Today's Mystery??!

[Ufatz]

I am baffled. I see the beer commercials where they talk about the can changing color. How?

Picked up a brew yesterday and it said "cold activated can". Huh? How does cold "activate" a can?

And, aside from the marketing whiz bang effect....what is the point??

Oh. A final thought. Remember in the old days, for decades and decades, the beer companies talked about their "aging process" and how important it was?

Then overnight they tossed it aside and your beer had to be FRESH.....like made yesterday! Ha Ha.

I do not actually consume the stuff......just curious.

[traveler]

I stick to vodka...much less confuzzling:)

[Jim Almquist]

Its called marketing

If you can go through life ignoring commercials or at least take them with a grain of salt the better off you will be.

[BobT]

We deal with marketing strategies all the time. In fact, it's my bread and butter. We build packaging equipment. At first, the reason our customers seek our new equipment is automation and cost savings. Getting things done faster without increased cost equals higher profitability and competitive edge. But what happens after a company spends millions to automate a process and their competitors have also automated? What then? Marketing!

Our customers are constantly trying new tactics to gain an edge on their competition. It can be as simple as changing the artwork on their package to reducing the cost in the packaging itself such as less corrugate or thinner materials, changing the number of products in the package such as 6-pack vs. 12-pack vs. 24-pack etc., changing package shape, or even adding gimmicks like cans that change color.

[zamboni]

I, for one, need the color changing cans. My hands can't tell the difference between cold and not cold.

I am kidding. I agree- what's the point? Any 3 yr old can pick up a can and tell whether it's cold or not

[Ufatz]

Believe me fellas, I understand marketing. What I really want to know is HOW do they make a beer can change color when it gets cold?? And how does a beer can get "activated" by the temperature? As I mentioned: I piked up a can of beer yesterday and the label said "cold activated can"....huh?

Okay. Thanks.

[BobT]

Probably the same way they can make corrective lenses change color by light reaction. I had a pair of transition lenses and they did change color as a reaction to exposure to light but temperature had a more dramatic effect than the light did. In the summer they didn’t change enough to be very beneficial but in the winter when I was outside they would get so dark I actually had a hard time seeing to operate equipment.

I quickly did a net search and learned that the chemistry of the ink is sensitive to temperature. They also have inks that are sensitive to light much like the transition lenses I mentioned above.

[DTro]

Just thermal sensitive labels. Not sure why you need them either. Not like I'm going to pass it up if it's not ice cold.

Gotta love the Vortex bottles too. LOL That's a funny one.

[CAMAN]

Remember when you were a kid and mood rings were all the rage? Same type of thing. They use a chemical in the paint that changes color at a certain temperature. Don't know the specifics of it but that is the basic theory of it.

[Surface Tension]

I'm going to patent this new idea.

A gauge on the can that tells you when your empty.

[311Hemi]

I'm going to patent this new idea.

A gauge on the can that tells you when your empty.

Just be sure you can read it while drinking....so we can watch it go from full to empty without stopping, and then do it again because it's so much fun!! Might tax the fishing time a bit....

[BobT]

I'm in, Surface. Let me know when you decide to start develpment.

[Scoot]

I'm going to patent this new idea.

A gauge on the can that tells you when your empty.

LOL- that's dang funny!

I just came up with a really cool idea too-- I'm going to put a guage on cars so you can tell when they're going to run out of gas. I hope nobody beats me to this sweet idea!

[slipperybob]

Why haven't they done that to fishing lures?

[delcecchi]

Remember liquid crystals and mood rings? There are materials that change color at some specific temperature. Someone figured out how to make paint for can out of that type material. Cholesteric comes to mind.

[311Hemi]

We can't forget hypercolor t-shirts!

[foulpole18]

Forget the marketing and just remember one thing:

There are 3 kinds of beer: warm, cold, and free. If you get 2 outta 3 you got a great deal.

[CJH]

There are 3 kinds of beer: warm, cold, and free. If you get 2 outta 3 you got a great deal.

^ Words to live by!! The silver bullet is probably the best light beer, IMHO. (if there is such a thing!!!)

[goblueM]

correction: coors light is the best slightly beer-y tasting yellow fizzy water :0)

i'm amazed at how much coors and miller spend on these gadgets and gizmos. what a total desperate ploy... goes to show you how much better Bud is at marketing and advertising!

[Black_Bay]

I'm going to patent this new idea.

A gauge on the can that tells you when your empty.

Put the guage on the bottom though.

[TUMBLEWEED]

Coors has certainly stretched it. They have the:

Cold Activated Cans

Frost Brewed Blue Liner

Vented Wide Mouth

Heck it even tells you,that you have "Beer" 12oz/ 16oz !!!

[Crm7290]

Its on there because even coors knows that the beer has to be almost frozen to taste remotely good.

[Slabasaurus]

Honestly, it's the only light "beer" i drink for the very reason that it tastes like beery-y water, and is quite quenching on a hot summer day on the water or on the golf course.

Coors was sick of poor reviews from people drinking luke-cold beer, not glacier cold beer. Hence the color changing mountains.

How do they do this? Magic. Beer magic i tell ya.

[Sunnie]

THE VENTED WIDEMOUTH WAS A GREAT IDEA IT ALLOWS THE GOODS TO SLIDE DOWN EASIER. THE COLOR CHANGE IS ONLY USEFUL TO SEE WHO THE LIGHT WEIGHTS ARE THAT YOU DRINK BEER WITH. THE CAN SHOULD BE FINISHED PRIOR TO THE COLOR CHANGE AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED.

[FishLocker]

I'm going to patent this new idea.

A gauge on the can that tells you when your empty.

As long as it only works on beer cans...let me know when you need product testers...I' m in!

[zamboni]

I'm going to patent this new idea.

A gauge on the can that tells you when your empty.

Whew- my other hands defect is weight sensing. Now with your idea and Coors color changing cans I can once again enjoy a cold, full or half full (depends on the gauge) beer again.