Breweries of all shapes and sizes are popping up all over the UK and they are causing quite a stir.
The craft beer revolution has been around for the last 10 years or so and doesn't look like it will be stopping any time soon. With a wide variety of consumers looking for new and exciting beers.
We love to help and support small businesses. And new and upcoming breweries are no exception. We currently work with a whole range of new and established breweries to bring them quality glass beer bottles to help store and sell their beer in.
With the recent global pandemic, pubs and restaurants had to close for a long period of time. Meaning beer sales dropped. Breweries had to adapt to survive and the increase of e-commerce sales from breweries increased exponentially.
With the increase of online sales, tap room sales and market sales. Came a need for the perfect packaging. Glass beer bottles are the perfect way to package beer for any sized brewery. From 100 bottles a week to 1000s. You can cap them by hand in your small micro brewery or implement a large bottling line in your full size commercial brewery.
In this weeks blog we look at the advantages of glass bottles over cans for breweries. The rise of home brewers and micro breweries. And we even give some tips on starting your own brewery at the very end!
The Rise Of Craft Beer
The amount of breweries opening in the UK in recent years has been incredible. With almost 1000 new breweries opening in the last 5 years.
In recent years however things have started to slow down. This may be down to the recent pandemic and the closures of pubs and restaurants.
UHY Hacker Young says that the growth in brewery startups has started to slow as the craft beer market becomes increasingly competitive. Growth in the number of breweries, while still impressive at 9.1% in 2021/22*, fell for the third consecutive year, having stood at 17.7% in 2018/19.
The original rise in craft beer and breweries came from consumers who were getting sick of being served the same bland beer over and over again. But with the invention of new breweries with trendy packaging and designs beer has become cool again. With a vast range of interesting flavours. To suit all palettes.
But how do you separate your craft beer from the crowd. Packaging is an important factor. How will you differentiate your brew from another. We recommend using a classic glass bottle for your beer. And below we have outlined a few options for you.
Glass Beer Bottles
What's more satisfying than grabbing your favourite beer out of the fridge on a sunny day, sitting down in the sun and taking a sip?
When you think of having a beer at home this is probably what springs to mind. So why not package your beer in a glass bottle.
We have a large range of beer bottles which are perfect for any style of beer and any size brewery. We are able to cater to any size order and offer great prices along with exceptional customer care.
The most iconic bottles from our range are the 330ml Amber beer bottle or the 500ml Amber beer bottle (also known as the 500ml AMC).
Our 330ml beer bottles are produced in the UK and are of the highest quality. They are the perfect size for smaller sales of beer and are an industry standard. The 500ml AMC bottle is also produced in the UK and has been upgraded to a lightweight version. Helping with it's environmental impact.
The amber (or brown) glass of these bottles is perfect for storing beer. The amber glass reduces the amount of UV light from reaching the beer and keeping it fresher for longer.
Glass Bottles vs Cans
You will probably guess how we stand on this debate. But just to be impartial we have tried to give equal evidence for both of these forms of packaging.
Cans are lighter than glass bottles. So therefore they are more environmentally friendly to transport. The weight of bottles can make it quite hard to transport them. But our manufacturers are working on creating a more environmentally friendly light weight bottle.
Glass and aluminium cans are both recyclable and are recycled at roughly the same rate in the UK. So neither really wins in this debate. However glass is the clear winner when it comes to manufacturing. Manufacturing new aluminium requires around 15x the amount of energy that manufacturing new glass does.
From a filling argument, bottles definitely win as they can be filled and sealed by hand. Making them an option for any sized brewery.
Toast Ale, an environmentally conscious brewery based in London has a fantastic article detailing the pros and cons of both cans and bottles. It's well worth a read and you can find it here.
Micro Breweries
If you are a micro brewery looking for a bottle supplier. Look no further! We are here to help and have a great range of amazing glass beer bottles to suit your needs. We offer them in a variety of different quantities at competitive prices.
We've worked with loads of micro breweries around the UK and have helped them develop and thrive. We believe customer service is the most important part of our business. With quality products coming in a close second.
Our hands on approach and friendly staff have insured we are able to help breweries in the most difficult times. We work hard to make sure deliveries to get to them on time and there are no issues to worry about. So they can focus on doing what they do best. Brewing beer and selling it!
We have developed close relationships with lots of small start up breweries and have watched them grow over the years. We love to see our customer grow and do all we can to support them from ordering their first 100 bottles to ordering 1000's.
Glass beer bottles are perfect for any sized brewery as you don't need expensive machinery to bottle just a few bottles. Bottling and canning lines can be very expensive and take up a lot of valuable space. With small capping and filling equipment you can efficiently fill and cap small batches of bottles without breaking the bank or taking up loads of space.
A few of our customer using our bottles!
Home Brewers
Have you recently jumped in to your home brewing journey? Or are you a seasoned pro? No matter how you brew, the perfect way to store your beer is in a beautiful recyclable beer bottle.
We've written a whole blog about the best bottles for homebrew. So make sure you go and check that out. We've even dabbled in brewing ourselves. You can read all about Paul's attempts in his blog here.
Glass bottles are perfect for any homebrewer. They are easy to fill and cap. And are endlessly recyclable. Once you've finished your delicious creation. Simply clean and sterilise the bottle. Refill and recap. Make sure you use new crown caps though as they aren't as reusable!
Thinking Of Starting Your Own Brewery?
Last year we wrote a helpful blog on starting your own micro brewery. It's a handy little guide and should help you in your first steps on the journey.
No matter how far along you are with your business and brewing journey. Sen5es is here to help. We are always happy to offer advise on the best bottles to use for beer or even the best way to cap your new beers bottles.
We have helped countless businesses over the years and love to help new and old customers. If you'd like to start working with us and think you need help with your new brewery. Get in touch and we will be happy to help in any way we can.
Are you a home brewer? Or are you thinking of starting your own brewery? Leave a comment below to let us know exactly what beer you're making. We'd love to hear all about it!
Don't forget to follow us on social media and tag us in any social media posts. You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook. Show us your home brew set up or your fancy bottling line. We'd love to see!
All the best
The team at Sen5es