Have you ever bought a growler of beer? These half-gallon glass jugs are a fun way to bring home fresh beer straight from the brewery, and since they can be brought back for refills again and again, they're eco-friendly too. Here's how it works:
Brewpubs and breweries sell the jugs for a flat price and fill them up straight from the tap, usually for somewhere between $6-15. After it's emptied, the growler can be brought back to the same brewery for a refill. (Unfortunately, government labeling laws don't allow breweries to refill growlers that aren't their own, so you can't just buy a generic jug and tote it from tap to tap, although this rule varies by state.) Usually the cost of filling the growler is much less than the price of four pints by the glass, so buying beer this way saves money and reduces waste.
A full growler should be kept in the refrigerator and consumed fairly quickly. Like wine, once opened the beer will keep for two or three days. For even quicker consumption, bring it to a small gathering as an alternative to the usual six-pack.
Do you buy beer in growlers? Any brewery recommendations in your area?
Related: Beers for All! 5 Beers for People Who Don't Like Beer
(Image: Flickr member Charleston's TheDigitel licensed under Creative Commons)
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My college town had a small microbrewery, and this was one of my favorite things to do. On Friday we would all go, get some free samples, and buy a few growlers for the evening.
Individual states actually regulate this stuff, so whether or not you can fill them at more than one brewery depends on where you live. I live in Virginia and most breweries around here will fill any growler, although some might put a sticker on it. In Maryland apparently growlers are technically illegal but the law is unenforced typically.
Lots of great brewery's around the Triangle area in NC. TBC and Big Boss both have great growlers.
@Emily S, thanks for the info. I was looking at the government's FAQs about growlers, but overlooked the line about state regulation. I updated the post with that info.
Ghost River Brewing in Memphis, TN has great growlers.
I know in NYC, you can buy growlers and have them filled at places besides breweries. There's even a Duane Reade in Williamsburg that refills them with whatever they have on draft, and American Beer Co in Downtown BK has a rotation of really great beers on tap to fill their growlers with. Plus, it's so fun!
Whole Foods in Clarendon and Old Town both sell growlers with a rotating beer selection available
* Clarendon in Arlington, VA and Old Town in Alexandria, VA
Sierra Nevada in Chico/Northern California offers the service as well.
Lovejoy's in Austin, TX does this. I've only taken advantage of it once, but the growler sits on my counter looking lovely!
Growler beer stays fresh for a VERY short amount of time, unless purged with an inert gas before filling it. Signs of oxidation will occur within a few hours if the air in a non-purged growler comes into contact with the beer. It is akin to using a party pump on a keg of good beer!
If you are in Milwaukee, get a few growlers from Milwaukee Ale House!
Hooray for CBX! They're really awesome and we purchased all of our beer and the keg from them for our wedding. Thanks for the growler reminder...ours broke last year and I need to replace it.
Lafayette/West Lafayette, Indiana (Purdue University area) has my absolute favorite microbrewery: Lafayette Brewing Company. The East Side Bitter is my choice with a basket of potato munchers. Miss those growlers!
In Chicago, Half Acre has growlers for sale.
I love using growlers, I live in Chicago too and I have purchased a growler in Indiana at a brewery and had it filled here at Goose Island, I can't wait to make a stop at Half Acre too. I love local beer!
Fitgers Brewery in Duluth,MN has done growlers for a while now. They offer a pretty sizeable array of brews to select from, and even their own root beer and 'red' soda... it's fantastic!!!
Growlers are a great idea! Especially when the beer is hard to find in other bars in the area. We'll buy/re-fill a couple occasionally from a local brewery (Great Basin Brewery in Reno).
We live right down the street from an amazing local microbrewery, Schlafly. We get a growler almost every week. The beer straight from the tap tastes so much better, and we can often get more specialized brews unavailable in bottles. Our latest favorite? Vanilla Milk Stout. YUM.
Also, we honeymooned in Charleston and got a growler from the Charleston Beer Exchange, like in the picture. Westbrook's White Thai. So delicious.
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If only there were a decent brewery in Phoenix. I get growlers from SunUp now and then, but their beer is so boring.
I get my growlers filled at Russian River Brewery in Santa Rosa/Northern California. All of their delicious beers are available for filling your growler.
We used to get growlers of Surly beer before they expanded and weren't able to sell them any more because of our archaic blue laws here in MN. So much fun to break out for a small group or to drink over two or three days ourselves!
A whole foods near me they sell growlers with local and national beer on tap. I love to buy some for man birthdays..who doesn't want beer in a big jug!
Growlers are actually perfectly good for at least a week.. even if you don't purge the gas. If you're drinking it within a few days, it's great. I've been lead to believe that the gas purging is a gimmick, but I don't try to save fresh beer anyways.
Sometimes bars will sell these-I know Pazzos, a bar near the University of Kentucky sells them, and you can have it filled with the beer of your choice. Which is great, since they have over 100 beers on tap.
Duggan's brewery/brewpub in Toronto is run by one of my dad's oldest friends (and the drummer in his band) and I must say that Mr. Mike Duggan makes a mighty fine IPA (available in growlers).
@sturgeongeneral, what about Four Peaks or SanTan?
I have at least 20 growlers from Magic Hat sitting around my house, I get them refilled all the time, but for some reason, I forget them a lot of the time until I am halfway there, and have to buy another one...
@EmilyS Where in VA can you fill your growlers?