clear bottles

[Martin townshend]

Can someone please tell me why UK beer barons keep putting thier beer into clear bottles?

I've always avoided these beers at around $7+/bottle as I suspect they'll be skunked and in my experience, some of them have been.

Do the UK brewers think NZ is an ignorant market?

I love these beers, Greene King, Old Spekled Hen etc, but I can't help but feel there is something arrogant about the clear vessels...Have I missed something?

M

[Andrew]

Crikey Martin - what a smashing idea! Alas, the awards are a competition to see who can enter their beers into the right catogory - not about if it is a nice drop.
I think perhaps that these days we may be suffering from a little too much choice.

[denimglen]

"the NZ pale ale with the guts none of the rest of them show"

While a little cryptic it still makes sense - you've stated the beer style and that it's got more balls than the rest. At least you've got the nuts to create an expectation and throw the yardstick, so to speak ;-)

"hoppy new world Belgian-style amber ale" is a bit long for a tap badge.

Yeah, it is too long for a tap badge - but in that case the bar staff can help (well, should be able to), where as your 15 year old shelf stocker at Countdown wouldn't have a clue - which is where some description on the label would come into play. Yeastie Boys have never been a problem for me - you guys post recipes on your website and talk about your beers, it's not hard to come across the info if you want it.

What I can't fathom, is why the beer geeks can't relish the challange to classify the beer themselves...would have thought that anyone passionate about beer is probably open minded enough to appreciate most of the styles

I have no problem classifying a beer myself, I'd like to think I'm knowledgeable enough to make up my own mind. But it's kinda hard when you're in a bottle shop looking at bottles for something specific to your taste at that time and can't taste/smell/experience the beer inside. Or maybe you have some sort of ESP beer-tasting-through-the-bottle skill that the rest of us lack, Andrew?

I am actually open-minded enough to appreciate all styles of beer for what they are, from the lightest of lagers to the extremest stouts - I dunno where I said I wasn't?

The point I'm trying to make is that I'm a consumer and I'd like to have a decent idea of what I'm paying my hard earned cash for. Let's face it - craft beer ain't the cheapest thing in the world.

Imagine if F&P just labelled their products as 'appliances' - 'oops, got a washing machine this time, really needed a fridge'.

[Andrew]

Yep - that's all fair enough.
Getting back to the clear bottle thing. I think they do because they can. Most of what we do these days - or should I say, buy therse days, is a direct result of 'marketing'. Imagine what it was like when the first glassware became available. Very flash! Great sales advantage. And now we see the extreme consequences of that in Belgium where every god damn beer has to have its own glass. Very silly when you're a bar stocking 300 beers. Mind you - when the first appliances came out, you'd probably be happy with a washing machine or a fridge!

[Stu McKinlay]

Yeh, I'm just being cheeky Glen. It's different for us because every beer is meant to be unique... "what's it going to be?" is probably part of the appeal.

This argument is difficult for me because I try pretty much everything that I can and then go back for more of the ones that I like. I prefer to form my own opinions. as far as 'descriptive" goes, the Renaissance beers are pretty spot on. Emerson's have always been excellent.

but i do like the Mussel Inn sign language!!!

[Pilgrim]

From Wikipedia:
"Lightstruck, or "skunked", beer has been exposed to ultraviolet and visible light. The light causes riboflavin to react with and break down isohumulones, a molecule that contributes to the bitterness of the beer and is derived from the hops. The resulting molecule, 3-methylbut-2-ene-1-thiol, is very similar chemically and in odour to the musk-borne mercaptans that are a skunk's natural defences.[5]

In some cases, such as Miller High Life, a hop extract that does not have isohumulones is used to bitter the beer so it cannot be "lightstruck". Bottles with dark brown glass give some protection to the beer, but green and colourless glass offer virtually no protection at all.[6"