Uruguayan Aluminum Beer Bottle

Pilsen Alumino Bottle

Following on the heels of the launch of Argentina’s Quilmes aluminum beer bottle, Uruguayans have launched their own aluminum bottled beer – Pilsen Alumino.

Finally, an aluminum beer bottle with a beer bottle color!

One of my pet peeves has been the rather un-beer like colors of many of the aluminum beer bottles that have been launched in the recent past.

The Pilsen Aluminum bottle instantly tells you it’s a beer.  In the photo, you’ll see drops of condensate along the sides of the bottle.

I’m assuming those are real drops of water (you can double-click on the picture to see a larger version).  But it would be really neat if they were actually printed photos of drops.  That would be yet another demonstration of the superior decorating possibilities of aluminum bottles.

Aluminum Bottle for Argentinian Beer Quilmes

Quilmes Aluminum Bottle

Quilmes, the Argentinian beer brewer, has come up with an aluminum beer bottle that reveals neat designs under UV light that are not visible under normal light.

The bottle was designed by Pierini Partners.

Under normal light, the Quilmes aluminum bottle has a silvery finish with light blue elements.

Under UV light, the bottle shows a midnight blue body with luminous blue drawings and the Quilmes logo.

Very attractive and perfect for bars and clubs.

Aluminum Bottle – Optimum Opening Diameter

Coke Aluminum Bottle

I came across this interesting article about the optimum diameter for aluminum bottle openings.

The article states that “The majority of Japanese consumers believe that the opening diameters of screw-top aluminium bottles are too small, a study has found, while also determining that 33mm is the optimum size for ‘drinking ease’.”

Apparently, the standard 28mm opening was deemed too small for comfort in the research study. On the other hand, 38mm was deemed to big.

I have to agree.

I’m not comfortable sipping from most aluminum beer bottles; I always feel like the beer goes down too slowly. On the other hand, I’ve never liked the wide-mouth openings of some of the popular iced-tea brands. I’ve spilled tea all over myself on a few occasions 🙂

Aluminum Bottle for Apple Cider

Oliver Beanblossom Hard Cider – just the name alone is already intriguing.

The Oliver Winery has bottled their hard apple ciders in deliciously designed aluminum bottles.  Clean white background with playful cartoons.

These bottles are great examples of the decorating possibilities with aluminum bottles.  Notice the color gradations on the bottle’s surface, especially on the strawberry and raspberry bottles.  (Remember – you can click on the picture and see a bigger version of it). You can’t do that on glass.

Check out their cool YouTube clip.  They sound like the Ben and Jerry counterparts for apple cider 🙂

Budweiser Aluminum Bottle for Olympics

Bud Aluminum Bottle Olympics

Brewing giant Budweiser has released a limited edition of aluminum bottles for the London Olympics.

I believe you won’t find these bottles in the USA, which makes it the latest addition to the growing list of cool aluminum bottles that you can’t find in this country.

In fact, chances are many of these bottles will be bought by collectors and will never appear in a bar or store shelf stateside.

These aluminum bottles are relatively well-designed.  At first blush, you wouldn’t think it was a beer bottle, with its patriotic red, white and blue theme.  But I’ve reconciled myself to the notion that these aluminum bottles are as much artwork as they are utilitarian objects.  So they don’t really have to immediately communicate that they have beer inside.

I think a good percentage of people will simply buy these aluminum bottles for their collectible value.  It’s interesting to read the caveats of one ebay seller of these bottles.  “The value of the item is in the collectible container, not its contents. The container has not been opened and any incidental contents are not intended for consumption. The item is not available at any retail outlet, and the container has a value that substantially exceeds the current retail price of the alcohol in the container.”

So the aluminum bottle is worth a lot more than the beer inside 🙂

Legends Aluminum Beer Bottle

Legends Aluminum Bottle

I’ve never heard of Legends Beer.

But then again there are a lot of artisanal and craft beers that I’ve never heard of.   As I’ve posted in the past, the beer market is fairly mature and innovative packaging, such as aluminum bottles,  is one of the marketing levers used to keep product sales going.

This relatively unknown brand is using aluminum bottles for its premium lager.  A gutsy move, in my opinion.  Most secondary brands would probably opt for cheaper glass bottles or even cans.

Legend has focused on strategic partnerships with various sports “legends,” such as boxer Larry Holmes and hockey player Gordie Howe.

Legend beer was made by an amateur homebrewer.  The lager comes in a 16 oz aluminum bottle.

I will definitely monitor this beer’s progress.  I just wish I could get it here on the east coast.

Aluminum Root Beer Bottle

Oskar Aluminum Bottle

I’ve been waiting for quite a while now for some of the smaller soda brands to start using aluminum bottles

Coke and Pepsi have pretty much hogged the stage when it comes to aluminum bottles.  Interestingly enough, they’ve come up with 2-3 aluminum bottle designs every year.  The latest – and my current favorite – are the aluminum bottles launched by Coca-Cola for the London Olympics (see my post here).

So it was nice to see Oskar Blues Brewery launch its root beer in an aluminum bottle.

The 16-oz. bottle has a root beer color.  The caps, which are of course resealable and recyclable, are in a natural aluminum color.  It’s a pretty conservative choice of colors, but at least they remind one of root beer.

Dr. Pepper won’t be too far behind . . .

More Aluminum Bottles from Coca-Cola

It seems Coca-Cola is really pulling out all the stops with its new aluminum bottle designs.

These are visually stunning designs and show off the superior decorating possibilities using aluminum bottles.  You just can’t execute these designs using glass.  No wonder artists are using these aluminum bottles as canvases!

Coca Cola Aluminum Bottles

Coca Cola Aluminum Cans

Here’s an interesting design for their aluminum can.  Notice the classic Coca-Cola bottle outline in the last can 🙂

Aluminium Bottles Coca Cola for UK Olympics

Coca Cola Olympic Aluminium Bottles

Most people in the USA would probably have missed this bit of news about Coca-Cola’s new aluminium bottles.

First – because the news articles used the British spelling – aluminium.  And second, because the USA does not seem to be a priority when it comes to news about new aluminum bottles launched in Europe.

This new series of aluminum bottles was created for the UK Olympics and consists of eight aluminum bottles of different designs.

The new bottles were designed for Coca-Cola and Coke Zero and feature the classic colors of Coca Cola mixed with the colors of the Union Jack.

It’s hard to tell but it seems Coca- Cola has developed special packaging featuring all eight bottles.

They are definitely collectors’ items.

Hopefully, I get to see them here in the USA, if only on ebay.

Jean-Paul Gaultier Aluminum Bottle – for Diet Coke

Gaultier Aluminum Bottle

I’m not exactly sure when this Diet Coke aluminum bottle designed by Jean Paul Gaultier was launched.

But I must admit this is the prettiest aluminum bottle I’ve seen ever. The aluminum bottle collection is themed, “Night & Day” and has the familiar Gaultier female form which is in fact how the original Coca Cola was shaped. Older folks will sometimes say that a woman has “a Coca Cola figure” as a compliment.

I only wish that Gaultier would use aluminum bottles to package his perfumes. After all, it is well known that aluminum bottles can better protect the precious essential essences in perfumes from the effects of sunlight and oxidation.  And of course, give the price of these perfumes, it makes sense to make sure that they last, and aluminum bottles will do a far better job than glass bottles.

The Gaultier bottle is also an excellent example of the decorating possibilities of aluminum bottles.  If you take a look at the bottle, you’ll notice that the bottle’s sides are actually quite straight and not curvy like the original Coke bottle.  I may be wrong ; perhaps this aluminum bottle is actually narrower in the middle (BTW – you can double click on the image to see an enlarged image of the aluminum bottle).

By drawing a curvy woman’s corset, and with masterful use of line and color, the Gaultier aluminum bottles look almost as sexy and curvy as the Gaultier perfume bottles.

In a previous post, I wrote that it would be advisable to keep your expensive perfumes in the fridge to keep them from losing the essences too quickly. If Gaultier packaged his perfumes in aluminum bottles, then you can store both your Diet Coke and Gaultier perfumes in the fridge 🙂