Belgian brewers using green bottles

It could be related to price, or perhaps availablity of glass, or maybe it's just carried over from the 70's when mega-brewers like Heineken somehow convinced gullible Americans that "green bottle = classy import"...

Dany from Fantome lurks on these forums, maybe we'll get lucky and he'll chime in with an answer.

 

It started post WWII when there was shortage of the stuff needed to make brown bottles. American consumers bought into the idea that green was associated with premium beers. When the brewers tried to switch to brown bottles their saies dropped off, so they went back to green and their sales went back up again. So they stayed with green.

But there are signs of change. The smaller bottles of Saison Dupont are now brown.

 

I was about to say the same thing.

No I wasn't. That was interesting, thanks.

 

Can anyone weigh in on whether green bottles are any better than clear ones in terms of skunking?

 

green is better than clear quite a bit so but no where near brown glass not even close..

 

A number of Belgian brewers use 750ml green bottles and despite my reservations I've yet to have any off skunked beer.

 

Wish I could say the same. Had an extremely skunked Avec Les Bon Voeux three weeks ago.

 

I'm not sure myself but drttth sounds like he has a very good point. I pretty much refuse to buy anything in green bottles so it's their lose.

 

I know, I've been lucky especially when you consider the number of green 750ml I've gone through over the years. At least so far. Does make me wonder why so many opt for green especially when Westmalle, St Bernardus and others have always used brown for their 750 mls.

 

Even Cantillon, Hanssens, Drie Fontenein?

 

Ive never had an off bottle of cantillon, hansens and drie fontenein. I havent even heard someone complain about one. I did hear something about cork issues, but i never experienced that.

 

Any idea if Saison Dupont will be offered in the brown bottles for bombers as well?

 

What type of cork issues? They all smell like vinegar and some bubble up through the cork right before you open them if they've been chilled. This will rarely effect the product.

 

Then you missed the quite long thread before the move in which a regular member of the forums reported on his evidence that he'd had a skunked bottle of a popular Gueuze.

 

Noap, haven't heard anything on that one. BTW the Bomber size is 22 oz. The large size of Saison Dupot is the 750 ml size.

 

The quality of cork has improved hugely in the last few years. But too late for someone like Harveys (or Gale's Prize Old Ale) to consider giving it another go given how their older cork closure Imperial Stouts were so brutally oxidised by sub standard corks.

 

I'm not going to say I've never had a skunked Dupont, but it's rare. While I do wish they'd use brown, I think we beer geeks can get a little over-obsessive over stuff like this. Just don't buy green bottles that have been sitting near the window.

Green seems to have no impact on lambics. And Fantome is Fantome - I couldn't even begin to guess when their beers are skunked vs when they are intended to have a skunked flavor.