Grolsch bottles... dated 1943??

I purchased a box lot at an auction the other week; inside the box was 2 Grolsch bottles in a cardboard carrier (made for 2 bottles). I immediatly was ready to dump the contents, wash and re-use the bottles. Upon closer inspection; the lables are very old and brittle, the rubber stopper is aged but secure, I never saw the style of box. The lable near the neck of the bottle is dated 1943 - could these bottles be from 1943 or are all Grolsch bottled 1943? Never mind the comments 'go ahead and taste it' - I thought a lot about it; I have reason to believe these were stored in less than ideal conditions over the years... Do full bottles, sealed, etc have any real value? The white tops appear to be porcilin (sp?) and they are larger than the current bottles on the market. If anyone has any insight, I would appreciate it - thanks. I am curious before I really simply re-use the glass....

I have a bunch of the new bottles and they don't have '1943' anywhere on them....that's all I know

I hope someone answers this as I am curious now. I did some searching and could find no relevance to the date for Grolsch.

The older ones were indeed made of porcelain. I have no idea when the switch was made 80's/90's perhaps. The reason I heard was because of some people using the tops for meth/heroin. It was more than likely a cost reason rather than drugs.

I heard a reason for the switch to plastic was glass crushers for the recycling movement. The ceramic tops destroyed the glass shredding teeth. I could be wrong though.

We NEED PICS!

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On the neck, under the Grolsch it read 1943...

Maybe I'm totally dense here - were these brewed in the US or Europe?

This is just speculation, but its hard to believe these came from Holland in 1943. They were under occupation and I doubt there was much trade with the west. In fact, I doubt any beer was coming west from Europe at that time. England needed all they could to keep the soldiers happy!

It might answer a lot of questions if you can identify where these were supposed to have been brewed. Maybe operations moved to the US during the war?

Cardboard looks too good to be 1943. I tried finding any significant dates for grolsch and 1943.

jasonsbeer said:

Maybe I'm totally dense here - were these brewed in the US or Europe?

This is just speculation, but its hard to believe these came from Holland in 1943. They were under occupation and I doubt there was much trade with the west. In fact, I doubt any beer was coming west from Europe at that time. England needed all they could to keep the soldiers happy!

It might answer a lot of questions if you can identify where these were supposed to have been brewed. Maybe operations moved to the US during the war?

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I agrree; the history does not add up. Maybe it was a special edition or something. But there are no dates that would suggest 'best used by' or 'brewed on' labeled anywhere. Grant it - I don't think I found a gold mine for a dollar. Maybe there was a special addition of 'lost barrels from the 40's' bottled in the 60's or 70's?

Bentpirate said:

I agrree; the history does not add up. Maybe it was a special edition or something. But there are no dates that would suggest 'best used by' or 'brewed on' labeled anywhere. Grant it - I don't think I found a gold mine for a dollar. Maybe there was a special addition of 'lost barrels from the 40's' bottled in the 60's or 70's?

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Yeah, maybe its a batch number or something???

it looks similar to the early 80's stuff....

I opened the cardboard flap - it was printed in 1981... so it's fairly new. But still, why the 1943 on the neck and are they worth anything as is or should I simply use the bottles for my own brew?

Bentpirate said:

I opened the cardboard flap - it was printed in 1981... so it's fairly new. But still, why the 1943 on the neck and are they worth anything as is or should I simply use the bottles for my own brew?

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30 year old beer? I would either keep it, drink it but not dump it for just a couple easily obtainable bottles by buying some Grolsch today. How often do you come across 30 year old beer? Make a neat conversation piece for a bar.

jgln said:

30 year old beer? I would either keep it, drink it but not dump it for just a couple easily obtainable bottles by buying some Grolsch today. How often do you come across 30 year old beer? Make a neat conversation piece for a bar.

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That is exactly what I decided to do. I can always get more bottles. I do appreciate everyone's input!

If they were mine I would put them on the ratebeer or BA trading forum and see what someone offers you. Someone would probably trade you something good just to see how bad they are. I would be curious to see what what they taste like.

Beer is made to be drunk.