InBev switches premium beer brand to PET

Germany, still a bastion of glass-bottled beer, has seen another assault on its tradition, with InBev’s switch to PET for its Beck’s Gold premium beer. Leuven, Belgium-based InBev, formerly Interbrew and now the world’s biggest brewer by volume, has adopted a 10-ounce PET multilayer AmGuard bottle from Amcor PET Packaging Europe/Asia for the beer in the German market.

The Beck’s Gold bottle is molded using preforms from Amcor’s PET barrier development center in Brecht, Belgium. The container uses Amcor PET’s Bind-Ox oxygen-scavenging material, which has allowed other beers to achieve an average shelf life of more than six months, according to Amcor PET.

Beck’s Gold, being sold singly and in six-packs in Germany, is aimed at the special-events sector. An Amcor PET spokesman at the company’s European headquarters in Zaventem reported strong growth for PET containers in a number of East European countries for applications including beer, carbonated soft drinks, dairy products and some fruit juices.