Bottles in Toronto

Anyone in and around the Toronto area know where to get bottles cheaply?

Cheers

I live in Toronto, what sort of bottle were you looking for?

Basically anything that I can cap with a bad capper. I just haven't built up a collection yet and I'm trying to avoid buying bottles from a homebrew store as there pricey.

I'm not picky on size. Let me know if you have any going spare happy to give you something for them.

Cheers

Should read hand capper not bad capper

What are the prices you've seen so far? I'm looking for some more too but I just use that as an excuse to buy more craft beer!

Of course, the normal approach is to buy them full of beer and then dispose of the contents.

What do you pay for bottles in Toronto, if you buy them new? Here in Nova Scotia, the brown 650ml bottles are about 90 cents.

johnnyspade said:

What do you pay for bottles in Toronto, if you buy them new? Here in Nova Scotia, the brown 650ml bottles are about 90 cents.

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WOW Lucky you, here in BC they charge $2- 3.50 a piece!!!

In Ontario, can't you buy bottles from any Beer Store? I bought bottles from one in Ottawa one time. I knew a guy behind the counter, but I didn't think he was doing me a favour. I just thought it was an everyday thing.

I buy Grolsch bottles from the bottle return depot here in Sask for .50/bottle. Of course they are dirty (some unusably dirty) and I have to clean them (which is pretty gross, but you only have to do it once).

Beer604 said:

WOW Lucky you, here in BC they charge $2- 3.50 a piece!!!

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Tack another dollar on that high number and that's what we pay for a full one here.

if you are heading down to buffalo for some christmas shopping "let's do wine" on transit road has some nittany ale bottles for $7/case. Blue, with a painted paw on them, but cheap. http://www.letsdowine.com/coblbebo.html

Ask bartenders for their empties, often they'll let you have them for free. The catch is: They don't rinse 'em & you'll have a harder time getting them clean. Also you might get some twist-off bottles too, they don't work well with wing cappers. Regards, GF.

Beer604 said:

WOW Lucky you, here in BC they charge $2- 3.50 a piece!!!

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So wait...<gets out calculator>...call it three bucks to make the math easier, $3.00 X 24 bottles in a case = $72 for a case of empties??

Is the Canadian dollar that bad? A case of good craft or micro in the states goes for $35 - $40, or less that $2/bottle. And this is with beer in 'em.

SteveM said:

So wait...<gets out calculator>...call it three bucks to make the math easier, $3.00 X 24 bottles in a case = $72 for a case of empties??

Is the Canadian dollar that bad? A case of good craft or micro in the states goes for $35 - $40, or less that $2/bottle. And this is with beer in 'em.

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The Canadian dollar is about on par with the US these days, but I don't imagine that has much to do with the consumer cost of beer anyway. Perhaps beer is cheaper in the US because of the means of distribution, and maybe how much tax we pay on ours? I'm not sure really.

$3 for an empty bottle sounds criminal. The only reason I can think of for why we pay $1 for the same product is because they make them closer to the east Coast. I pay about $4 for a 650ml bottle of Propeller, which is a beer I like. There has to be a brewery in the West making a similar product for similar money.

SteveM said:

So wait...<gets out calculator>...call it three bucks to make the math easier, $3.00 X 24 bottles in a case = $72 for a case of empties??

Is the Canadian dollar that bad? A case of good craft or micro in the states goes for $35 - $40, or less that $2/bottle. And this is with beer in 'em.

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In my area home brewing is just picking up. I walked into a brew supply store and asked how much for swing top bottles. The guy told me it is $3.50 a piece.
I thanked him for his time, made a swift move to the door and started to buy Grolsch. The 4 pack cost me around $12 here.

Yes, the beer is much cheaper to in the US. It is actually cheaper to brew in Canada then buying it. To brew 5 Gal is around $30 to buy a 24x355 mL crappy Kokanee is $41.79!!!

Well, swing tops are a different issue anyway. I use regular bottles and cap them - it's tedious and if I had any sense, I would get all swing tops, just because I value my time.

johnnyspade said:

What do you pay for bottles in Toronto, if you buy them new? Here in Nova Scotia, the brown 650ml bottles are about 90 cents.

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Hi there Johnnyspade, I'm home visiting folks in Halifax and visiting friends in CB too. I remembered your post and was hoping to pickup some of the EZ cap bottles (swing tops) at the price you mentioned. Where did you buy yours?

I buy all my bottles at the Noble Grape. They have a few locations scattered around the Halifax area. You should be able to find them all here:

http://www.noblegrape.ca/locations.asp

A dozen of those 650ml brown bottles are about a buck a piece but I'm not sure about the swing tops. I have a few dozen brown 500ml swing tops that I bought there a few years ago but I don't recall how much they were. They sell them in one litre as well but I imagine those are expensive.

sometimes you can go to the beer store and buy back some bottles, that's how the wife got me some grolsch bottles. It depends on the person at the counter though.