Grolsch bottles

Been reading into using other bottles. It seems the concensus of the group is that Samuel Adams and Grolsch bottles are the best to re-use. I need some input on this. I came across a 4 pack of Grolsch beer bottles, the 750 ml size, for about 9.95. They had plastic tops with a fat red gasket. My first question: Are they worth it? But first, I've never drank that beer, is it at least any good? If I used some of those for botteling, do I have to get new gaskets? Maybe it's cheaper just to go with Sam Adams. At least I know the beer is pretty good, never had a Grolsch before and to me, that seems kind of a steep price for 4 beers, and I'm not even at a bar.

I've never bought a beer JUST for the bottles, but I do factor in how much the bottles are worth to me when deciding whether to buy or not. Those swing-top bottles will cost what, probably a buck a pop, if you buy then in a HBS, maybe a little more. The Sam Adams crown-tops are worth about a quarter (I can get a case for about $10). So to me, it's whether I should buy Sam Adams at a "net" cost of around $5 (it's usually around $6.50 or so, less $1.50 in the value of the bottles) or the Grolsch at a net cost of $6.

Most of the 'grolsch' bottles you can buy these days are actually grolsch stlye, not actual Grolsch brand. In fact, in liquor stores around here I've been seeing more and more Grolsch beer with normal caps, instead of flip tops.

The up side to buying grolsch style flip tops instead of using 'real' Grolsch bottles is that the 'real' bottles are green these days, which comes with its own set of problems. The flip tops you can buy are generally brown.


Flip tops bottles are damn handy if you're bottling. It is easier to cap a grolsch style bottle than it is to cap a regular bottle with any manual bottle capper. The 'red gasket' is reusuable and these days they use silicon most of the time, which seems to hold up better than the rubber gaskets of old. I've got some of my Dad's mead from 1997 that I'm going to have to crack open and change the rubber gaskets on-- they are starting to dry up and disenegrate.

If you shop around online you can find cases of flip top bottles for reasonable prices and they are, in my opinion, great for bottling beer.

However, they can be bad for gifts since the bottle might not make its way back to you in a timely fashion, if ever.

Those I saw yesterday were green with a white cap and red gasket. Good points. The Grolsch bottles I've seen online are anywhere from 2.50 to 4.00 bucks a bottle, then add shipping. I'm all for trying new brews and I've never had one of these before. Thought maybe I could kill two birds with one stone.

I got all my "grolsh style" flip top bottle at our recycle center and on Craig's list. Most I got for $0.25 each and a lot I got free. I love them. I have green, clear and brown. No problems with green and clear since I never leave my bottled beer in the sun or under fluorsent lights. If I want to take some outside, I have a mix of brown ones for that. I have about 300 of these bottles with about 20 of them being the Fisher Ale bottles which are 22 ounce.

As to the gaskets, on new bottles or ones the gasket rubber is not cracked, no problem using them over and over. You can use them for years.

I bottle 12 ounce caps for giveaways so I don't have to worry about getting the bottle back.

Generally the price I'm seeing for the flip tops is ~$20 a dozen, which works out to less than $2 a bottle before shipping. I don't know where in OK you are but a brief search turned up a store in OK that carries them. http://www.highgravitybrew.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=128&idproduct=749

Course, there's no replacement for drinking your beer bottle empty.

I drank a lot of Grolsch to build up my bottle supply...

If you consider the cost of almost $20 for 12 16 oz flip top bottles from my LHBS it was worth it. Three four packs of Grolsch roughly $28-29 dollars minus the cost of new empties and I got each 16 oz's of Grolsch beer for 80 cents.

80 cents is about the price OR LESS of most nice six packs you can buy (if you don't consider keeping the bottles).

for me economically speaking it was a deal and bottling is much quicker and smoother...

these are just some of them.... i have enough to bottle 15 gallons of beer

BrewProject said:

I drank a lot of Grolsch to build up my bottle supply...

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You have my condolences.

kornkob said:

The 'red gasket' is reusuable and these days they use silicon most of the time, which seems to hold up better than the rubber gaskets of old.

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I did not realize the new ones use silicon. Great news. That means even less maintenance...

BrewProject said:

I did not realize the new ones use silicon. Great news. That means even less maintenance...

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At my LHBS, the seals that come on new bottles seem to be made of silicon, but the replacement seals they sell are rubber.

Walker-san said:

You have my condolences.

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It's not the best beer (but not terrible either) and I was definately tired of them once I drank that much, but it's paying off now... :rockin:

I just started and have decided to go "Grolsch" for the majority of my bottles. I will also be using some regular cappers for giveaways like Powler. Part of my decision was based on an opportunity to purchase new, empty Grolsch bottles for about 74¢ each. Another factor was durability. I just feel like they will stand up better to reuse than the regular bottles out there.

As kornkob pointed out, they are a number of flip-top bottles around, not just the green Grolsch bottles. Most of the new ones for sale are made by a company called EZ Cap and are available in amber, blue and clear.

Regarding taste, some people love Grolsch and some people would rather drink skunked horse pee. It's not my favorite beer, but I drink it. So, try it and see what you think. If you like it, I think they are a great way to go. If you do decide to go that route, try to purchase a case at a time. Where I am, a single bottle costs $2.95, but that price drops to $1.58 in case quantity. And don't forget that some other beers use flip-tops as well.

Ol' Grog said:

Been reading into using other bottles. It seems the concensus of the group is that Samuel Adams and Grolsch bottles are the best to re-use. I need some input on this. I came across a 4 pack of Grolsch beer bottles, the 750 ml size, for about 9.95. They had plastic tops with a fat red gasket. My first question: Are they worth it? But first, I've never drank that beer, is it at least any good? If I used some of those for botteling, do I have to get new gaskets? Maybe it's cheaper just to go with Sam Adams. At least I know the beer is pretty good, never had a Grolsch before and to me, that seems kind of a steep price for 4 beers, and I'm not even at a bar.

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Dude, if you are wanting flip top bottles go to Byrons. They have Fischers Amber for about $3, they are bigger bottles, they are brown and the beer tastes tons better. I wish you had come on the board 2 weeks earlier. My wife just made me throw away about 4 cases of bottles since I went over to kegging.

Billybrew, about two weeks earlier, I had made the run up to The Brew Store. Wish I would have known. I'll be up there again this weekend to pick up my Seadoo and buy some sinks for the kitchen remodeling job the wife and I are redoing. Think I'll stop by and pick up another kit, some kind of heffe I'd like to try. Where is Byron's?

It's just east of 235 on 23rd street. Down by the state capital. Let me know if you need better directions, I'll PM you.

Thanks. I'll find it.

It's arguable the best liquor store in the state. They're a distributor so their prices are usually lowest and they've got every beer available in OK as far as I can tell. Only problem is the parking lot can get a little hectic, especially if you stop in after work on Friday like I often do.

if you're an IPA fan, you should try a sixer of Bridgeport IPA. It's the best deal in any liquor store these days as far as I'm concerned. Tastes great and moderately priced.

You really are going to feel like you've died and gone to beer heaven. Lock up the charge card!

Amen to BillyBrew's suggestion - The Fischer Amber bottles are the way to go (the Fischer Pale are green, Amber are brown). I get them for about $3 too, and the beer isn't bad. They look better than the Grolsch, and they're a little bigger (1 liter, I think). If they weren't French, they'd be perfect.

My Grandpa, who flew over Germany in WWII, always likes to say:

"The French are good at two things - cooking, and surrendering."