New light on beer tastes

Press, 2 September 1983, Page 12

New light on beer tastes

Fashion is a fickle mistress, especially when she decides to dictate drinking habits. A decade or more ago, many American beer drinkers decided that buying beer in green bottles gave their taste a touch of European class, regardless of where the beer was made. To service the trend, a fair quantity of New Zealand’s beer exports to the United States have been sold in green bottles. Sales have flourished, and one New Zealand beer has been placed among the top 10 imported into California, which is no mean feat in a market where more than 100 imported brews are available. A group in Chicago, calling itself the Campaign for Authentic Beer, is trying to overturn fashion. Beer in green bottles, or clear bottles, it says, is harmed by artificial light in shops. The only safe colour for beer bottles is good, old-fashioned brown. Otherwise, according to one theory about taste, the beer gets “lightstruck” and may even end up with a “skunky taste.” New Zealand exporters, of other things as well as beer, might draw a useful lesson from * the quarrel between “green is good” and “brown is better”. From the point of view of

sales, it matters not a jot whether light through green glass changes the taste of beer. What matters is what customers believe about the colour of beer bottles. Sensible exporters will ship off some of their product in green bottles to suit those for whom yesterday’s fashion has become today's tradition. They will ship some of their beer in brown bottles to appeal to consumers for whom yesterday’s tradition has become today’s trend. In the end, the customers are always right, even if they are 10,000 miles away. When New Zealand faces a pressing need to increase its exports of beer and everything else, an alert eye needs to be kept on the fashions of faraway places. If a particular packaging helps to sell a product, and can be provided at a competitive price, the effort is worth making. The liquor industry is among those most alert to changes in taste and fashion. Other industries might well show the same concern. It would still be interesting to know if light through green glass really changes the taste of the beer. Perhaps an enterprising brewer can produce packs with the same beer in several different bottles so that everyone who wants to test the theory for themselves at home can do so.