Heineken NV's French subsidiary is expanding its range of beers bottled in PET after the success of its first one-way, half-liter plastic bottle. Brasseries Heineken, began test-marketing its 33 Export-brand lager beer in PET a year ago.
Now the Paris-based brewer has announced plans to launch a 1-liter bottle for the same beer at the end of March.
In addition, Brasseries Heineken intends to introduce a half-liter PET bottle for its Panach "light cocktail beer," a half-beer, half-lemonade drink. That package will be available at the end of March, and will be sold in four-bottle packs.
Continental PET Technologies Inc. of Florence, Ky., which supplied the 33 Export bottles last year, also is furnishing the new bottles.
The company ships five-layer injection molded preforms from the United States to its PET Technologies BV unit in Etten-Leur, the Netherlands.
PET Technologies blow molds the bottles, according to Stephen Carter, the units' European sales manager based at Chalgrove, England.
Carter said Continental PET, a unit of Owens-Illinois Inc. of Toledo, Ohio, is talking with other European brewers about using the multilayer bottles.
"We have the best pack on the market, especially as far as barrier performance is concerned," he said. "We have experience globally with Heineken and Miller in the United States."
Miller Brewing Co. is using Continental PET's bottles, and has exported some into Scotland, Carter said.
Meanwhile, Brasseries Kronenbourg, a Heineken competitor, announced that it plans to launch one of its own beers in PET. Brasseries Kronenbourg is a unit of Groupe Danone of Paris.
