Brewery Adds Aluminum Bottles to Packaging Options

Kansas City-based Boulevard Brewing Co. will feature a new look when its products hit store shelves April 1, as its Unfiltered Wheat Beer will be available in aluminum bottles in addition to glass. Boulevard is the largest specialty brewery in the Midwest, but its distribution is limited to only select markets in 13 states.

Aluminum is a highly sustainable packaging material and can be recycled infinitely.

So far, 2,700 cases of beer have been packaged in aluminum. The company wanted a glass-alternative since some venues ban the more fragile glass bottles, and opted against plastic because it allows oxygen into the container.

“If you’re out mowing the lawn, out at the golf course or at the pool where you can’t have glass, you can now drink Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat in an aluminum bottle,” said John McDonald, Boulevard founder and president. “Being only in the glass bottle, we didn’t have access to venues like golf courses and stadiums.”

One reason Boulevard chose aluminum bottles instead of cans is that they are compatible with glass bottling machines, and the brewery installed a $6 million bottling line in September.

Many alcoholic beverages will opt for glass packaging because it has the ability to better preserve the quality of the liquid inside over time, and these beverages are often aged. For recycling purposes, aluminum and polyethylene terephthalate (PET, or #1 plastic) have a higher value when resold back into the market.