What's with the plastic "travel bottles"?

[Postal Grunt]

While passing through a local liquor store on my way to the beer coolers, lawns do have to be mowed at this time of year, I noticed WT101 and Beam white in plastic travel bottles. I'm not a hardcore traditionalist as things bourbon go but I found these bottles to be rather appalling.  Is this a new trend, perhaps to reduce shipping costs, or have they been there a while but below my radar screen?

[flahute]

They've been around for a long time.

[Flyfish]

I think they are called "travel bottles" because they are less prone to breakage than glass when packed in luggage. Also safer when taken to the patio or pool. Some SBers have esthetic or health concerns with plastic. Not sure about the statistics but the health risk of the contents is probably far higher than the risks of the package. But I have completed an exhausting analysis and concluded it is a risk I am willing to take.

[barrelslime]

A lot of outdoor public venue's, concerts, fairs, picnic areas dont allow glass bottles. 

[benpearson]

The bottling lines that put things in plastic bottles can run much faster than the ones that use glass bottles. 

I'm a bit of a traditionalist as well. I want a glass bottle with a cork. 

I know that some people prefer a screw cap because it is better for long term storage, and I will re-bottle a whiskey for personal long term storage using a screw cap. 

The key factor here is speed. 50ml's are very difficult for producers to bottle and woodford recently started using plastic for their 50ml's 

I'm sure that with 750ml's it is also an issue of speed, but these aren't products meant to be stored for decades. 

My view is that in general, bourbon is meant to be consumed. 

The one nice thing about a plastic bottle of any size is that it is more acceptable in atypical locations...concerts, pools, beaches, etc. 

[GrPeMi]

52 minutes ago, benpearson said:

The one nice thing about a plastic bottle of any size is that it is more acceptable in atypical locations...concerts, pools, beaches, etc. 

Pretty sure the OP isn't talking about 50mL bottles, but rather the 1L and 1.75L plastic bottles. I'm pretty sure pulling out a handle of Beam white at a concert, pool, or beach would get you some strange looks.

 

I have what might be an un-popular opinion, and I'll preface it first by saying I'm not a tee-totaler or a Prohibitionist. I like me a good cocktail as much as the next guy. But it's related to Flyfish's comment about lighter weight and less prone to breakage in luggage:

 

Functional alcoholics need to make sure they have ready access to their booze. This is typically (IMO) why they have bottles stashed in multiple places in the house. When traveling, they need to make sure that a drink will be available to them once they reach their destination, especially when traveling to a control state or a location where alcohol sales might be restricted (late evening, Sunday, holiday). So they fly with a bottle of their choice to make sure they have it when they need (want) it.

 

Not me personally, but don't ask me how I know this.

 

I'm not saying the producers are encouraging or cultivating this, but they are enabling it. If it was just about the cost of transportation, everything would be bottled in plastic. The volumes shipping in glass are probably far higher than those shipping in plastic.

 

Sorry to be a downer....

[flahute]

8 hours ago, GrPeMi said:

 

I'm not saying the producers are encouraging or cultivating this, but they are enabling it.

By that logic, aren't all producers enabling alcoholism by merely bringing it to market?

[amg]

10 hours ago, benpearson said:

The bottling lines that put things in plastic bottles can run much faster than the ones that use glass bottles. 

I'm a bit of a traditionalist as well. I want a glass bottle with a cork. 

I know that some people prefer a screw cap because it is better for long term storage, and I will re-bottle a whiskey for personal long term storage using a screw cap. 

The key factor here is speed. 50ml's are very difficult for producers to bottle and woodford recently started using plastic for their 50ml's 

I'm sure that with 750ml's it is also an issue of speed, but these aren't products meant to be stored for decades. 

My view is that in general, bourbon is meant to be consumed. 

The one nice thing about a plastic bottle of any size is that it is more acceptable in atypical locations...concerts, pools, beaches, etc. 

Living in Indianapolis for pretty much my whole life, I always assumed that those existed solely so that one can take them to the track.

[Canarse]

I always looked at the plastic bottles as tailgate specials.  

 

As far as the functional alcoholic thoughts go, ever notice cheap vodka always seems to come in plastic 1.75s?  He has a point.

[Grain Belt]

I keep a few empty plastic "traveler" 750's on hand to tpour. a bourbon or rye into when I want to go to a hotel or a buddy's or a boat or anyplace else that a bump might be good.  The last time it was for a little OGD100 for some poolside sipping.  

[Harry in WashDC]

On 4/28/2016 at 7:07 PM, Grain Belt said:

I keep a few empty plastic "traveler" 750's on hand to tpour. a bourbon or rye into when I want to go to a hotel or a buddy's or a boat or anyplace else that a bump might be good.  The last time it was for a little OGD100 for some poolside sipping.  

GB, I like them for the same reason.  When cabinet space gets tight OR a handle gets less than half full OR when someone says they are throwing a BYOB, the plastics are wonderful to have around.  I've also started flavoring some ersatz gins (i.e., putting herbs and spices in 100 proof vodka and letting it sit then straining per Jeff Morgenthaler's 2007 article (linked below unless I violated a rule - sorry mods)) and the 750 travel containers are the right size.

 

http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2007/how-to-make-your-own-gin-without-a-still/

[Flyfish]

19 hours ago, Harry in WashDC said:

...and the 750 travel containers are the right size.

 

http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2007/how-to-make-your-own-gin-without-a-still/

The thread about flask problems reminded me that a 375 traveler makes a pretty good flask that won't break and it never requires any vivisection or whatever they call it.

[Harry in WashDC]

1 hour ago, Flyfish said:

The thread about flask problems reminded me that a 375 traveler makes a pretty good flask that won't break and it never requires any vivisection or whatever they call it.

Good old JD releases 375s and (based on one in my underwear drawer) a 200ml.  Whenever I see them, I buy a couple.  In spite of the JD trademark trappings on them (JD shoulders, embossing,  and similar markings), they will hold non-JD whiskey and have screw tops.  All mine are empty and have been for years, but you never know when you'll need one, so . . .

[flahute]

Were you a Boy Scout Harry? You are always prepared.

[GeeTen]

Besides the travel aspects of plastic, shipping and handling of any types of bottles is easier (and cheaper?) with the lighter cases of beverages, too!  Might be an economic reason for the change to plastic.  And people who work in liquor stores and are "throwing product" every working day really appreciate the difference.  JMHO . . . . . . . . .  

[TheNovaMan]

On 4/28/2016 at 7:07 PM, Grain Belt said:

I keep a few empty plastic "traveler" 750's on hand to pour a bourbon or rye into when I want to go to a hotel or a buddy's or a boat or anyplace else that a bump might be good.  The last time it was for a little OGD100 for some poolside sipping.

 

Those are pretty much the same reasons I keep one or two travelers on hand.

[squire]

Some years ago my companion dropped a bottle of vodka which shattered on the kitchen tile floor.  Even after extensive clean up one of the precious furry children cut her tiny paw on a glass shard which had gone unnoticed.  So I decreed that henceforth vodka for our house would only be purchased in plastic containers because, dammit, I'm an humanitarian.   Cheaper that way as well . . . I'm also a pragmatist.

[Harry in WashDC]

Best excuse for keeping vodka in the house - at least it comes in plastic.