The headline news in craft beer packaging the last few years has been the adoption of cans. More craft brewers are canning than ever before thanks to improvements in the packaging (better quality) and the influx of mobile canning operations.
Headline abundance has a counter effect though. While the trend is real, media saturation tends to overstate the reality somewhat. It’s like that old story of when shark attacks get in the news. People start to worry about being killed by a shark, despite there being greater odds that a vending machine topples over and kills them.
So, yes, a lot of brewers these days are going with cans, but a ton of craft breweries are also going with bottles too. Remember, there are just A LOT of brewers out there, so any single category could be considered a trend, if hyped enough. Bottles just don’t receive any hype because they have always been here. Bottles are just kind of assumed, but assumption doesn’t speak to growth. According to the latest IRI data, glass continues to grow in high-end beer segments like imports, FMBs and craft, and that trend is expected to continue going forward.
“We are not changing our forecasts for glass production or procurement because we are still seeing growth in glass containers in the beverage industry,” said Bobbi Stebbins, sales and marketing project leader, Waterloo Container (which you can find through the Kinnek purchasing platform too). Stebbins relayed that there is definitely a noticeable increase in canning in their region, but this movement is not without its own obstacles.
“The high cost of equipment for canning is prohibitive for most startups and smaller craft breweries and cideries,” she noted. “Brewers generally start with kegs and move to bottles or cans only after size and finances allow. There are a lot of options for automatic and semi-automatic glass bottling equipment that span a large price range. While there are a lot of issues at play in the decision [size, finances, goals, marketing], canning equipment is ultimately very costly compared to bottling equipment.”
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Minimums are no small issue
The canning boom is not without its issues for some smaller craft brewers. The boom in demand is not being fully met by supply, and larger can providers have focused more on their larger accounts, raising minimums and some (we’ve heard anecdotally) have just flat out told some previous customers that they would no longer supply them with cans. These are not issues when packaging in bottles. Waterloo Container, for example, has no minimums for bottle purchase on its stock items.
“Because we keep such a large, varied inventory in house, we can offer even the smallest craft brewer immediate access to a single case or an entire truckload if that’s what they need,” Stebbins said. “We work hard to assist startups with their bottling needs. Our partnership with a glass manufacturer helps us achieve this.”
“Any brewer can get into bottles,” noted Judi Gribble, marketing communications manager in the beer category for O-I, one of the largest suppliers in the country. “Our Packaging Solutions group sells beer bottles in very small quantities. If a brewer does not have a bottling line, there are mobile bottlers that come directly to the brewer and fill the bottles on-premise.”
Forming a relationship with your supplier and providing an accurate forecast will only help. Since glass production (manufacturing campaigns) requires advanced planning, Stebbins encouraged established clients to forecast their needs for the coming year to ensure there is an adequate amount of their glasses on-hand.
“This is as important for the niche and boutique brewers as it is for our larger clients,” she said.
No inventory space? Be sure to work with a vendor that can provide inventory management and storage or simply fulfill your order as you place it. Waterloo has over 275,000 square feet of storage space, which they use to help their clients manage their ware.
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“It can be reassuring to a brewery to know that their ware is secured and available to them immediately as their own space opens up,” Stebbins said.
“If they have their own bottling lines, they can have the bottle delivery trucks scheduled so they pull the bottles off the truck and put them directly on the line,” Gribble said.
What’s cool about bottles? We answer that and talk customization trends, screen printing and more on page 2.
What’s cool about bottles?
Look, no one loves a well designed can more than your pals at CBB, so none of this is to necessarily demean the value of the can, but it is worth noting that there is more value to a bottle than mere reliability and ordering convenience. More and more craft breweries are customizing the look and feel of their brand through the size, shape and color of their bottles. While a can offers 360-degrees of graphical opportunities, it is all contained within that shape. With a bottle, the possibilities are vast and now because of improved manufacturing processes, more affordable than ever.
“Glass offers opportunities to reinforce your brand that other materials can’t match. The possibilities available — through shapes, colors, embossing, labeling, decorating and closures — mean you can create more consumption experiences with glass than with any other package type,” Gribble said. “You can use a traditional shape to convey the style of your beer, but glass can also be molded into virtually any shape to create a unique profile. Brand iconography can be embossed into every bottle to complement the label. And while craft brewers love the familiar pry-off cap, twist offs and swing tops also can be great options for beer.”
The standard beer bottle in the O-I lineup remains the 12-ounce amber bottle, however the 22-ounce share bottle is another popular size. Beer bottle colors include amber, flint and emerald green. O-I’s Artisan Collection is designed to differentiate a brewer’s brand featuring four bottles styles, each in 12-ounce and 22-ounce sizes.
Stebbins said Waterloo is seeing an upswing in requests for novelty shaped bottles, and 500-ml sizes are increasingly popular.
But don’t forget the possibilities beyond that bottle size and shape — through colors, embossing, labeling, decorating and closures — all of which allows a brewer to create more consumption experiences.
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Plus, not all customers are hip to the new thinking that cans offer comparable quality these days, conjuring images of 24-packs of Natural Light. According to research conducted by Mintel earlier this year for the Glass Packaging Institute, 71 percent of craft beer consumers say that glass offers the best tasting beer.
“Brewers are passionate about the quality of the beer they create, and glass bottles are perceived to be higher quality and presents to consumers a more refined image that goes along with the craft’nature of the industry,” Gribble said. “Packaging has a big impact on how beer lovers feel about your brand. Glass conveys a superior image at every point of contact between the consumer and your beer. On the store shelf, glass stands proud and signals premium quality.”
Glass is made from three simple, abundant and readily available natural ingredients, plus those aforementioned manufacturing improvements also mean glass is increasingly sustainable and completely recyclable.
Gribble posited these as key questions to ask of any prospective bottle supplier:
- Where are your bottles made?
- What do you do to ensure high-quality glass?
- What is the cost per bottle?
- What is the cost for a private mold?
- What are the packaging options?
- How many bottles are on a pallet?
- How many bottles are on a truckload?
- Do you decorate onto the glass (ACL/silk screen)?
- How much gas can a bottle hold? Can you send drawings?
- How is the price determined?
Labeling on the bottle
Labeling plays a big part in completing the vision that started with the bottle spec. Decisions in that world will come down to cut and stack or pressure sensitive; both carry their own pros and cons in terms of price point, operations and look and feel. We have a ton of information on those decisions here and here.
But labeling is yet another area where brewers are starting to look at the bottle itself. Waterloo has seen a jump in the number of breweries looking to screen print directly onto the bottle.
“Label sourcing, hand labeling and re-packing after labeling take a lot of time [and add to labor expenses]. We are currently seeing an upswing in UV color printing requests,” Stebbins noted. “Bottles arrive at the customer’s facility ready to fill, without all of the manual labor and time involved with paper labels. Shelf presence is enhanced, and the end results are often stunning.”
Remember to choose quality
When choosing among your bottle options, you’ll want to think like a craft beer consumer and gravitate toward quality. Look for experience and customer service after the sale. When you are investing everything you have into a product or launch, you need to feel confident that the bottles you are purchasing suit your project. Waterloo Container, for example, has been in the glass bottle business for more than 30 years and can offer a wealth of experience and knowledge to clients.
“Working with an experienced team, from procurement to printing, can help alleviate your worries and help you grow your brand,” Stebbins said. “There is a lot of inferior glass being offered at hard-to-resist prices, but you want to be sure you have the support of your vendor before, during and after the sale should any issues arise.”
Same goes for O-I: “Regardless of whether a brewer gets their glass bottles directly from O-I or through one of our distributing partners, O-I will support each filler and determine the root cause of an issue, help improve production efficiency and support customers at all filling locations,” Gribble said.
