Green Bottles

[BlueBru]

I have been pondering this question this afternoon. 

If brown bottles are generally used for beer to keep out light, then why are most lighter beers, like Lager, in green bottles? Is it something to do with the light in the northern hemisphere, where lagers originated?

[Graculus]

Why are bottles Green?

This was because the clear glass allowed UV rays to penetrate the beer and alter the flavour. The solution was turning bottles brown, a darker colour which would block out the rays.

After World War II, green bottles also became popular due to a shortage of brown glass.

 

I've never really wondered about it enough to look up why, but that's it apparently.

I only use green bottles for lager and cider.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=why+is+lager+bottled+in+green+bottles&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b

[Graculus]

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/green-bottles-why.274353/

I do put all my green bottles in plastic boxes so that no light can get to them by the way.
 

[Otto Von Blotto]

It's just an aesthetics thing. Nothing more. 

[The Captain!!]

I thought that green bottles let in more light too. 

Cans being no light, Brown next best, Green after that then Clear. 

Anecdotal really if you’re storing them in a cupboard or boxes. And drinking them in a reasonable time frame. 

[Beerlust]

In a commercial retail environment beer is often exposed to long periods of bright light & UV light due to being stored on shelves & on open displays. A beer housed in a clear or lighter coloured bottle that allows the light to pass through makes the beer contained in it more susceptible to "skunking" that is an accelerated degradation of the original beer flavour & aroma that can come across as quite unpleasant. Skunking does take a reasonably lengthy time under these conditions before it surfaces in the beer though.

In a home brewing environment as long as you store your beer away from a direct bright light source, it won't matter what colour bottles you have your beer in, they'll be fine. 

Cheers,

Lusty.

[Hairy]

Some of the commercial beers in clear and green bottles use tetra hops. These hops do not contain the compound that creates skunking when exposed to UV light.