Bottle question

Hello! New to mead-making, and looking forward to (hopefully) starting my first batch in the next month or so once I get my hands on the remaining bits of equipment I need to start. Thank you so much, this site has been wonderfully informative!

Now, there's one question to which a concrete answer is eluding me even with my researching. I don't really want to start my first batch until I know the answer, as it involves bottling and there isn't much point in brewing if I don't have a means to store it when it's finished!

I know that a variety of bottles can be used for mead. My preference is to use 750ml sized bottles, as I'm more inclined to use that much in a short period of time when I do break a bottle open. Beer bottles would be more of a hassle than I really want to deal with at this point. Corking would be my preference for sealing said bottles.

Now, seeing as wine bottles are going to take some time to scrounge, I had a thought. I know that I can get suitable sized bottles if I buy and use the Perrier water knock-off the local grocery store carries. However, they've got screw-on caps. Can these be used with corks, or any other method of sealing bottles? If it makes any difference, I'm in Canada (as in my looking for answers, there sounds like there could be a difference in bottles of Canadian manufacture and American manufacture). I also plan on seeing if there are any sparking grape juice/non-alcoholic drinks available there that do have a definitely cork-friendly bottle.

I've been having a hard time coming across a straight answer to whether this kind of bottle can be used or not, so I'd appreciate any useful advice you might have.

My biggest hurdle to getting bottles the way most people do is that I'm in a small town. There's no brewery supply place, and the restaurants and bars aren't likely to give up their bottles, especially since they now get money for returning the empties. Tomorrow I plan on stopping by the store where the empties get returned to see if they'd be willing to sell some to me. Here's hoping!

There are a few reasons why I'm not so keen on beer bottles at this point (later on, I won't have a problem though). First, I'd have a hard time getting enough together for bottling. My family and friends aren't big beer drinkers, and when they do drink beer, it's typically cans rather than bottles (as I'll be doing JAO for my first batch, getting enough in time is a concern). Second is storage. With the space available, the wine bottles would be easy to store - the many, many beer bottles, not so much as I lack sufficient shelving and suitable space for more shelving. Third is the fact that I'll be moving by early summer next year, and packing up a ton of beer bottles would be more of a pain than a smaller number of wine bottles.

The cork appeals to me because of the presentation and qualities it adds to the maturation, but if the screw-on won't cause any significant problems I may stick with that for my first batch. The bottles of water I mentioned go for about $8 for a bulk pack of 12, and the water would get used up rather than dumped down the sink. Thank you, I now feel better if it comes to using those with the screw-on caps!

Thank you for the help everybody. I lucked out - found out that one of the gift stores in my town started carrying homebrewing supplies. They just didn't advertise! So I've got my corks and bottles. Woo hoo!