• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Workshops
  • Beer Flavor E-book
  • Try This Farmhouse
  • About Beers with Mandy

Beers with Mandy

March 2, 2022

Where do Bottle Corks Come from?

There’s nothing like that moment when the bottle cork pops! The sound makes everyone hold their breath for a second like a tiny moment of shared anticipation and acknowledging you’re about to share something special.

I’m nostalgic for the times when corked 750ml bottles were popular in beer, but when you learn more about where corks come from, it’s not too surprising they’ve dwindled.

How Natural Bottle Corks are Made

The corks that seal beer, wine, and some spirits bottles are made from a natural resource: the bark of a Cork Oak. Rather than typical woody tree bark Cork Oaks grown the spongy substance we recognize as cork.

All trees are a slow growing resource and these special oaks are no different. It takes around 30 years for a Cork Oak’s bark to provide a high quality harvest that can be made into bottle corks! The spongey, porous cork layer must be harvested by hand. Highly trained specialty workers carefully separate the bark from the tree because damaged areas of the tree will cease to produce bark. The delicate cork must also be harvested in one piece in order to provide the maximum number of bottle stoppers

the bark of a cork tree which is harvested to make bottle corks
The cork bark growing on a Cork Oak tree.

The trees must be healthy in order to produce a usable amount of cork. It takes about seven years for the tree to grow enough bark for a harvest. So a cork producing farm is a serious time commitment!

Next time you pop a special beer bottle, take a minute to thank the cork trees and their respective tree farmers that make these tiny natural wonders possible.

The video below shares more about cork harvesting and processing procedures.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mandy Naglich 🍻 (@beerswithmandy)

What About Synthetic Corks?

Synthetic bottle corks are made from plastic compounds, usually polyethylene. Since these corks aren’t made from wood they don’t allow a bottle to “breathe” as it ages. Some experts, especially those in wine, think this makes the wine worse quality. However, synthetic bottle corks are a necessity because natural cork resources are so scarce.

Another alternative to natural corks is the screw top. Screw tops and synthetic corks are a good option for wines that are intended to be consumed young.

Related

Filed Under: Serving Beer Tagged With: Beer, bottle cork, bottled beer, cork, corked bottle March 2, 2022

  • Amazon
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Hi, I’m Mandy!

Welcome to my site! It's part beer-y travel diary, part homebrew experiment, and part a place for me to share my knowledge as a certified beer expert. As an Advanced Cicerone and national homebrew competition winner, I'm here to answer all your questions.

Recent Posts

  • The Eating, Drinking, Best Things to Do Guide to Montreal, Canada
  • Festive Wreath Holiday Cocktail Recipe
  • Does Your Grocery Store Have Beer from the World’s Oldest Brewery? 
  • How to Make German Beer Cheese (Obatzda) for Oktoberfest
  • Why is Oktoberfest Celebrated in September? 

Categories

  • Appetizers
  • Beer and Cheese
  • Beer and Food
  • Beer Glassware
  • Beer History
  • Beer Pairing
  • Beer Styles
  • Belgium
  • Bière de Garde
  • Bruges
  • Canada
  • Cocktails
  • Craft Beer Review
  • Czech Republic
  • England
  • Europe
  • Germany
  • Homebrewing
  • Hudson Valley
  • Iowa
  • London
  • Montreal
  • New York
  • New York City
  • North America
  • Recipes
  • Sahti
  • Saison
  • Serving Beer
  • Tasting Beer
  • Tasting Tuesday
  • The Berkshires
  • Travel
  • Try This Farmhouse
  • Uncategorized
  • United States
  • Vermont
  • Waterbury

Stay Updated

Copyright © 2023 Beers with Mandy on the Brunch Pro Theme