Only fill their own growlers?

That is a big concern for many breweries. If the growler gets fill from the tap, which some breweries do, it needs to be consumed almost right away to avoid oxidation. The brewery gets blamed for improperly handled growlers, the beer doesn't represent brewery well and the reputation of the brewery takes a hit.

I personally hate growlers anyway, to much beer unless you have a group to share it and by the time you get to the second beer from it, it's flat and oxidized. Yuck. Give me a properly filled crowler, please.

I've never had any issues with an oxidized growler. Ever. I get them filled. Come home and drink, and enjoy.
 
Who is blaming breweries for “improperly filled” growlers? It’s a redneck way to take beer home!
 
Who is blaming breweries for “improperly filled” growlers? It’s a redneck way to take beer home!
Aye who you calling a redneck!:p

We don't really have that many places on the coast were they'll fill up a growler for you yet let alone at the grocery store gee next thing ya know you'll go to the servo to fill up your car with petrol (Gas) and fill your growler with beer as well!
 
It’s a redneck way to take beer home!

Ha - my dad was born and raised in Buffalo New York - a town (at that time) with large numbers of German, Polish and other European immigrants. There were a large number of flour mills and grain elevators as well. According to the book "Rushing The Growler," there was a huge number of small breweries and brew pubs in the city. I can't recall the number, but was a lot. The term rushing the growler comes from the enterprising teenagers who would run beer to workers on their lunch break. A guy would sit down with his lunch bucket and hand a kid his beer pail which the kid would run with to the brew pub and back In my Dad's neighborhood there was a corner tavern that brewed their own beer, and his Dad would send him to the tavern with his beer pail and a nickel and he would bring draft beer home. The beer pails looked kind of like 1 gallon paint buckets. Fancy ones had hinged tops and a bit of a pour spout. Redneck my a$$ :) It was the immigrant kids who taught the rednecks how to schlep draft beer
 
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The hell is a crowler? And what kind of amateur hour is this where you need help with a growler?
You're right, that is being kind of amateurish, next time I'll finish it in one sitting and drink right from the growler.

I should put on a wife beater shirt when I do it. One with food stains all over it. Now that's going pro!
 
Who is blaming breweries for “improperly filled” growlers? It’s a redneck way to take beer home!
Some guy working behind the bar at the brewery, who hasn't been properly trained, who doesn't understand what he's doing is wrecking the beer, who in turn, is the face of the brewery. Viola, what would have been otherwise a great beer, now is has been turned into a stale, crappy beer and the brewery gets the credit.

This is especially true if the growler is kept too long at a warm temperature.
 
Aye who you calling a redneck!:p

We don't really have that many places on the coast were they'll fill up a growler for you yet let alone at the grocery store gee next thing ya know you'll go to the servo to fill up your car with petrol (Gas) and fill your growler with beer as well!
I've seen that in France with wine.... Bring your jug, fill it from a dispenser that looks suspiciously like a gas pump handle, pay at the counter. Not at the service station, though, within the supermarket.
 
Some guy working behind the bar at the brewery, who hasn't been properly trained, who doesn't understand what he's doing is wrecking the beer, who in turn, is the face of the brewery. Viola, what would have been otherwise a great beer, now is has been turned into a stale, crappy beer and the brewery gets the credit.

This is especially true if the growler is kept too long at a warm temperature.
Don't know about where you live but around here, that guy had better start looking for a career elsewhere. Our beer market is too competitive for some yokel to screw up peoples' growler pours. But my experience with growlers has not been stellar, better to have a pint or two at the pub and go home to some professionally packaged homebrew.
 
Don't know about where you live but around here, that guy had better start looking for a career elsewhere. Our beer market is too competitive for some yokel to screw up peoples' growler pours. But my experience with growlers has not been stellar, better to have a pint or two at the pub and go home to some professionally packaged homebrew.
It’s getting better, but it uninformed beer servers is pretty common.
 
Some guy working behind the bar at the brewery, who hasn't been properly trained, who doesn't understand what he's doing is wrecking the beer, who in turn, is the face of the brewery. Viola, what would have been otherwise a great beer, now is has been turned into a stale, crappy beer and the brewery gets the credit.

This is especially true if the growler is kept too long at a warm temperature.
I have never equated a bartender with a brewery, or made a connection of representation between some kid slinging beer in a bar with a brewery. Maybe I’m doing it wrong. :rolleyes:
 
I have never equated a bartender with a brewery, or made a connection of representation between some kid slinging beer in a bar with a brewery. Maybe I’m doing it wrong. :rolleyes:
Customer: I'll take a pint of your "Dork Mender"
Server: Okay, that'll be $6.00
Customer: This is interesting. Is this a lager?
Server: I dunno.
Customer: There's a nice play between the malt and hops. What hops are in the beer?
Server: Cascade.....maybe, or is it Perle? No it's Simcoe, yeah that's it. Shit, I don't know I only server it.
Customer: Hey thanks for all the info, you sure have been helpful.

The customer leaves confused. Not a good thing to have happen at a brewery. Servers need to know a lot about the product and the styles on tap in order to inform and sell the beer to the customer. It's just good business.
 
I feel bad for you. Sounds like you are surrounded by ignorant people all the time.
 
I think it's the difference between going to a butcher and the regular grocery store meat counter. I expect the person who specializes in something to be way more knowledgeable than the one who doesn't. Whether it reflects the specific brewery or just the bar, a bad server can ruin a whole outing
 
It’s getting better, but it uninformed beer servers is pretty common.
What's bad is when you get a bad pour, take a few sips and tell the server exactly why it's bad (you may want to check the lines and pressure on that tap), he asks if you want something else (yes, please) and still charges you for the pint of flat, lifeless mess he served. :mad:
 
I haven't had that problem in a long time. And when it did happen every tap was serving OV whether you ordered it or not.
 
This is what I'm eyeing off from keg King a mini draft kit for your growler! Yeah just flush it with a quick burst of co2 from the charger and it should extend its shelf life. Most mid sized breweries should at least can some of their beers so why not just go that option I admit I use my growler to take my hombrew with me when going out but haven't really thought about taking it to the pub for a refill but our beer culture here isn't quite at the same level as over there...

I've often wondered what them BYO restaurants would do when I plonk me growler up on the table and pour a glass of hombrew with me mini draft kit:p.
 

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I think there are a couple likely reasons for the "we only fill our own growlers, but we'll swap yours for one of ours". One is that, once you make the swap, you are more likely to buy your beer from them since you can't get it filled anywhere else. A second reason would be not to advertise a competitor. Say you make a great beer and put it in a growler with another brewery's name on it. Everyone who tastes your great tasting beer will think the other brewery made it and will buy their beer instead of yours.
 
I’m more inclined to agree with your second reason than your first. Any other bar with the same swap policy will give you one of their growlers for one of the other bar’s growlers. It’s be like the propane tank exchange. You never keep the same tank from fill to fill.
 

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