You might have noticed that most beer bottles are green and brown, though there are a variety of colors, including green, brown, blue, and even clear.
Beer bottles are brown to protect the beer from UV rays. Beer contains hops that react with light to produce noxious fumes. So brown bottles are used to block out the light and prevent this process, known as skunking, from occurring and preserve the beer’s taste and freshness.
Brown is not the only color you will see on beer bottles; some are also available with green glass. Green bottles may be helpful, but brown glass bottles are ideal for homebrewing, as it decreases the risk that your beer will get light-attacked.
Brown or darker glass bottles can absorb much of the light, potentially keeping that chemical reaction at bay. Darker beer will also absorb more light than lighter beers, making it necessary to store strong beers in brown bottles, such as porters, bocks, and so forth, whereas lighter beers may be stored in green bottles.
Brown Bottles Preserve Beer’s Freshness
If you want freshness and a big taste, brown bottles will better keep other compounds from reacting with your beer. Brands use brown bottles for their beers to solve reactions because brown stops UV light from reacting with the liquid inside. To solve React, brands started using brown colors for beer bottles, as brown prevents UV rays from reacting with the liquid inside.
Clear beer bottles became brown to try and keep the UV light away and the flavor of the drink pleasant. Clear beer bottles were practical during winter, but sun UV light penetrated through the transparent glass in summer, making beer slightly tart, taste and smell. To combat the permeation, beer producers began using brown bottles to protect their beers from sun rays, much like how you and I put on sunglasses on a sunny day.
Like wearing a nice pair of sunglasses during summer, beer producers began using brown glasses to prevent their devoted customers from experiencing the bitter-beer-face pandemic. After WWII, there was a shortage of green glass, so beers adopted the brown bottles we know today.
Post World War II, there was a shortage of brown glass, so European brewers exported their beer in green bottles. Before WWII, the world of beermaking got along fine with newer, better brown glass (even during Prohibition, in America, beer was still shipped in brown glass bottles).
The Surge in Demand for Brown Bottles
With the sudden increase of brown-bottle beers, high-quality brewers found it hard to differentiate between their beers and regular beers. Companies traded their brown glass bottles for green, unwilling to put quality beers back into poorly performing transparent bottles. Companies did not want to re-use bad-performing clear bottles on highly-priced beers.
Other higher-quality brewers chose green bottles instead to distinguish their beers. The green bottles became the symbol of great beers because so many were of extreme quality yet priced, so they looked that way.
Green bottles entered the beer scene around World War II, as materials needed for making brown bottles were in high demand. Green and brown bottles became the primary way of storage for beer, keeping the sun out and fresh beer. Shortly after World War II, with a shortage of brown glass, green bottles of beer became increasingly popular as well.
By WWII, glass bottles were the most popular method for transferring beer. For the most part, brewers chose brown bottles instead of clear containers, as it was proven that the darker color blocked UV light, which would damage the flavor and aroma of the beer within.
Because clear glass was too expensive to be used as beer containers for mass sales, and green glass bottles could retard the beer taste more than clear glass bottles, people always used green glass bottles for beer bottles. Because of daylight effects on beer, brown glass bottles are a better container for storing beverages.
Earlier, we mentioned how brown bottles are preferentially good at blocking sunlight, but you are probably wondering exactly how the light can ruin your beer. The decision to go with a brown bottle is pretty spectacular since darker color blocks the morning, which changes the initial taste of your beer.
The Introduction of Clear Bottles and Cans
Clear bottles, meant to show the sun-kissed yellow color of Corona, however, are the most efficient way of oxygenating the beer by allowing the light to enter, which causes the hop flavors to wane and an off-flavor to develop. Because transparent and green bottles are generally accepted for beer that has few to no hops, they are the least susceptible to being damaged by light.
Today, the majority of beer is sold in cans or bottles that are clear or have only slight coloration. When beers were first shipped in bottles in the early 1800s, transparent glasses were used, but those beers got cloudy quickly if they were stored in the sunlight.
Manufacturers even added additional chemicals to green bottles to keep them looking greener. Still, it was not until scientists discovered that the green glass caused beer to turn brown or disintegrate in sunlight. Brewers turned the clear glasses brown, and the darker color blocked UV light, keeping the beer fresher longer.
According to Business Insider, soon, the brewers noticed when clear glasses were exposed to sunlight, the beer started to smell skunky. Brewers quickly realized that the beers stored in transparent bottles smelled skunky when exposed to sunlight for a prolonged period. Initially, commercial brewing companies used transparent bottles, but their beer began to smell and taste skunky after being kept for extended hours in the sun.
During that period, the beer makers noticed that as the sun filtered through those transparent bottles, the acids quickly responded to ultraviolet light. Using colorful bottles helped breweries differentiate their products and created a connection between beer and enjoyment. Most brewers choose dark-brown bottles to ensure the end preserves uncompromised, crisply fresh, and perfectly flavored to protect the beer from potential sun damage.
