Dutch premium beer brewer Royal Grolsch taps Coster’s expertise and supplier capabilities for two-way valve and machine equipment.

Grolsch, one of the world’s best known premium beer brewers and part of SABMiller, one of the world’s largest beer breweries, has selected Coster’s special two-way-valve and machine equipment for their draft beer system Cheersch®.

This latest assignment further builds upon Coster’s objective to become the leading supplier of state-of-the-art technology for pressure packs and it also underlines the briskly accelerating importance of packaging innovation in FMCG-markets. Royal Grolsch, founded in 1615 and one of the oldest Dutch companies, is an innovative player in the market of premium beer and its various brands are being sold all over the world.

The Cheersch® draft system is an easy-to-use dosing device that can be used everywhere, does not require electricity, fits in almost every fridge and is small, compact and light weight.

The Cheersch® system consists of 2 parts: the starter kit (base plate, dosing head and two CO2 cartridges) and a 2 litre PET bottle with Grolsch Premium Pilsner. The starter kit is a one-time purchase, whereas the beer bottles can be purchased in any major supermarket. The dosing pressure comes from a CO2 cartridge that is being supplied with every bottle (packed inside the protective cap). This cartridge is placed inside the lever of the dosing head and offers sufficient pressure for one bottle.

With high-performance design, Coster’s EMB valve is a precision-engineered two-way valve that provides a constant beer flow out of the bottle and at the same time a free passage of CO2 into the bottle in order to reset the pressure balance. The valve offers excellent barrier characteristics, an extremely important aspect for this type of packaging. “Our valve offers true consumer benefits, through the use of first class raw materials, a secure opening and closing and a proper match between the valve and the specially designed dosing head” said Wilco Veenstra, Area Manager Benelux and Scandinavia of Robertpack Engineering, a subsidiary of Coster. “Migration of oxygen and CO2 loss have great impact on the taste and quality of the beer and these values have been kept at a more than acceptable minimum".

“As the performance of the valve is closely linked to the handling in the filling process, Coster has focused on both the development of special packaging components for the consumer product as well as on the design of efficient production equipment for the filling line.” Veenstra continues. "This equipment has been integrated into a dedicated filling line of a renowned supplier of filling equipment for the brewery industry".

"To ensure an efficient production as well as a secure sealing of the valve on the bottleneck, Coster has supplied a valve selecting and sorting unit, a special valve inserting station with a unique flushing device as well as a 15-head crimping station for external closing of the valve."

“In terms of form and function, the EMB valve offers great potential for the growing market of special dosing mechanisms for beverages, be it beer or soft drinks” Veenstra said. “No wonder we will also focus on a worldwide usage of this development.”