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R. KIMMEL, Clemson Univ., Clemson, 29634

The past two years have witnessed an exponential increase in the attempts to package beer in polyester-based bottles. Beer's oxygen sensitivity poses the most severe problem, while the requirements of pasteurization and re-filling challenge the fundamental thermal properties of PET. Bottle manufacturers in partnership with beer producers are testing a very wide variety of technologies to meet these challenges.

This paper will review the requirements for packaging beer, differentiating one-way from refillable bottles. Based on published data, the various technologies will be reviewed and analyzed, including new polymers, multi-layer bottle-making, coating and oxygen scavengers.

Finally, the history of beer in plastic will be summarized and the likelihood of successful large-scale commercialization will be discussed.