Why Aren't Alcoholic Beverages Packaged in Plastic Bottles?

A couple of years back I worked at a place that sold beer. When the Bavaria brand started to package their beers in plastic bottles (completely identical in shape) all hell broke loose and people still wanted to pay more for glass bottles.

In fact if I recall correctly most music festivals only serve in plastic containers for safety and recycling. So they do exist.

Plastic bottles would direct it towards kids , no. ?
And i am sure they have tried at some point, but found the alcohol does something to plastic over time and the drink doesn’t act or taste the same .
Just like plastic bottles are crap for carbonated drinks , they always go flat too fast compared to glass or tins and even tetra paks .

Two reasons. Public refusal to accept plastic with alcoholic beverages, and two, the beverage does not tastes as good if stored and not drunk within a fairly short time. Even Coke and Beer in aluminum cans has less shelf life (best by) than the same in glass containers. Try drinking a twelve month old can of coke compared to a twelve month old bottle of coke.

We just recently came across a pint bottle of Jim Beam in a plastic bottle. My husband hated everything about it. The feel, the taste, he said it was just wrong.

I assumed it was because of the taste, but the ones who are breaking the glass probably aren’t drinking for the taste. Maybe if they sold it a little cheaper if packaged in plastic as opposed to glass, I am sure that would be a success with the target market.

Also there was a time when a screw top or plastic cork on wine was a faux pas, now it comes in cardboard boxes with a plastic bladder and I see some who claim to be oenophiles drinking it.

I think if it were the only way it was available, people would complain but drink it anyhow.

What do you think?

@rooeytoo Agreed. At least the cheap stuff should come that way!

Cider comes in plastic bottles , notice how crap that is . Yet EVERYONE buys it cause it’s cheap and gets them drunk fast .
I only drink whisky and ale proper ale like Guinness

There are.

Here’s one

Ball industries produces bottles that should have preservative qualities similar to glass bottles, yet are made of coated plastic.

The coating (plasmax) eliminates oxygen penetration and therefore the bottles offer shelf live in line with glass, but at much lower weights..

@peedub – Is that a plastic bottle, it is hard to tell from the pic? What is the 500 home run label, was it done for a specific occasion?

@whitenoise – I hope they start using it here soon, it is not safe to walk the dogs a lot of places. I saw no mention of cost, I wonder if it is prohibitively expensive for cheaper brews.

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I think they’re popular at certain sports stadiums. I’m pretty sure I had one at the Oakland Colosseum. I can’t remember if it was for the Raiders or the Rolling Stones. You get the point.
I don’t believe that will ever be the norm. People are willing to pay extra for glass. Myself, I’ve been into cans lately. They’re good for throwing in a backpack.

I think I’ve bought some whiskey in plastic bottles – duty free.

They should sell more – maybe vodka and cheaper varieties of alcohol – as I’m guessing that statistically less gets recycled. It’s booze: they get smashed.

I see liquor in plastic bottles all the time. Wine or beer, no.

@laureth – The problem that prompted me to ask this question is the huge numbers of beer and wine and small liquor bottles broken on foot paths and along the roads.

It is good to know that some is in plastic but obviously not enough.

Which is just the opposite of what I would say about every other liquid that comes in plastic. The bottles are strangling the world and its waters. But with alcohol, it seems like it might be a better idea.

Baseball stadium beer comes in plastic bottles.

Some alcohol is packaged in plastic.

HOWEVER, coming from the land of beer (as I do) and being raised in a bar (that my family still owns today):

PEOPLE love their beer the way they’ve ALWAYS had it. Some people are cans only, some bottle only, whilst others are tapper only.

In the can, people say beer tastes better. From a bottle, it stays colder (much colder) for longer.

When I was in high school some of the people that drank on weekends always got something called Purple Passion, it’s grape soda and vodka I think and it was in a plastic two liter bottle…is was REALLY nasty. It tasted like really stale grape soda and old vodka. I think glass seems to chill the beverage faster. Plus, plastic will start to grow bacteria after it’s been exposed to certain temperatures