Coca cola + glass bottle to return?

I am sorry if this has been posted before but I do not recall having seen it. Maybe we should tell Coca Cola how much we love the new bottle (even though we may not be in one of the markets...)

Quote

Coke fans, it's back to the real thing -- in glass

January 26, 2006

BY SHAMUS TOOMEY Staff Reporter

If you think Coca-Cola in a glass bottle is really "The Real Thing," here's some good news.

The Atlanta-based beverage giant has rolled out new, 11.8-ounce glass bottles with a resealable top, a test product being offered in only three cities -- Chicago, Phoenix and Atlanta.

The Coke, Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Zero bottles are marketed for individual sale -- about $1 -- in convenience stores. If they're a hit over the next few months, Coke could introduce them nationally, a spokesman said.

So, why glass?

"There are some folks for whom glass is the ultimate way to consume a Coca-Cola," said spokesman Scott Williamson. "And this combines [glass with] the convenience of resealability that is also a major plus for a lot of consumers."

Ads for the new bottles -- "Grab it in glass" -- have already begun to appear in Chicago, but the product itself is a tough find. Coke fans have even been lamenting the difficulty of finding the new bottles on at least one online message board. [Gas stations in Skokie and Lincolnwood have some in stock].

Twist-top cap

It's a sort of back-to-the-basics move for Coke, which was invented as a fountain beverage in 1886 and first bottled in 1894. Coke's iconic contour glass bottle was patented in 1916, but the company veered away from glass over the years in favor of cans and plastic bottles in the United States.

Coke still offers a limited number of 8-ounce Coke, Diet Coke and Sprite glass bottles with the metal crown tops. There's also a U.S. market for bootleg, Mexican-made Coke in glass bottles, a formula that uses cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup.

Now, by putting a white plastic twist-top on the glass bottle, Coke is trying to combine nostalgia with portability. Some fans insist Coke tastes better out of glass, a claim the company acknowledges but does not support.

"The short answer is, that's a determination or distinction that a lot of consumers will insist on, but not one we've been able to empirically prove," Williamson said.

The taste battle

Sonbinh Nguyen, an associate chemistry professor at Northwestern University, said a glass bottle, because of its thickness, can retain its cold temperature longer, and noted plastics can allow oxygen to penetrate, potentially affecting what's inside.

But even the Glass Packaging Institute, the trade association for glass manufacturers, isn't ready to declare victory in the taste battle. "There's a perception that it does taste better than in a plastic bottle," spokesman Joe Cattaneo said. "I can't give you the scientific information."

At the Shell gas station at Touhy and Cicero in Lincolnwood, the glass bottles are selling about as well as the plastic, says clerk Marlon Hanna, who has tried the new bottles.

"It tastes different in glass," he said. "I don't know why. Maybe it's just me."

I saw the ads all over Atanta a few weeks ago while visting.
Jeff

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