Cheap way to build up bottle collection for newbies like me!

Spring_Chicken said:

I hate the labels on Kirkland bottles. They are hard to remove even with a soak in really hot water.

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Weird, they fell off in minutes in a hot water/Oxyclean soak for me. Came back after 15 min and the labels were floating. The only bottles that were a problem were Two Brothers, a local craftbrew place. Considering they are also an LHBS I expected them to be easy but they were really really stuck on, and not made of paper. Got halfway through one and said to hell with it.

Thanks everyone for the extra tips, love this forum! And thanks Revvy about the Gordon Biersch info, that's actually pretty interesting to find out about "generic" brand beer.

I'm new to brewing, but since I started I've been keeping my eyes open for Grolsh in any supermarkets I've been in, and they never seem to have it! Does anyone know of any other beers/soda that come in flip-top bottles?

GallonJugs said:

I'm new to brewing, but since I started I've been keeping my eyes open for Grolsh in any supermarkets I've been in, and they never seem to have it! Does anyone know of any other beers/soda that come in flip-top bottles?

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Fisher.

GallonJugs said:

I'm new to brewing, but since I started I've been keeping my eyes open for Grolsh in any supermarkets I've been in, and they never seem to have it! Does anyone know of any other beers/soda that come in flip-top bottles?

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Trader Joe's has two Nero's Imported Italian Ales that come in one-pint Grolsh-style bottles. I know the guy in charge of wine and beer at my local TJ's, and when he does beer and wine tasting on the weekends he saves me the bottles.

Another plus is that they are the dual-cap style that can use either a standard crown cap or the swing top.

As I recall the beer is about $2.49 each, which is about the case price for the empties from a LHBS.

jimmayhugh said:

Trader Joe's has two Nero's Imported Italian Ales that come in one-pint Grolsh-style bottles. I know the guy in charge of wine and beer at my local TJ's, and when he does beer and wine tasting on the weekends he saves me the bottles.

Another plus is that they are the dual-cap style that can use either a standard crown cap or the swing top.

As I recall the beer is about $2.49 each, which is about the case price for the empties from a LHBS.

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ohhh that would be perfect. They didn't have any swing tops of any kind in the TJ's nearest to me, but I might try a few others if I'm passing them. Thanks for the tip!

rifraf said:

I'd been sort of force drinking lots of beer to get empties

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Love the images this conjures.

jimmayhugh said:

Trader Joe's has two Nero's Imported Italian Ales that come in one-pint Grolsh-style bottles. I know the guy in charge of wine and beer at my local TJ's, and when he does beer and wine tasting on the weekends he saves me the bottles.

Another plus is that they are the dual-cap style that can use either a standard crown cap or the swing top.

As I recall the beer is about $2.49 each, which is about the case price for the empties from a LHBS.

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I haven't hit TJ's for beer in awhile, how is it?

175 Market Street Westlake, Ohio. tel:440-250-1592

A few others in the surrounding areas if you go to the store locator on the Trader Joe's website.

unionrdr said:

People keep telling me there's a Trader Joe's near me. But never tell me where,& I can't find it. Must be on the Cleveland side of Westlake or something. Can't find it in our local phone book or on line. Been wanting to check it out.

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kscarrington said:

175 Market Street Westlake, Ohio. tel:440-250-1592

A few others in the surrounding areas if you go to the store locator on the Trader Joe's website.

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Boy is my face red. I guess my search engines suck or something. Thanks for the info. I also found another lil wine & beer shop in the new plaza across from Super Walmart. It's across from where you pull out of walmart on the north side,across the lil side street separating them. The wine store,somethin like that. They have a good selection of craft beers from around the world. Even had Cooper's sparkling ale. And build your own 6 pack too. Beer in cooler & on the shelf. Not very brightly lit,either.

Just for the heck of it I hit up a local establishment here to see what they have. They gave me two 6.5 gal food grade pails that they wanted to get rid of (new), and 12 flip top bottles. Free. I spotted the pails in the same closet as the empties and they just said they had them for a catering event and never used em. Take em. Put an add in craigslist, ask some pubs, and drink your face off

HopHeadGrady said:

Just for the heck of it I hit up a local establishment here to see what they have. They gave me two 6.5 gal food grade pails that they wanted to get rid of (new), and 12 flip top bottles. Free. I spotted the pails in the same closet as the empties and they just said they had them for a catering event and never used em. Take em. Put an add in craigslist, ask some pubs, and drink your face off

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was this a bar, or a restaurant? Great find!

I bought two cases of new bottles for about 12 bucks each to start out and collected bottles as I consumed them from that point on.

Deschutes has awesome bottles, btw!

Revvy said:

I haven't hit TJ's for beer in awhile, how is it?

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Meh, the beers were nothing special, but the bottles were a find.