Pietra
04/2026: When craftsmanship, innovation and brand aesthetics come together, the result is glass bottles that offer far more than conventional containers. This is the case with the new beer creation Limoncella from the Brasserie Pietra in Corsica: a fruity wheat beer infused with lemon and enhanced with Corsican Limoncellu, bottled in a transparent special glass bottle from Vetropack Straža. The bottle was developed to showcase the product's colour, freshness and flavour to their best advantage while providing reliable protection against UV light. Shortly after its market launch, the beer was already considered a success – not least thanks to the bottle’s striking appearance on the shelf and in the glass.
Anyone travelling to Corsica in the 1990s in search of a local beer would have been disappointed. The island was known for many things – its own language, its coastline, its charcuterie and cheese – but certainly not for beer. When Dominique and Armelle Sialelli, a French couple, realised that no local beer was available at a local bar in Corsica, they decided to change that. In 1996, they opened Brasserie Pietra in Furiani, near Bastia, and brewed the first Corsican beer. The aim was to combine local identity with distinctive flavour. The newly founded brewery was named after Pietraserena, the Sialelli family's home village.
Now celebrating its 30th anniversary, Pietra has become a symbol of Corsica. The addition of chestnut flour to the malt during the mashing process gives the beer its distinctive character. The brewery has expanded steadily and now employs almost 50 people. Management of the business has since been taken over by the founder’s son Hugo Sialelli, who is committed to sustainable production and to winning over consumers with new beer creations.
The taste of Corsican lemons
One of these new creations is Pietra Limoncella, launched in 2025. “We wanted to develop something fresh, a beer made with ingredients from Corsica that would appeal particularly to younger consumers,” says Hugo Sialelli. "The brewery has now reached a certain level of maturity, and I believe the market expects something new from us. With Pietra Limoncella, we are primarily targeting consumers aged between 25 and 35 who enjoy discovering new flavours."
The result is a light wheat beer with a vibrant, distinctly Corsican lemon character. To match the product’s positioning, Vetropack developed a custom transparent glass bottle for Pietra Limoncella. The design highlights the beer’s natural colour and freshness, while at the same time offering reliable UV protection. It is the first individually designed bottle that Brasserie Pietra has used for one of its beers – produced by Vetropack Straža in Croatia.
«Transparency was a key requirement for the bottle. The lemon flavour is something special, and the yellow colour of the beer was meant to catch the eye immediately. At the same time, we wanted a bottle that stands out from other glass packaging and feels good in the hand.»
Brasserie Pietra first developed the recipe for the new beer before creating an initial bottle design in-house, laying the foundation for the final packaging concept.
Vetropack has been supplying Pietra for many years. “I grew up in the brewery, and Vetropack was always part of the conversation. We have had a good relationship for decades,” recalls Hugo Sialelli. From the outset, Pietra has been sourcing standard bottles from Vetropack, commissioning its first custom-designed bottle with the launch of Pietra Limoncella. Alongside the bottle design itself, one of the key technical challenges was achieving effective UV protection in a transparent beer bottle. “Beer is typically bottled in amber glass because of its demanding product-protection requirements. With Pietra Limoncella, however, we wanted to present the beer in a distinctive, transparent bottle without compromising protection of the product or its aroma,” comments Hugo Sialelli.
UV protection and feeder colouring
Meeting this challenge was the responsibility of Vetropack Straža, the Vetropack site with the broadest portfolio of glass colours. Smaller production runs of special colours, including colours with integrated UV protection, are manufactured here using feeder colouring technology. In recent years, feeder colouring has become a significant driver of innovation, especially for breweries that require flexible colour concepts and functional UV protection.
The process does not begin in the melting furnace, but directly in the feeder: the feed channel that transports the glass to the forming machine and thermally homogenises it. At this stage, colouring frits – pre-fused glass particles – are precisely added to the colourless base glass to achieve the desired hue. “Specific frits are used to provide UV protection. The glass remains largely transparent, with only a subtle greenish tint, which is most noticeable at the base of the bottle, where the glass is thicker. This nuance complements the green tones of the label design. At the same time, the colour and the freshness of the beer remain clearly visible, while offering protection equivalent to that of coloured glass,” says Robert Zdolc, Head of Technical Customer Service at Vetropack Straža.
Adapting the filling line to the new bottle geometry posed a particular challenge. “As we had previously worked exclusively with standard bottles, the relevant process steps for the Limoncella bottle first had to be reconfigured,” explains Hugo Sialelli. “This included, among other things, the precise positioning of the label. The label has an oval shape, mirroring the labelling area on the bottle itself. To ensure consistent and reproducible alignment, the camera-based inspection system requires clearly defined orientation points on the bottle surface. Vetropack provided valuable support in this regard as an experienced partner.”
4,000 hectolitres in the first year
Since its market launch, the Pietra Limoncella bottle has exceeded expectations. The beer has proven particularly popular in Corsica and mainland France. For its first year on the market, Pietra had anticipated sales of around 1,000 to 1,500 hectolitres; in fact, production exceeded 4,000 hectolitres. Hugo Sialelli expects volumes to increase by around 50 per cent by 2026.
Beyond Vetropack's technical expertise, Hugo Sialelli also emphasises the importance of cooperative partnership. ‘We are a small, family-run company. People don't change roles every few years here, which makes it essential for us to build stable, long-term relationships”, he says. ‘In Philippe Tumerelle, Vetropack's sales manager for the French market, we have exactly that kind of contact. He is reliable, responsive and someone we trust.’
This close relationship, and the 30-year collaboration between Pietra and Vetropack, provides a strong foundation for future joint projects. Hugo Sialelli intends to continue developing the Pietra brand with further new beer products and can readily envision additional collaborations. “I already have new projects in mind,” he concludes. Vetropack Straža will be pleased to support Pietra as it moves forward.
