Have you ever sipped an ice cold beer and stopped to wonder why they often come in green or brown bottles?
If you’ve been mildly baffled by it but too lazy to Google the reason, we’ve got your back. The answer is: to keep it fresh.
When bottled beer first became a thing in the 19th century, beer was stored in clear glass bottles. However when the sun shone on these bottles, the beer would begin to smell bad.
This was because the glass enabled UV rays to penetrate the beer, affect the hops and change the flavour, according to Business Insider.
So clear beer bottles became brown, in a bid to block out the sun’s rays and keep the flavour tasting great.
Shortly after WWII, when there was a shortage of brown glass, green beer bottles became increasingly popular too.
Nowadays, brewers are able to preserve the taste of beer by applying UV protected coats to glass.
While we’re on the subject of beer facts, did you know that the oldest known recipe for beer is over 4,000 years old? That’s according to a stone tablet found in the The British Museum which dates back to 3100-3000 BC and shows the allocation of beer.
Additionally, beer used to be brewed predominantly by women in ancient Egypt. But as the economy transitioned from agriculture-based to industry-based, beer became commercial, brewed and sold mainly by men.
Correction: We originally stated that beer bottles are mostly green or brown and rarely clear. We have since rectified this as brewers are now able to add UV protection to glass to prevent beer from smelling ‘skunky’.