THE WAR... BOTTLE MAKERS FIGHT BACK

   During the early can era, bottle makers were less than enthusiastic about the prospect of cans eroding their long standing market, and caustic exchanges were common concerning the attributes of bottles versus cans. The "bottle man" would speak of the poor quality and metallic taste of beer in a can, and the "can man" would counter that light was bad for beer, "makes it go skunky". One skeptical brewmaster reportedly convinced himself of the purity of newly developed can linings by ripping them out of three cans, swallowing, and digesting them with no ill effects.

  Pro's and con's abounded in the battle of the bottle versus the can. The standard beer bottle would return to the brewer twenty five times for refilling, the can of course was a one shot, non-returnable container.

  With the cost of beer at a whopping $.10, the can proved to be an expensive proposition for the brewers and caused the move to cans by the industry as a whole to be fairly slow. The high cost was partially off-set by the ease of handling and delivery of cans. The cans weighed less than bottles, and a truck could carry 400 cases of cans compared to only 200 cases of bottles. Distribution range could also be increased from about a 30 mile radius of the brewery with returnable bottles, to as much as 400 miles with cans.

  Always at the center of the controversy was the lining whose sole function was to keep the beverage away from the can. The glass maker would contend that a reliable lining for beer cans had yet to be devised, and can maker would cite proof of the "glass hard" lining within the cans.

  Advertisements of the period reflected the war going on between bottles and cans, and salvo's were fired from both sides as to the merits of their containers.

  Owens-Illinois, the largest bottle maker of the time, fought an early battle in 1935 with an entirely new throw-away bottle design called "stubby". Stubby was well received and by the end of 1935, more brewers were using them than were trying cans.

    In the late 1930's cans were accounting for only about eight percent of the beverage container market, and by 1941 they had captured only a ten percent share of the business.

    The beginning of World War II accomplished a feat that the bottle makers could not... it stopped the production of cans to the domestic market, limiting them to stateside military bases and military units overseas.