How is beer packaged in Europe?

500ml is the norm in Ireland.

Here and in Britain, there's not the same culture of drinking at home. (In Ireland, bar/pub sales vs. store/"off license" sales are 65-35; in the UK it's 50-50.)
You'd buy a few cans for watching soccer with friends, or a 12 pack for hosting a BBQ, but generally you're not getting quantity because you're usually out.

For craft beers, you tend to buy and try them one bottle at a time.
8 Degrees are the only Irish craft beer in 6 packs, but their founders are an Aussie guy and a Kiwi guy who made an intentional decision to promote the (American-style) beer culture they knew from back home.

 

Depending on where in Europe you are, typical packaging varies.

In germany, the most common packaging is crates with 20X500ml bottles. 330ml bottles and sixpacks with 330ml bottles and 500ml bottles do exist, but are less common. Also, it is perfectly acceptable to grab a single bottle from a crate.....

In most cases with bavarian beers, the 500ml bottles are what is sold in germany, and the 330ml bottles are created for export. I personally find 330mls of Oktoberfestbier or Weizenbier a very weird concept.

In the netherlands, esp. the native stuff is sold in those weird 300ml bottles I've never seen anywhere else, either in single bottles or 6packs, only some of it in crates.

In belgium, you'll mostly see 330ml and 750ml bottles, and the former one in 4- or 6packs, as well as single bottles. For sours,375ml bottles are common as well .

In the czech republic, by far the most common bottle size is 500ml. I've very rarely seen something smaller, basically all native beer in glass bottles is in 500ml bottles, single bottles or crates. 6packs for native beer are an oddity. What is amazingly common there though is 1-1.5l plastic bottles, and not only with bigger,crappy brands- some smaller brewers use them as well.

In poland, its pretty much like in the czech republic, 0,5l being the absolute standard,mostly single bottles, some crates, for native beers. But plastic bottles and esp. cans are popular as well. The only polish beer in a 300ml bottle I saw there was Zywiec Porter, and I always opted for the bigger one

In france, I think it has mostly to do with the beer style. Your srandard pale lager like Krounenbourg or cheap knockofss of it will be mostly in puny 250ml bottles,packaged in big cardboard boxes, though 6 packs, crates and bigger bottles do exist, I still say this is the normal way crap pale lager is distrubed in france.
The more special beers often have bigger,nicer bottles- for biere de garde, 750ml champagne style bottles are standard. So, just by looking at the size and style of the bottle, you get an indication of the style contained within it.

Those are the european countries I am (most familiar) with. As you see,packaging of beer in europe can be complicated. And it is highly diverse. But in short: No, 500ml are most likely NOT made for export to the US-330ml, more likely And the popularity of craft in most european countries have mixed things up a little as well- like, shelves with small single bottles are becoming way more common in germany.

 

Lurchus Nailed it. At least from my experience. I do LOVE that most of the European beer markets sell individual bottles. That makes it so much easier to taste new beers without fear of wasting.

 

Man, I miss those .5 liter/20 bottle crates of Bitburger!!!!

 

Bitte Nein Bit!

 

Its different all over Europe.

Germany-
Crates (20x0,5L)
6 Packs (0,33L,less so 0,5L)
Its perfectly fine if you grab a bottle out of a crate or sixer and go to the register.
Ive seen some variety Packs from Mönchshof or Schneider Weisse that can only be bought as a whole

Ive seen some "craft" stuff in abnormal (for Germany) containers like 355ML (12oz),650ml or 750ml

 

Not everywhere in all shops, I've seen signs saying "Sixpacks bitte nicht aufreißen" very often lately. Be carefull. I've never seen anything about crates ..
Best look at the price labels though- my assumption would be,as long as a single bottle is priced, you should be able to take it.

I have to admit, I also thought about doing a post on typical places to buy beer, which are different in the european countries I am familiar with as well. And may be confusing for the traveller.

 

Most beer round here is consumed away from home, on draught.
Prepacked stuff is overwhelmingly in 500 ml sizes , a few 330(12 ounce) bottles are appearing , I can't imagine people only buying half a drink but there's no accounting for some......... There are even a few 440 ml cans around and the occasional Imperial Pint bottle but 95% seems to be 500 ml.

 

I can speak for Greece and Bulgaria where the vast majority of beers are sold in single half-liter bottles (or larger). Six-packs are unusual (and same goes for anything bigger 12-packs, etc). The same is the case in much of southeast Europe I believe.

 

Do they still sell Bitter in those 2 liter PET bottles in England? I remember bringing those to a music festival in the late 80s.

 

Can't say that I recall ever seeing them (I lived in England for 20 years).

As Marquis had said, 500ml is pretty much the norm (think Fullers bottles). They often come as part of a deal, e.g. 3 for £5 for example, in grocery stores and supermarkets.

 

Do you know why the 440ml cans came about? Always struck me as an odd size

I'd just echo whats been said - the 330ml ones are gaining popularity, most craft beers are sold as single bottles, unless you buy a full case from the source- although this does depend on the brewery, i.e some offer 8X500ml, some 12 or 24. Some breweries offer 5L mini kegs or 10l/20l polypins. (bag in a box)

I've seen a few in 300ml. The even smaller 275ml and 250ml stubbies are the preserve of the real cheap, non-craft lagers

 

Having recently been in several parts of Belgium recently....most are sold as singles. 330 and 750s plus 375s. Some come in 4-6 packs but not the majority. A lot of the non-lambic are sold in the US (many of the lambics as well).

 

I remember buying plastic liter bottles of beer at Wembley Arena back in the mid 1980's. That was great at the time but would not want that today.

Enjoy

 

Generally right now I find this topic to be way more interesting than it has any right to be.
I mean,for instance those little 250ml bottles made out of thin glass which always contain crappy lagers- why do they exist, why are they so common in some european countries and unheard of in others?
I've never seen them in germany,poland, or the czech republic, but in france, luxembourg, belgium, the netherlands, they are basically EVERYWHERE at cheap low end supermarkets! And while they may be even kind of iconic for kronenbourg, besides that one I've only seen really cheap plonk in it....how come?

And another thing, what about cans? Before the high deposit for them in germany came in place (2003), cans used to be everywhere, and than they suddenly almost dissapeared from store shelves, only to come back in recent years. But craft beer or even traditional,good beer is still a rarity in german cans, its mostly cheap supermarket crap...
Though Leffe or Hoeegarden in cans seems to be common elsewhere. And in france,you even get some biere de gardes like Jenlain or Ch'ti in 500ml cans.....
How about that..
I'd still guess that cans are way more common in the US than in most European countries, right?

 

The were still selling them in 93, but I realize that is now ancient history...

 

Do European stores tend to use proper beer storage practices? Like, keeping the beer cold and avoid exposure to UV light (i.e. keep away from store windows and some fluorescent lighting). I understand this answer could vary widely between countries/regions/stores, I was just curious if there was any better awareness in Europe. In the US, beer storage practices can vary greatly between stores. Unfortunately, sometimes light-struck European beer is so common in the US that some US beer drinkers expect it and consider the skunkiness "to style." It's a shame...

On a side note, alcohol laws here in Pennsylvania encourage beer purchases by the case (typically a 24 count of 12-oz bottles or cans). I'm sure many Europeans would find that quantity for home consumption crazy and there is plenty of debate over the laws here too; however one advantage is you know that beer in a factory sealed case was never exposed to UV light, including the green bottle European imports. I have also noticed that some exporting European breweries are catching on to the US's acceptance of cans and are switching over (For example, Dinkle-Acker and Pilsner-Urquell).

 

Lots of "crates" of beer sold in Germany from what I understand but since -unlike in the US- lots of beer bottles in Germany are returnable/reusable (as is the case in much of the rest of the world), as are the common plastic crates, which are open at the top and expose the beer to more light than the closed corrugated cardboard case in the US.

OTOH, many US imports that come in green bottles are still in brown glass in their home markets.

Again, many imports came in cans in the home market for many years before the importers in the US in more recent years decided that the prejudice against cans in the US "super-premium/import" segment was slowly dying. (It ain't dead yet - just the difficultly in finding Pilsner Urquell in cans in many markets and in many retailers shows that the "green bottle = expensive quality import " myth lives on).

 

No, beer is treated badly by and large at least in the uk. Some distributors do better than others - I think that's why Laguanitas dealt with Adnams for their beers as Adnams could guarantee cold storage.

But for supermarkets and so on, its warehouses only, then warm open shelves under fluorescents. Apart from some corona and peroni in a token fridge of course. Most insist on long best before dates too, it was a year now they are pushing for 18 months a lot of the time. Which of course gets confusing as some are 6 months, 9 months etc.

That said our climate isn't nearly as bad for packaged beer as most of the US or continental europe, which is probably why they don't bother with better conditions