First time hearing of this. Growler exchange...

[cheesehed007]

We spent this past weekend up north at my in laws. My mother in law picked this up for me (I love her).


She explained that she bought the growler then had a choice of beers to fill it with. Man what a great idea. Anybody else have this by them?
http://www.northlandbeer.com/news/a-new-way-to-get-hard-to-find-brews


Sent from my van, down by the river.

 

[rodwha]

Indeed! Big Hops Growler Station. But you can bring in your own growlers for a fill.

I got an amber, imperial Cascadian dark, and a barley wine!

 

[cheesehed007]

Sounds like you can bring your own growlers here too. Wish it wasn't a 2 1/2 hour drive though. Cheers!


Sent from my van, down by the river.

 

[kcmobrewer]

Yeah they just made it legal for liquor stores to do it in Maryland. Tons of them all over the place now. With more coming. The only crappy part is they make you buy their growler. So I don't partake in it. The pubs around here will fill any growler usually, so I just take advantage of that.

 

[pickles]

There are 5 or 6 growler filling stations within 2 miles of my house. Probably 100 taps in total, one alone has 60 (Savor Growl). Pretty awesome stuff!

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Wish this was legal in CA... We have generally liberal alcohol laws, but this is one we haven't caught up to...

 

[day_trippr]

I don't know about "legal", but back when I still cared about such things I had no luck around here bringing "outside" growlers in for refills. If it wasn't their growler it wasn't happening...

Cheers!

 

[Teromous]

There are some breweries nearby that do it. Unfortunately they don't always allow growlers for specific beers because they want to keep them on tap for people to try in the tasting rooms.

 

[Totes]

I think it is great from the environmental standpoint!
The fill stations are popular here also, I like the ones that co2 purge first. (not saying it matters much...)
Cooler to show to a party w/ a growler than a sixer, imo.

 

[Hulud]

Growlers have been popping up everywhere in Ga over the past year or two. I just wish Ga would get away from their forced distribution so you could get filled up at breweries

 

[dstranger99]

The guy that runs my LHBS fills growlers all the time.......$7.00 I think........

 

[rodwha]

$7?!?! Wow! Ours isn't a good deal at all, and it would be cheaper to just buy it in a 6 pack at the store. The brewpub is another story though, and is reasonable.

 

[broncosmoker]

We have many growler fill place here in Idaho. Pretty much every microbrewery here in Boise fills them. Most tap houses fill them. Prices range from $8 to $45 depending on the beer. I have 8 growlers for taking/sharing beer and to go fill up.. There are even a couple convenience stores that carry only Micro brews that have a cool growler fill station.

 

[rodwha]

Filled a 32 oz growler with imperial black IPA, and another with a barley wine, and then the 64 oz with an amber for $37 something.

I'm certain the barley wine was expensive, and possibly the imperial IPA, which were both from Uinta. I don't recall who made the amber. I almost feel as though we were charged for three 64 oz refills at that cost.

 

[rodwha]

The receipt:

64 oz Ballast Point Calico $15 (the price of a 12 pack for less than six 12 oz beers)
32 oz Uintas Cockeyed Cooper $11
32 oz Uintas Dubhe $9

 

[Dolomieu]

There are 5 or 6 growler filling stations within 2 miles of my house. Probably 100 taps in total, one alone has 60 (Savor Growl). Pretty awesome stuff!

Daily Growler has 60 taps too. The Ohio taproom doesn't have too many taps but they are all Ohio beers. I <3 growler service.

Whole foods and giant eagle even provide growler service.

 

[PHXCobra]

Some of the Chevron stations around here have them. I've picked up a couple local beers just to give them a try.

 

[Falcon3]

There's a brewery in Billings, MT called Uberbrew- $4 for a $32oz fill and they had really nice PET growlers that were perfect for taking hiking, skiings, or anywhere - super lightweight-

 

[Setesh]

Stupid Oklahoma.....

 

[Arrheinous]

Some of the big name grocery stores out here (Acme, Giant Eagle) in Ohio have growler fill programs. You can even sample things on tap right in the supermarket for 75 cents. A few sips of barley wine will mellow out any grocery run.

Several bars have caught on with filling off their taps as well. It's not as economical as getting a six pack but for rare beers that come through it's very handy.

 

[bnairuni87]

We have several choices to go get your growler filled.

You can buy the growler at the store or bring your own. I stumbled upon 10 growlers at the local Williams Sonoma outlet and bought them all for 6.49 apiece.

Went back the next day and they were all gone.

 

[MrSpaz]

My favorite is MadTree Brewery where most fill for $10 and can be any growler. Others you need theirs which I never use. There is a growler station in a shell gas station but haven't checked it out yet.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Really...this isnt a thing everywhere?

Its been going on in Oregon for some time, pretty much any decent bar will fill growlers. I usually only go to tap houses and the ones with 15+ taps because they actually take the time to purge the growler.

 

[Kirkwooder]

Here in Western New York, a lot of the gas stations are getting into growler filling. Most have 4 taps or more of mostly local micro breweries offerings. Gotta love it!

 

[cheesehed007]

I've had growlers filled at tap rooms and brew pubs. But this is the first I've heard of bottle shops filling them. Not happening down here that I know of...


Sent from my van, down by the river.

 

[WayFrae]

The receipt:

64 oz Ballast Point Calico $15 (the price of a 12 pack for less than six 12 oz beers)
32 oz Uintas Cockeyed Cooper $11
32 oz Uintas Dubhe $9

That is awesome you guys get Uinta beers in Texas! Do you get Squatters too?

 

[adamelb]

There's a lot of great beers that can only be taken home with growlers here in Upstate NY. I have a bunch of them I fill regularly and they make nice containers for a blow off tube as well.

 

[rodwha]

Don't get there too often so i can't say.

And it'd those beers you otherwise likely wouldn't see that somewhat makes up for the cost. It's still a bit much though (twice cost?)...

 

[adamelb]

At least around here they're typically not significantly more per oz. Just checked my local sometimes overpriced favorite beverage center. As an example a 64 oz fill of Magic Hat Dream Machine is $8.99. A 6 pack is $9.40 at the local grocery store. The growler comes out to about $.01 more per oz.

I prefer the taste of a fresh growler, but I usually only fill them if I plan on drinking that day or the next. Maximum might be a full week. I might go two or three if I'm feeling lucky and it's a swing-top growler. Bottles and cans are far more convenient but I really enjoy growlers on occasion.

 

[Domer]

Someone mentioned it not being legal in Cali?!!? Not true... There's a bunch of micro brews in my area that do, including the bigger ones like Lagunitas and Russian River.


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[FuzzeWuzze]

Someone mentioned it not being legal in Cali?!!? Not true... There's a bunch of micro brews in my area that do, including the bigger ones like Lagunitas and Russian River.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

Yea that confused me..i went to White Labs when we were down there on vacation and bought a growler and got it filled...

 

[pickles]

Here in Ohio it only became legal for retail stores to fill growlers about 2 yrs ago. That same bill allowed tasting rooms at breweries.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

Wish this was legal in CA... We have generally liberal alcohol laws, but this is one we haven't caught up to...

It became legal January 1st, as long as the brewery has the proper license. Alpine Beer Company does not do growler refills from other places

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

In CA, it has now become legal for *breweries* to fill growlers from other places as long as they cover the existing branding with their own label that confirms to ABC regs. They can only fill these growlers with their own beer.

AFAIK, commercial "growler fill" establishments, i.e. going into Whole Foods and having them fill your growler off one of their taps, is still illegal here.

If I'm mistaken, someone *PLEASE* show me the law or ABC legal interpretation so I can print it out and take it to my local WF and see if they'll start filling!

 

[Domer]

It became legal January 1st, as long as the brewery has the proper license. Alpine Beer Company does not do growler refills from other places

It hasn't been illegal in ca, at least in the last 5 or so years I've been getting growlers. It was illegal to fill a growler from another company... Most places I've gotten them from won't fill a competitors growler any way.



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[Ilan34]

There's a lot of great beers that can only be taken home with growlers here in Upstate NY. I have a bunch of them I fill regularly and they make nice containers for a blow off tube as well.

I'm near Albany. Curious which beers you're referring to?

 

[adamelb]

I'm near Albany. Curious which beers you're referring to?

Anything from The Pump Station, lots of Davidson's releases, Browns as well. Stuff comes in to The Ruck in Troy that you can't find in bottles. Same with the local beverage centers. It's the only way to take home stuff from Rushing Duck, Newburgh Brewing, Mill House Brewing and plenty of other great NY breweries that don't bottle.

 

[Ilan34]

Awesome, thanks! Can you recommend anything from the last three breweries you mentioned?

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[PackerfaninSanDiego]

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20130904/business/130909812 The local breweries have a point about not puting their beer in "your" growler, but what is confusing to me is, if I was to bring in your growler for your beer, what says that my growler purchased from you is sanitized better than an outsiders? Does my question make sense?

 

[Mongrel]

Most places I've gotten them from won't fill a competitors growler any way.

That would be enough to put me off a brewery.