We package our beer in either dark amber glass bottles or kegs. Most bottles are 355ml, but we do have 650ml and 750ml on special occasions.

Any beer we make can be bought in kegs for parties (with advance notice). We have two sizes: 19L and 58L (= 55 bottles & 160 bottles respectively).

We package our beer in 355ml Amber glass bottles with non-standard pry-off tops. Some people on TV are trying to suggest this packaging is unfriendly to the environment and quality of the product. Here is our response to the question: Glass Bottles or Aluminum cans, which is better?

Amber glass is completely inert and will not contaminate beer in any way. The dark amber glass blocks UV light which can cause the hop acids to degrade into nasty flavours & aromas (skunk or cat urine). Beer packaged in clear and green glass bottles is often seen with this fault. In this aspect aluminum cans are as good amber glass, so why not just use cans for our beer?

Glass bottles are made from a very abundant source: silica (sand) and the processing of silica into glass is fairly simple, clean, and when compared with something like aluminum, energy efficent. Aluminum is in contrast complex, dirty, and energy intensive. Aluminum is made from the refining of Bauxite. Bauxite is smelted with electrical energy and, in fact, accounts for 3% of all the electrical consumption in the world. Making one ton of aluminum consumes roughly 14,000 kWH of power.

Every ton of aluminum produced also leaves behind 5 tons of acidic red sludge, while glass has negligible waste product. Lastly, beer cans are lined with Bisphenol-A plastic. This is the chemical which is on the verge of being banned by the Federal government. Industry may force an exception to this ban for beer cans, but we know glass is safe for foods.

Both glass and cans are 100% recyclable. Our bottles become fiberglass insulation eventually.