Packaging materials have a significant impact on the environmental footprint of products. This also applies to beverage bottles. The present study compares the environmental impacts of different packaging scenarios for beer bottles considering ceramic and plastic swing-top closures, different label materials, and further parameters such as circulation rates and transport distances. The comprehensive life cycle assessment is based on data from a German brewery and provides results in the categories of global warming potential (GWP100), damage to human health, ecosystems, and resource availability. The results suggest that the choice of material has a differentiated impact on environmental effects: Assuming equal life spans, the different swing-top closures show a comparable GWP100 regarding the production phase. However, the use of plastic caps leads to a reduction of total life-cycle emissions of the whole packaging system due to the lower weight. This applies particularly to scenarios with more bottle circulations. Recycled paper for labels shows a 14% reduced GWP100 in the production phase compared to coated paper. In general, the study provides substantial contributions to the packaging and brewing industries by addressing the research gap in life cycle assessments of swing-top bottles and by offering practical implications as well as future research perspectives.