Why Do 13 Beer Brands Use Green Glass Bottles for Beer?

Commercial beer brands use green glass bottles for two reasons, one is because marketing has dictated that they remain true to their roots, and the other is that green glass helps to prevent beer from becoming lightstruck. Let’s learn more about this.

Written by CraftJack | Updated 01/21/23 | 4 min read

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Quick show of hands, how many of you have purchased beers from a craft brewery that came in a Green Bottle recently?

We can’t tell if you’re raising your hand (obviously), but we’re guessing the answer is close to zero. Green glass bottles is just not how craft beer is marketed these days. Not even the world’s most popular brands - you know the type, the Super Bowl commercial, tailgate rlager beer types - use the green color.

Does a Green Bottle affect Taste?

No, using green beer bottles to ship your brew in does not affect how beer tastes. At least not on it’s own. Shipping beer in plastic might, but clear bottles, brown bottles and of course, green bottles do not affect taste.

The exception comes when the beer has been improperly stored and has been exposed to light for an extended period of time. A beer that has been lightstruck, as the previously mentioned process is called, starts to undergo a chemical reaction in which the compounds in the beer get altered, leaving the beer tasting a bit funky.

The beer is then considered skunked, so named for the hints of skunk-like odors that your sense of smell and taste will pick up. It’s still safe to drink, it’s just not as fresh as it was when it left the brewhouse, or arrived at the store, for that matter.

You’ll see this occur in a Summertime beer like Corona. Doubly so because it, along with its smaller cousin, the Coronita, gets shipped in clear glass bottles. Triply so because we think that Corona already tastes a bit skunky on its own.

Gary Gillman had this to say about Beck’s, “Numerous comments on the rating services refer to a skunky taste or smell, the presumed effects of the green bottle. Yet, the taste is similar (IMO) on draft or in can or a fresh bottle. I think the taste noted may be DMS, or dimethyl sulphide.”

13 Beer Brands that come in Green Glass Bottles

Beck’s

Beck’s, or Beck’s Pilsener 1873, arrived on the beer scene in 1873. Despite the labeling crisis over the years (sometimes Beck’s doesn’t call itself a pilsner, and sometimes it does) and the additional styles (Beck’s Gold, Beck’s Red Ale, etc.), the OG version can still be found in a green glass bottle.

Carlsberg

Self-described as, “Probably the best beer in the world”, this green bottler has been imported into the United States since 1902. The Danish beer is also described as, “well-proportioned bottom-fermented lager with a flavor of hops, grains, pine needles, sorrel and Danish summer apples.”

Cascade

Dos Equis

Grolsch

Heineken

Henieken is the beer brand you think of when you think of green bottles. And, green beer cans for that matter. Heineken is ~50% of the market in the Netherlands. We’ll enjoy one from time to time, but there is definitely a hint of skunk that shines through, despite the notorious green bottle.

Moosehead

Oh, Canada!

Moosehead Canadian Lager, a product of New Brunswick, refuses to be left off this list. Like Yuengling in America, it’s Canada’s oldest operating brewery. A cold bottle of Moosehead will make an all-day hangout in the Deer Stand tolerable. True story.

Peroni

Nastro Azzurro, Peroni’s most well-known pale lager, was first brewed in the 19th century. It was apparently popular in Britain a decade ago, where it was the 13th best selling beer in the market.

Presidente

Rolling Rock

Latrobe, Pennsylvania’s finest. Well, for nearly 70 years until Anheuser-Busch acquired the American Lager beer in 2006. The one comment we have about Rolling Rock is that it islListed at 4.4% ABV. This always felt like a dubious claim.

Stella Artois

Saaz hops, malted barley, maize, yeast, and water combine to make Stella Artois, a beer that was first brewed in Leuven, Belgium. The brand boasts of 600+ years of brewing experience, which is hilarious, because you think they’d know how to brew a better beer by now.

Yes yes, this breaks our general tone of not taking a negative stance. But come on, when was the last time you were excited for a Stella? The Green Bottle is actually the best thing about the beer.

And hey, we’d still rather drink a Stella Artois than be without.

Tuborg

A Danish brew that is now a brand owned by the Carlsberg group. Apparently they’ve cornered the market on green glass. That or some buyer overbought years and years ago.

Yuengling

Yuengling is the green bottle beer that you forget comes in a green bottle. Interesting fact, D. G. Yuengling & Son is America’s oldest brewery, having been in operation since the early 19th century - 1829 to be exact.

Why are European / German beers in green bottles?

What is Green Beer?

Green Beer and Green Bottled Beer are two different things. Green beer is beer, usually in the form of a pale ale or mass market lager, that has had green food coloring added to it on St. Patrick’s Day. A common brand would be Budweiser or Coors.

It’s not something that brewers make straight from the brewery. If they did, we suppose they’d consider putting it in green bottles. But then again, maybe not. It wouldn’t help with the marketing of the product, a customer would never know.

Speaking of St. Patrick’s Day, we’d have a Guinness!

Wrapping Up

One thing you don’t tend to see is a Hoppy IPA or a Saison sold in a green bottle. Craft brewers tend to roll out the 4 pack of tallboy cans as the primary product packaging.