Vetropack has developed a largely transparent glass bottle with integrated ultraviolet protection for Brasserie Pietra in Furiani, Corsica. Featured in ThePackHub’s Innovation Zone, the development addresses a familiar challenge for beer packaging: protecting the contents from light while retaining the visual qualities of clear glass.
Brown glass is commonly used for beer because of the protection it provides against light exposure, which can affect beer quality and aroma. For Brasserie Pietra, Vetropack has taken a different approach, using a feeder colouring process to introduce UV-protective frits into otherwise colourless glass.
The result is a bottle that remains almost transparent, with a slight green tint that becomes more noticeable in thicker sections of the glass, including the base.
Introducing UV Protection During Glass Forming
Central to the development is the use of pre-vitrified particles, or frits, which are added to the glass in the feeder section before forming rather than being introduced into the main melting tank.
This production method enables the protective properties and colour of the glass to be adjusted without colouring the contents of the main furnace. It also allows the process to accommodate smaller production runs, providing greater flexibility where a specific glass appearance or functional property is required.
For Brasserie Pietra, the approach provides a way to combine a predominantly clear bottle with UV protection, rather than relying on the darker glass conventionally associated with light-sensitive beverages.
The distinction is important from a packaging design perspective. Clear glass can increase visibility of the product itself, but for beer this has to be balanced against the need to manage exposure to ultraviolet light. Vetropack’s approach integrates that protective function into the glass while maintaining a largely transparent appearance.
Bottle Geometry Supports Product Visibility and Handling
The glass formulation is only one element of the project. Vetropack has also developed custom bottle geometry intended to support both product visibility and handling.
The finished bottle’s slight green tint is particularly apparent where the glass is thicker, while its main body allows the golden colour of the beer to remain visible. The format therefore combines the appearance of a clear bottle with the functional role provided by the UV-protective frits.
The bottle also incorporates an oval labelling area. While this contributes to the pack’s distinctive appearance, the geometry required changes to the filling and inspection process to ensure that the label can be positioned consistently.
Camera-Based Orientation for Oval Labelling
Applying an oval label accurately to a shaped bottle introduces an additional production consideration. Camera-based systems are used to identify defined orientation points on the bottle surface, enabling the bottle to be positioned correctly for consistent label placement during production.
This illustrates how changes to primary packaging geometry can extend beyond the container itself. A distinctive bottle shape or labelling area may also require adaptations elsewhere on the packaging line, particularly where accurate orientation is necessary.
In Brasserie Pietra’s case, the bottle brings together glass composition, container geometry and production-line handling in a single development. Rather than simply changing the colour of an established beer bottle, the project combines UV protection with a largely transparent appearance and a labelling system adapted to the custom format.
The development demonstrates one route for balancing product visibility with the light-protection requirements of beer packaging, while using feeder colouring to provide flexibility in how the glass is produced.
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