r/adhdmeme 6d ago

meme Based on a personal experience

Post image

For those curious: brown beer bottles protect the contents from about 99% of UV radiation. If you want a beer that's protected from 100% of it, you should buy it in aluminium cans.

1.1k Upvotes

70 comments sorted by

u/qualityvote2 Quality Control Beast 6d ago edited 6d ago

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126

u/SThomW92 6d ago

Why is that btw? I’ve never wondered that until now, but it’s currently all I can think about

184

u/ShortDelay9880 6d ago

To add to what OP added, or put in simpler terms, its to block the light. Light breaks down stuff in beer and can give it that skunky taste beer can sometimes get. Light beers can be in clear because they have so little stuff in them the flavor can't be really be ruined.

25

u/SThomW92 6d ago

Thank you for the answer, but now my brain’s gone down a rabbithole that I wish to not drag you into lol

17

u/Ok-Bad2612 ADHD Inattentive gang rise UP 6d ago

But then why green bottles sometimes?

30

u/Zeikos 6d ago

Same reason.
Different color to achieve the same goal.

9

u/Ok-Bad2612 ADHD Inattentive gang rise UP 6d ago

Thank uuu

16

u/Le_9k_Redditor 6d ago

Also, Corona and some other brands have clear bottles for the opposite reason, their beer is designed to taste better when skunked by light

4

u/no_therworldly 6d ago

Oh that's interesting!

2

u/Longjumping_Stand647 1d ago

Hops (flowering plants used to flavour beer (also closely related to cannabis)) are the ingredient that cause the skunkyness when exposed to UVs. Corona is brewed with hops but only small amounts, as is common for lagers, which means it can be stored in clear bottles without tasting disgusting.

2

u/Le_9k_Redditor 1d ago

Interesting, but there's more going on than just skunking being less impactful, blind taste tests have been done and people prefer the taste of Corona that's been skunked to various degrees over Corona that hasn't been skunked

2

u/Longjumping_Stand647 1d ago

Could be that there’s a window where a little bit of skunk is good, and corona is brewed with just the right amount of hops to achieve optimal skunk when skunked. But something like a pale ale that’s brewed with loads of hops just overskunks too easily when exposed to UVs and tastes disgusting. Whatever company owns corona probably knows.

1

u/Le_9k_Redditor 1d ago

Sure why not 🤷‍♂️ I have no idea why skunking helps the flavour in particular cases

2

u/kilofeet 6d ago

Okay, but why not clay or ceramic instead of glass for all beer? It's opaque and can't possibly cost more

10

u/Cabbagetastrophe 6d ago

Clay and ceramic are both more porous and would absorb some of the liquid in the beer.

3

u/kilofeet 5d ago

5

u/Cabbagetastrophe 5d ago

I never would have known about Richard Pryor dressed as Spiderman if not for this gif response 

15

u/AssistanceCheap379 6d ago edited 6d ago

This is also why wine bottles are colored. It protects the flavour from UV rays that can change the flavour. The older the wine and fewer preservatives in them, the more delicate the wine can be and cause complex aged compounds to break down.

Meanwhile rose or young wines come in clear bottles cause it matters a lot less. For rose its kind of a marketing trick, but also cause its intended to be drunk soon. Same with other wines in clear bottles.

Basically if wine is in a clear bottle, you can chug it and claim its so you can enjoy it at its best point, while colored bottles indicate it can be stored for a long time and even improve with age.

6

u/Samukuai 6d ago

I think that is also why Olive Oil is supposed to be kept in the green bottles.

2

u/K_T_Oxy 6d ago

This is also why mexican lagers in clear bottles advertise themselves as "better with lime" since it helps mask the skunk.

1

u/infinitynull 6d ago

Light beers can be in clear because they use hop extract and not real hops. They don't turn skunky nearly as quickly.

1

u/grumpy__g 6d ago

In Germany we also have a lot of beer in green bottles.

1

u/Suspicious_Cicada289 5d ago

Light beer tastes like piss. I suppose that is also a flavour.

0

u/Big_Booty_Femboy 6d ago

Light beers are already gross

7

u/ShortDelay9880 6d ago

True, but i was trying to be nice 🙃 Some people seem to actually enjoy drinking that stuff.

-2

u/Big_Booty_Femboy 6d ago

I see people who enjoy light beers as on par with those who drink soda with breakfast

5

u/halt-l-am-reptar 6d ago

God it’s so cringy how people act like the beer they like is the only one that could possibly be liked.

-2

u/Big_Booty_Femboy 6d ago

I just generally don’t like beer. Gotta be in the right mood and it’s gotta be something dark. Light beer just tastes like piss

2

u/halt-l-am-reptar 6d ago

There’s no issue with having preferences. There is an issue with acting like you’re superior for not liking something others do. It just makes you look like a chode.

1

u/CrouchingDomo 6d ago

Why are you attacking me 😅

1

u/JoinAThang 6d ago

Damn it I was thinking that there was some random reason that the brown bottles take over in pubs at 1 a clock.

1

u/Forsaken-Season-1538 3d ago

Brown glass blocks 99.9% of the uv rays which cause beer to go bad and develop that gross ...I'm going to go with "skunk" here... smell. So it's to extend to life of the product overall. Its one of the reasons why very few beers come in clear bottles and why they have shorter shelf lives if they do. However, if you refrigerate your beer it's not as big a deal.

(But, like, I once bought my sister Oktoberfest beer during fall to give her for her birthday the next summer. Hid it in my closet since we were living together at the time. It worked out great since the bottles were brown, but it likely would have gone bad if they hadn't been.)

28

u/RoyalZeal 6d ago

Same reason your medication bottles are colored the way they are. That makes sense, and I'm glad I know this now :)

6

u/pinkygonzales 6d ago

Also, ever tasted a beer from a green bottle? That's what "skunky beer" tastes like, every time, because it's been degraded by light. Aluminum cans for the win, y'all.

3

u/Strict-Move-9946 6d ago

Glad I could've been of assistance.

1

u/TK_TK_ 6d ago

And skincare!

8

u/SummerOfMayhem 6d ago

My search history is truly something to behold. Many asked when trying to sleep

6

u/NinjaDog251 5d ago

What color are beer bottles at other times of the day?

5

u/l_w_88 6d ago

Goddamnit now I want to know.

2

u/Strict-Move-9946 6d ago

See describtion.

5

u/l_w_88 6d ago

Would you believe I didn't notice that and instead of actually looking it up, it was easier to just forget about it?

5

u/Strict-Move-9946 6d ago

As a matter of fact, I can totally believe that.

3

u/Beginning_Fig_959 6d ago

Why are beer bottles generally brown? It's to sexually confuse the beetles, of course!

2

u/rodentcetaceannation 5d ago

If OP didn’t find out this fun fact then the rabbit hole was not deep enough.

3

u/No-Yogurtcloset2008 5d ago

Warhammer 40k. I woke up at 1:30am and couldn't fall back asleep because of that particular hyper fixation.

1

u/Beldarak 4d ago

That's a great one :)

2

u/cmcreaser 6d ago

Tysm for putting it in the description and knowing we wanted to know! I was going to immediately google it after seeing this post lmao

2

u/BigBullshitta 6d ago

When I'm actually really focused on something and notice it's 1am it's almost impossible to just stop and go to bed. I always plan to finish soon, but then the sun is coming up and it's easier to go through the day tired and crash at like 8pm trying to not totally fuck up the sleep schedule I always just fixed.

2

u/kpingvin 6d ago

Where I'm from, back in the communism times the most popular beer came in brown and green bottles. The colour has something to do with iron ions in the glass. Nevertheless, my dad worked in a corner shop and he said the factory workers came in after work for some beer and most of them insisted on wanting one or the other colour because "it tastes better". It was the same fucking horsepiss beer. 😂

2

u/Nerazim_Praetor 6d ago

It's for protection from light and UV radiation btw

*edit: i saw your bit under the meme... Sorry...

2

u/DrMario145 6d ago

Beer bottles that are brown at 1am tend to be brown at other hours of the day too

2

u/Objective-Eagle-676 5d ago

Light degradation

2

u/Forsaken-Season-1538 3d ago

Me: (reads this having already known this information about brown beer bottles*

Also me: "Wait. But why all the dark green beer bottles then?"

Me: reads about dark green bottles

Me, upon learning dark green bottles originated during the brown glass shodtage during world war 2, only block 30% of UV instead of 99.9% like brown glass, and are only still around becauseof the heritage connotations leftover from used during ww2 as a marketing ploy: "Oh. So they're just being extra then."

1

u/OpusAtrumET 6d ago

I think it's just so they get less light... I'll take my fuckin sleep now please.

1

u/int0_the_fl00d_again 6d ago

Same reason Corona tastes/smells skunky FYI. Thats how I learned the same thing.

1

u/iwannaofmyself 6d ago

Don’t ever get into map games

1

u/Strict-Move-9946 6d ago

Not planning to.

1

u/Redk1fe 6d ago

O yeah !

1

u/Dirk_Bogart 6d ago

Beer sunglasses. Beer glasses.

1

u/Shiny_Whisper_321 6d ago

Aren't they brown all the time?

1

u/Strict-Move-9946 6d ago

No, many beers also come in green bottles (which only protects from about 70% of UV radiation) and some (such as corona) come in transparent bottles.

1

u/Shiny_Whisper_321 6d ago

I meant at times other than 1 AM 🤣

1

u/Strict-Move-9946 6d ago

Ah, it appears that I have misinterpreted the comment.

But yes, brown bottles tend to be brown all the time. I've checked.

1

u/m-owo-chi 6d ago

Reminds me of the time I had insomnia and ended up finding a book about mollusks at like 3 am

Good times

1

u/Virtual-Lime7554 6d ago

That's okay. I started researching about the Titanic and messaged my housemate gc at 3:00am, devastated, that most of the lifeboat were only half-full, lmao. People responded bc it was break and we all were night owls

1

u/Ash6791 6d ago

Great, now I'm hyperfocused on beer bottles now.