New packaging and beer-tapping technology bring fresh and cold beer to our consumers in a new way that reduces the impact on the environment.
When choosing a beer, you always notice the packaging. So we are looking at way to develop packaging innovations that bring beer to our consumers in a fresher, crisper way and with less impact on the environment.
Resealable aluminum bottles
Working with our producer of aluminum cans in the U.S., we created aluminum bottles with a resealable screw-top. Beer is highly sensitive to light and oxygen, and the resealable screw tops create a better seal that helps keep our beer fresher. The bottles are also 80% lighter than glass bottles and use 40% less material than previous generations of aluminum bottles, making them more environmentally friendly.
Improving the tap experience
The art of traditional beer tapping dates back centuries, but traditional beer-tapping systems are not really suitable for small restaurants around the world today and require an environmentally onerous global network of beer barrel distribution and collection. So, we created a new kind of beer barrel that consists of less material than bottles or cans, and which restaurants can use only once. The new Stella Artois tap installation, which makes use of the latest technology, launched in 2016 in small restaurants in the U.S.
Digital Artwork
You only get one chance to make a first impression – and this is also true for the artwork on our packaging. To offer more personalized options for our consumers, we are pioneering the use of new decorative technologies that can be printed faster and in a more personalized way, with a smaller impact on the environment. For example, imagine the excitement of seeing your team win the championship and then being able to purchase a specially decorated bottle the very next day. This is a longer-term project that comes with technological challenges, but we are making progress, and it is definitely worth the trouble and the wait.