Grolsh no more in the UK

[Applesnmore]

I read in one of the newspaper links..
Speaking to The Grocer, a spokesperson said: "After 35 years, Asahi and Molson Coors have agreed to end the joint venture agreements for the Grolsch brand in the UK and Ireland. As a result, Grolsch is no longer available in the UK and Ireland.

There goes my skip diving for swing top bottles

 

[druid1966]

We can still get Grolsh here...but Fischer have disappeared. They are/were my "other" swing top bottle. 650 mls if memory serves. I guess I have to sort out corny kegging.

 

[phildo79]

Grolsch swing tops are ace for bottling. Some peeps swear by a bench capper but surely swing tops are faster and easier. I must have amassed 70 or 80 Grolsch bottles over the years but eventually you reach the end of your tether and buy kegs. It is so much easier.

 

[Clint]

70 or 80.....I must be over doing it with my normal brown bottles...I'm on about 250!

 

[druid1966]

Im around the 250 mark as well...

 

[MickDundee]

70 or 80.....I must be over doing it with my normal brown bottles...I'm on about 250!

Im around the 250 mark as well...

Same. I bought a hundred back in the springtime form someone who was giving up brewing.

 

[Druncan]

I got loads of these from the SIBA beerX last year to try.
Great replacement tops; https://www.erben.co.uk/closures/revo
I use mine for samples.

 

[aamcle]

With for Aldi's swing tops to come in :)

 

[GerritT]

Maybe you can buy crates of empty swingtops at supermarket for the refund price?

 

[GerritT]

But Grolsch will not be missed, I guess. It's average loo water nowadays.

 

[DavidDetroit]

I'm overdoing my supply of Grolsch bottles as well being in the 210-220 range. Happily, they are all perfectly clean (if not already filled). I have around 170-180 filled at the moment. Sounds better than it is since most need another few months to condition.
I've drunk one or two in my life. I do not prefer them. I've bought them and have been given them. Mine are the 500ml though I was just schooled recently and was told they're slightly small now.

 

[GerritT]

I've drunk one or two in my life. I do not prefer them. I've bought them and have been given them. Mine are the 500ml though I was just schooled recently and was told they're slightly small now.

They're still called 'half-liters' (but are .45 to be exact), and are mostly sold because it looks better to drink directly from a swingtop than from a regular 'pijpje'.
I was born and bred in Grolsch-land (it's in my DNA, sort of) but as time goes by (and Grolsch ditched their brown swingtops for green ones) my taste improved in favour of other brews. Grolsch became boring sweetish lager, although they still have some brews in brown bottles (triple and honey bock) and those are better.

 

[An Ankoù]

Grolo

They're still called 'half-liters' (but are .45 to be exact), and are mostly sold because it looks better to drink directly from a swingtop than from a regular 'pijpje'.
I was born and bred in Grolsch-land (it's in my DNA, sort of) but as time goes by (and Grolsch ditched their brown swingtops for green ones) my taste improved in favour of other brews. Grolsch became boring sweetish lager, although they still have some brews in brown bottles (triple and honey bock) and those are better.

Whatever happened to the 1.5 litre swingtops. They were great bottles. I could even drink the contents then. I had a couple recently and either the beer or my taste has changed. As you're in Grolschland, have you ever used Swaen malt? If so, is it much the same as other pilsner and pale malts?

 

[stephen1546]

I managed to get to around 80 Grolsch bottles, it was a case of buying them for £1.50 as opposed to 2 quid for an empty swing top at my local homebrew store. The beer was awful imo. I keep an eye on Gumtree for empty swingtops, bought some recently, a German brand. 5 bucks for 20 empties and a crate.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I went on a trip around the Grolsch factory 30 years ago and I could see then the the swing top was a manufacturing nightmare. They had to slow the line and split it to remove and clean the caps. As an ex factory manager at Coca Cola I would have dumped the swing cap there and then.

 

[Sinktipper]

When we were in France earlier this year I bought a load of Floreffe Tripels and Dubbels and a few Grain d' Orge Triple Secret Des Moines specifically for their swing tops. I wish I'd got more of The Grain D'Orge, which is 75cl and much more of a 'drink' (and a better beer IMHO) than the 330ml Floreffes. You live and learn.

 

[GerritT]

Grolo

Whatever happened to the 1.5 litre swingtops. They were great bottles. I could even drink the contents then. I had a couple recently and either the beer or my taste has changed. As you're in Grolschland, have you ever used Swaen malt? If so, is it much the same as other pilsner and pale malts?

In my inventory atm:
Swaen Ale
Swaen Pale Ale
Swaen Pilsner
Swaen Rye malt
Black Swaen Black
Black Swaen Choco-B

The base malts are as good as Dingemans and Weyermann, and I still have too many factors in my brewing process to notice differences in the base malts. Efficiencywise the same results, so I mostly pick according to style ethnicity: Belgian, German, Dutch. My longterm inventory plans are more British, so I'll phase out Swaen and Dingemans in favour of Fawcett. Same goes for hops.

9 out of 10 times I'd advise to go for the cheaper or more convenient option, not for a particular brand.

(my other malts:
Fawcett Pale Crystal Malt
Fawcett Medium Crystal Malt
Dingemans Wheat
Dingemans Munich
Dingemans CaraMunich Type 2
Dingemans Aromatic Amber)

Yes, I'm a bit of a hoarder.

 

[DavidDetroit]

They're still called 'half-liters' (but are .45 to be exact), and are mostly sold because it looks better to drink directly from a swingtop than from a regular 'pijpje'.

Yeah, funny story: someone from the US beer forum site insisted 16 Grolsch could fit into a milk crate (13" X 13"). I said only 14 could and barely so. He insisted Grolsch were 450 and I insisted they were 500. Problem was, mine are all old so actually they were 500 and his were newer and all 450. I see Grolsch on the shelves here and it had never occurred to me that they switched, like you said, to 450--at a glance I couldn't tell they were 50m (1.7oz) less. Thread turned out longer and was funnier with the misunderstanding.

Now, I clicked on the link to "pijpje" and it was not in English and I did not see a "translate" button.
I found "The Pipe is a neighbourhood of Amsterdam, Netherlands" but I don't think that is what you meant. Probably has to do with bottle size?

 

[DavidDetroit]

The empty Grolsch are sold all the time on the web. I paid $1.50 a piece for 40 recently. The ad said they were the ones with ceramic tops and clean. It was mostly accurate as most were clean and more than half were ceramic. It was just a beer drinker who kept the bottles and she wasn't aware of the difference between plastic and ceramic.
In any case, for me, my inventory is where I like it.
Edit: I wouldn't say no to 1.5 liter swing-tops.

 

[GerritT]

Now, I clicked on the link to "pijpje" and it was not in English and I did not see a "translate" button.
I found "The Pipe is a neighbourhood of Amsterdam, Netherlands" but I don't think that is what you meant. Probably has to do with bottle size?

Yep, bottle size and bottle shape. The BNR bottle is the generic bottle here, with some breweries using alternative bottle (with glass relief, or thinner, or longer necks). The picture top right showed the generic bottles, the one below the deviations.
Sorry for unintentional confusion.