Originally Posted by greggwiggins

You should also try to avoid beer that's been stored in coolers illuminated by flourescent lights -- the emission spectrum of flourescents is particularly bad for beers. Incandescent lights or, best of all, as dark as possible, is what a place that takes care of its beer will use.

Light does go through glass, but different colors of glass allow in varying amounts and frequencies. The best shade to minimize light damage is brown glass (which is why it's the most common glass used for beer bottles). After brown, the least-bad color choices commonly used for beer bottles are green, blue (not used much now, but it used to be), and worst of all, clear.