Ale-8-One announces the end of an era with a big change to its green bottle
.JPG "Ale-8-One, the family-owned soft drink company in Winchester, has been in business since 1902 and making Ale-8-One since 1926. The company announced Oct. 10, 2023, that it will retire the iconic longneck green bottles.")
After more than 100 years, Kentucky’s favorite longneck is going away.
Ale-8-One announced that the Winchester company is retiring its green longneck bottles used for the gingery soda know for its high-caffeine kick.
Going forward, all Ale-8-One will be packaged in the shorter-necked bottles already in use.
“This is a sad time for us at Ale-8-One,” the company said in a news release. “These bottles represent a sweet story from a bygone era, but as precious few of our refillable bottles remain in circulation, and the equipment to wash and refill them is no longer supported in the USA, we must say goodbye.”
The family-owned company said that “As one of the last refillable bottlers left in the USA, we have taken great effort to maintain these beloved bottles steeped in nostalgia, in the face of relentless industry pressure to discontinue their production. With great care, effort, innovation, and resourcefulness, we have brought our longnecks into the modern era, extending their production for 30 or more years beyond what the rest of the industry offered.”
Now the days of the longneck have come to an end. (Think about it, when was the last time you saw any other soda packaged like this?)
The iconic bottles will still be available through retailers for a limited time, while supplies last. But once the last ones are gone, they are gone for good.
“We encourage everyone to preserve a bottle or two and show us how you have given our bottle a new life! We would love to share your little piece of history, repurposed,” the company said.
The bottle return program officially ends Dec. 31, after which they can no longer be returned for a deposit.
If you want to get rid of any after that, you can still bring them in for recycling. Ale-8-One is partnering with Miguel’s Pizza in Slade in the Red River Gorge for a “Commonwealth Collective” recycling program to return bottles to glass supplier Owens-Illinois for recycling, according to the company.
