather have fewer choices? This is the same thing to me as when places packGe beers or whiskey, and people say they are “happy with it because they get to try more stuff”, but pay the same price. Well, nothing is preventing you from buying them separately. Again, in one case you have a choice, and in the other you don’t. Totally perplexing to me.

*removes soapbox*

 

Yeah, must be a your area thing. I have no problem finding 750 ml bottles at my local beer retailers.

A situation of: sucks for you? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Cheers!

 

I haven’t read through the entire thread, but I have two things to input.
1. The same European imports are still around, but I’m guessing they don’t sell as well.
2. As far as American craft beer I have seen 20oz single cans from larger “craft” breweries such as New Belgium & SN. These are almost as much volume as bombers, but I’m sure cheaper and easier to produce in every aspect.

 

Yes, if we ‘expand’ beyond bottles there does seem to be an increase in canned beers in the 19.2 ounce (and larger like 24/25 ounces) can format.

I started a thread on this topic in the past:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...-of-beer-in-stovepipe-19-2-ounce-cans.672036/

Cheers!

 

You make some good points in that thread.
I noticed the beer in this format is generally high abv IPAs for only $3. So I’m guessing the target audience is not the beer connoisseur.

 

Roughly $15 for a 750ml.

I just remember 15 years ago European imports had as much or more appeal than a lot of American breweries.
Now I don’t know people that regularly buy the imported shelfies. (Not including rare lambic)

 

Earlier today I watched an episode of a local beer show (What’s Brewing) and in the segment with Joe Sixpack (Don Russell) who now lives in Rennes, France he made a point to discuss local beer in 750 ml bottles. You can see/hear the discussion at the 18:10 mark. Is this just a Brittany thing?

Cheers!

 

Stop. That was never a thing. "Bombers" generally meant 22s, but the term was interchangeable between 22s and 750s.

 

Pretty sure that’s what I said? Or at least it was the implication.

 

Just to add to this: the reason people abuse the term bombers is because there isn’t a good vernacular to differentiate between 22oz and 750ml. Why call them something different (especially for something as casual as beer nerdom) for just 3oz?

As dumb as it is to fight over whether a container is actually a pint (16oz) or a half litre (16.9), at least both of those have real, commonly used terms. I’ve never heard a common vernacular for the 750s. Except Bomber.

 

I always referred to 750s as 750s (or just as a "bottle" as it was the only way to get most Belgian brewed and US Belgian style beers for a long time) and 22oz as bombers. US pints could be pints or pounders. 16.9oz bottles would be pints or half liters depending on whether they were British or continental in origin. 19.2oz was always Imperial pint.

Used to be you could get cheap beer in quarts in the US before the advent and takeover of the 40oz, and older folks would still refer to them as quarts (or "jumbos" I've been told).

Tall boys pretty much meant any canned beer larger than 12oz. There was a time in the late 70s-mid 80s where big brewers had short boys, 8oz cans. These were the canned versions of pony bottles, 7oz bottles. You still sometimes can find High Life and Corona ponies. The empty High Life bottle were perfect for chucking at a road sign from the bed of a speeding pickup. Rogue would do outrageously priced ponies of their big beers.

Not sure what folks call the 24oz cans of cheap beer nowadays.

 

"Imperial Bombers" is a term I hadn't heard until this thread.

 

Oh that. I was being funny. Wasn’t trying to suggest it was a commonly used term. Like a pint and an imperial pint.

 

I personally like the terms Bombers, Stovepipes, and Pounders. To me they are distinct sizes. And don’t get me started on Mickey’s grenades from my youth!

 

Grenades were the other preferred throwin' bottles. Readily available in my youth, but there was a separation between you being down with black folks if you lifted a 40 of OE, Colt 45, or Schlitz Bull, or a Mickey's grenade, due to marketing. It all depended on who you were hanging out with that night.