Growlers

I’m not sure if this is only an Oregon thing, but we have had an explosion of “Growler Fill Stations” (tap houses where they fill growlers) here, with fewer people buying bottles and more people filling growlers. While I think growlers have their place, I get concerned about people buying my beer in a growler and then a) leaving it the fridge for a week, or (even worse) b) drinking part of it and then coming back to drink the rest a few days later.

Beer is much more sensitive to oxygen than wine, and growlers aren’t filled with the same precision/lack of oxygen that bottles are. I get concerned about people having a bad experience with my beer because it has been mistreated. Any thoughts?

I think more should use this

http://www.partypig.com/

I never consume a growler over more than an evening and always drink it the day I purchase. I’m a little hesitant to let the thing sit around.

Todd, we actually sell (well, we want the keg back) a 2.95 gallon stainless steel keg that has a self-contained CO2 tank and a tapping system. It is slightly bigger than the Party Pig and it is significantly cheaper than growler equivalent.

This is how I’ve used growlers as well.

Awesome. I think more micro breweries should use this type of system rather than the hassle and expense of bottling. Trying to get John Cabot to start making some beer…

A lot of breweries put guidelines on their growlers, ie consume within 24 hours, keep refrigerated, etc. I think for the most part people getting growler fills are serious beer geeks that understand how perishable growlers are.

I occasionally hold unopened growlers for 2 weeks or more and understand I am taking a risk with the quality of the beer. Usually there is little to no fall off. Of course the quality of the fill matters, filled with marginal to no head space, or counter pressure, etc.

If you are considering selling some kegs to these fill stations I would just research their equipment and how serious they are about their selections, quality, customers. Personally I would worry more about your hoppy beers sitting on shelves too long.

Love the idea of the mini kegs you describe.

The growler explosion is happening here in Georgia as well. I don’t get the fascination with them personally. Part of it is because I am at the point in my beer journey where I am still enjoying multiple beers in a single setting rather a single bottling. Once my tastes develop the same way they have with wine I may find growlers more interesting.

+1. They’re also usually much higher priced /oz. when compared to a 12/oz bottle.

Personally almost all the growler fills I get here in SoCal are beers which are not bottled or a huge hassle to find in stores. Stuff like:

Societe, no bottles.
Rip Current, no bottles.
Beachwood, limited distro, one beer bottled every month or so.
Alpine, limited distro plus special releases are growler only, plus their bottles often suck.
Stone, special growler only releases.

Growlers are more of a necessity than anything for me.

That sounds a lot like my reasons for purchasing growlers. But I am obsessed with freshness as well and have seen noticeable fall off after a week or two even though they remained unopened. Most of Beachwoods IPAs and DIPAs are only available in growlers so for me to enjoy the vast selection they offer its the only way to get them.

My major complaint is that once opened its all downhill from there so I try to buy growlers when I know that it will be consumed that day.

Cheers,

Bud

I think that markets differ as to what is available in bottle. Bottling is a capital intensive proposition. We have an excellent mobile bottler up here who bottles for a number of the small guys but also does the limited release bottlings for Widmer, Full Sail, and Bridgeport. They know their stuff, so most breweries up here will bottle at least some of everything.

I can remember buying Deschutes beers in growlers back before they started bottling because it was the only way to drink their beers outside of their Pub. It was always a dicey proposition after a few days…

BTW, I don’t buy the less expensive argument that I hear a lot. A mixed case of beer from the Brewery (at leasts ours) is cheaper than the equivalent (4 growlers).

I’ve noticed this as well, which strikes me as odd. You would figure the price/oz. would be lower (volume pricing, no packaging, more efficient distribution). So, I checked keg prices (5 gal., 7.5 gal, 13.2 gal) for a few beers you can find readily in both bottle and keg (Bells, Deschutes, Lagunitas). They were mostly higher per ounce than what you can find them in bottle. If you find a coupon for the 6 pack even better!

Bell’s was the exception (about 30% cheaper in the big barrel), so I’m off to convince the wife to let me buy a kegerator

Never heard anyone say that a growler is cheaper than the equivalent (5 1/3) bottles. Most 6 packs of good stuff would be $5-$10 less than the equivalent growler. Case in point: at the exact same shop 4-pack of Goose Island BCBS = $24.99 (48oz.); a 32 oz. growler is $30.

Happy to hear from anyone what the advantage of getting a growler would be in the case above.

The only reason for me to buy a growler is to get a fill of a draft only brew that I want to take away and consume within 24 hrs. Unfortunately CA only allows growler fills at the brewery and (too) many breweries will only fill their own, not generic, growlers. This would most likely change if I had many local options including buying at a growler “filling stations” but living in the south bay area there no options that I feel are worth buying growler for a specific brewery. I am envious of board members that live close to Beach wood, Society, Alpine, Stone, ect.

Edit: punctuation.

Breweries selling their growlers for more per oz. than the bottle price seems screwy. Don’t really understand why that would be, maybe they have so much invested in the bottled product they would rather push those than growler fills which take kegs they could sell to bars?

Just looked at some receipts for Stone Enjoy By, growler fills at Stone are $13.89 for 2L. That works out to about $4.52 per 22oz. bomber. Bombers of Enjoy By sell for $6.99 or higher at retail. That is a savings of at least $7.41 per growler fill over bombers.

That is the only example I have right now but I will check prices at some breweries next time I make a run.

I’ve found at least in Ohio growler fills at my local beer shop tend to cost just about the same as beers in bottle, but everything tastes fresher poured from the growler. Two examples from their current list: Victory Golden Monkey $10/4pack = $0.21/oz. $12/growler = $0.19/oz. New Belgium Ranger IPA $3/22oz bottle = $0.136/oz, $10/growler = $0.156/oz.

I typically try to polish off a growler within 48h of its fill and never have a freshness issue. That being said, I find drinking 5 glasses of the same beer over two days to be a bit much, I prefer trying different beers. Fortunately they will fill a 32oz growler for half the price of a full which for me is the perfect size. They do also get in numerous beers that are not bottled so the growler is the best opportunity to enjoy them at home.

I buy full-size growlers for parties and that’s about it. There are growler/tasting-room only beers in Chicago, but not many that I really enjoy (Half Acre Space and Haymarket Matthias spring to mind). That may change when Pipeworks gets around to opening its tasting room, though.

Rick, my partner (the self-labeled “homebrew knucklehead” from the IPA thread) and I buy a fair amount of growlers locally primarily because of the variety. Places like Uptown Market have 16 taps and turn beers over pretty quickly so they’re always fresh and they have a lot of things that aren’t available bottled. Most growlers we buy are gone the same day and definitely gone the next day.

Most of our friends do the same thing (most of my friends are beer drinkers but not necessarily beer geeks). I don’t think any of us buy a growler today that we don’t plan on drinking until next Tuesday. Most of us buy them to drink immediately, so I think you’re safe in the Portland market selling to Growler places. It’d be great to see your limited releases available that way.