Half-Gallon Jar Unknown In United States

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31144, 22 August 1966, Page 11

Half-Gallon Jar Unknown In United States

New Zealand beer already has a foothold on the American market, mainly in California—but the half-gallon jar, so popular in Australia and New Zealand, is unknown there.

The “tapper,” or pressurised container, is the American equivalent of the “half-g,” according to “Export News,” the journal of the Department of Industries and Commerce. It contains up to two gallons. The American beer drinker is accustomed to a wide variety of brands and types of foreign beer, says “Export News.” Almost all beer drunk in the United States is of the lager type, but the trend is away from the sweeter lagers, and a number of malt liquors have recently been selling well.

The marketing of beer in the United States has passed through several container phases, says “Export News”— from bottles to cans, to socalled self-opening cans, to glass “cans,” and now screwtop bottles. The latter, along with the “tapper,” are being used for draught beer, the claim being that an unused portion can easily be kept for later use.

The United States both produces and imports large quantities of wine, but it cannot be considered a winedrinking country in the European manner. Nevertheless, many countries, including South Africa and Australia, sell both table and fortified wines in the United States—“and there is no reason why New Zealand should not enter also,” says “Export News.”