Beer growlers roaring at brewpubs and stores as a new old way to buy beer
Around the country, hundreds of brewpubs, breweries and even grocery stores are cashing in on the growing popularity of growlers, a term that dates back more than a century. when people would carry fresh beer in buckets.
“I like the ability to get a draft taste instead of a bottled beer. To me it’s a fresher taste,” said McAleer, 61, who is retired. “I also can’t get some of the beers in bottles. And the price is good.”
Most everybody knows beer comes in bottles, cans or kegs. Mention the word “growler” and you might get a blank stare.
But the moonshine jug-looking containers are catching on, said Julia Herz of the Brewers Association in Boulder, Colo. Generally speaking, people buy growlers at brewpubs, where they’re filled with beer and capped. After they’re brought home, the beer will stay good for two to five days once opened.
Consumers like growlers because they’re green — they’re reusable and don’t contribute to the waste stream — they’re good for sharing with friends and the beer is less expensive than buying pints at a pub, Herz said. They’re also nostalgic. The pails that people used to haul beer from a pub to home or to work in times long past became known as growlers because of the growling sound they emitted as the beer sloshed about or perhaps from the growling of a worker’s hungry stomach just before he enjoyed a beer with his lunch.
But it’s the taste that keeps people coming back, Herz said on a recent day when she had a growler filled with 400-Pound Monkey, an English-style IPA made by Left Hand Brewing Co. in Longmont, Colo., in her refrigerator at home.
“’’What’s nice about the growler is you pour it into the glass, and that’s the proper way to enjoy all that a beer has to offer for flavor and aroma,” Herz said.
Growler sales in Maine have taken off since a new law went into effect two years ago allowing pubs that make their own beer to sell growlers from behind the bar. Previously, brewpubs had to have a separate brewery store with a separate entrance to sell them.
Federal Jack’s has sold growlers for a number of years, because it has a separate store. But since the law went into effect, the owner — who also owns Shipyard Brewing Co. in Portland — has started selling them at his four other brewpubs as well, in Eliot, South Portland, Bangor and Topsham, where sales have been brisk.
Gritty McDuff’s, a Portland-based beer company with three brewpubs, began selling growlers in May. In the first six months, the brewpubs filled about 1,350 growlers. Customers can buy their first beer-filled growler for $15.99 and get refills for $11.99.
The Modern Day Growler
What the hell is a growler? We’re not talking about the USS Growler, a small iceberg, a four-wheeled hansom cab from England, a sexual offender or any of the other slang phrases associated with the word ? there are many. We’re talking about that which carries fresh beer from a brewery to your house. Now there are many speculations as to the origins of the growler, so let’s take a moment and explore some of these.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, fresh beer was carried from the local pub to one’s home by means of a small-galvanized pail. Rumor has it that when the beer sloshed around the pail, it created a rumbling sound as the CO2 escaped through the lid, thus the term “growler” was coined.
Before World War II, city kids used to bring covered buckets of draft beer from a local bar or brewery to workers at lunchtime or to their parents at dinnertime, a practice called “rushing the growler.”
In the 50s and 60s, waxed cardboard containers with lids were used to take home beer ? it’s said that they were round and resembled take-out Chinese soup containers. And in many US states, it used to be (and still is) illegal for “liquor stores” to be open on Sunday. So if you wanted beer on Sunday you went to a bar and bought some of these “containers” of draft beer. However by the late 60s many bars had switched to plastic and eventually they were allowed to sell packaged beer after hours. Soon after, many states allowed Sunday sales at liquor stores and the concept of the growler soon died.
In the early 80s, Newman Brewing in Albany, NY used to sell soft plastic gallon containers of their beer. Apparently if you brought the empty back to the brewery, they’d replenish it with more beer.
A claim to the modern day growler states that in 1989, Charlie Otto and his father were discussing the dilemma facing the Otto Brothers Brewery. They wanted to offer “beer-to-go” for their local customers, but they were not yet in a position to bottle. Father Otto suggested the use of “growlers,” which were used in his younger days, but Charlie recognized the need for an updated package type. He purchased a small silkscreen machine, and set it up on his patio. Soon he was silk-screening his logo on half-gallon glass bottles that resembled moonshine jugs. The modern-day “growler” was introduced.
George Bulvas III, brewmaster at Water Street Lake County Brewery, WI, suggests that growlers are named for the buckets of beer once given to factory workers before their stomachs began to “growl” from hunger.
Whatever. Nowadays, a growler is simply a glass jug that carries a half-gallon of beer. However, some can get rather extravagant holding upwards of two liters with a clampdown ceramic top and a metal handle/grips (German-style). You can even buy specially designed cooling packs complete with carrying straps for your growlers, but we’d probably pummel you to the ground for looking like a complete dork.
Growlers are filled straight from the tap, sealed with a twist-cap, often with a plastic wrap over this if filled ahead of time, and are sometimes labeled. Filled prices range anywhere from around $4 to $15 or more. A deposit must be paid, often included in the price, and chances are if you bring back your washed growler, you can get a refill for a cheaper price. Just note that you must always refrigerate growlers. Doing so will give them a shelf-life of 7-10 days, or around 2-3 days once opened ? if you?re lucky.
Almost all brewpubs sell growlers these days, as do many breweries. And regardless of its true origin the growler is a great way to take home some fresh brew from a local brewery or brewpub.
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