Breweries filling generic growlers

Their new rules went into effect January 2nd. http://www.societebrewing.com/wordpress/2014/01/01/societe-brewing-company-growler-policy-2014/

 

Thanks for the tip. Looks like missed this by a week too early. Time to hit up SD again soon.

 

I love that they're doing it but technically what they're doing isn't legal. The law says the customer must not be able to easily remove whatever is covering up the old brewery's logo, so their masking tape seemingly flaunts that a bit. I applaud them for it, but they could get in trouble.

 

Then shut up about it?

 

Doesn't the law say that the previous label has to be obscured in such a way that it's not "readily removable" by the consumer?

Wonder what constitutes as "readily removable."

And it sounds like it can have stuff on it - just not information from another brewery.

 

Yeah, "readily removable" is a very vague term. I'm not sure how (or if) it will be enforced, but masking tape is pretty easy to take off.

And you are correct about the law only stating that other brewery information or logos need to be covered up. I tried pointing that out to Societe on Twitter the other day so I can use my Drink Tanks growler there, but they wouldn't budge and are refusing to fill it.

 

What if they used duct tape instead?

Societe, and others, are missing a pretty substantial business opportunity IMO by refusing to fill unbranded growlers. There are so many cool options out there that we just can't use at most CA breweries.

The more I get into the business end of craft beer, the more I realize that brewers and brewery owners are often not very business-savvy. I'm thinking they weren't burdened with an overabundance of schooling.

 

Actually, if they were business savvy wouldn't they want to seek higher profit per volume ie. discouraging growler fills? Obviously, there is a PR component at work too (looking like greedy bastards) but I think a lot of breweries don't bend over backwards to fill growlers because they feel like they don't "have to".

 

Double post.

 

I would wager that breweries would sell more beer if the allowed unbranded growlers. And since the margins on beer are usually much, much greater than on glassware, the brewery is making more money per $ spent on the contents, not the container (breweries like RR sell growlers close to cost, according to an employee.)

There's a reason why growler filling stations are successful, and it's not the glassware. And their margins are even less than the manufacturer's.

I'm sure breweries feel like they don't "have to" fill growlers. But then why be in the industry in the first place? If you're not trying to appeal to a customer base, why start a brewery? Why not just be a homebrewer and give everything away for free? Obviously this is a stupid oversimplification of the issue, but the fact remains - brewers run a business, and a business thrives on happy customers. And money.

Filling unbranded growlers is super easy. It's also environmentally-conscious and consumer-friendly. Setting a standard price for most 2L/60-64 oz containers is simple (since most growlers are roughly the same size anyways.) And when a brewery sells more beer, they make more money. I guarantee that a brewery's profitability wouldn't be negatively impacted through unbranded growler filling.

The only reasons a brewery shouldn't fill unbranded growlers is if they are too busy or if they don't have enough beer to go around. But the business aspect can be remedied - "well fill unbranded growlers on week days", etc. The lack of volume is another issue entirely, but obviously that doesn't dissuade Sante from doing it.

 

Sent you a couple updates from my experiences. Many Thanks for the compilation!

 

Just hit a bunch of places. These are the ones not on the list yet:

Hollister: Only fills their own
Smog City: Only fills their own
Strand: Only fills their own
Figueroa Mountain: Fills absolutely anything. Logo, format, whatever. Also impressed with their beers. Lizard's Mouth DIPA is fucking fantastic.
Beachwood: Only fills their own
Ladyface: Only fills their own

ETA: Also, El Segundo does blanks, but only same format as their branded ones (jug, screwtop).

 

When I spoke to the ABC, they told me "readily removable" meant something like putting the growler in a bag and calling that "covered." Tape that isn't slipping off is fair game - i.e. - painters tape, masking tape, duct tape (not cool - will probably damage the original logos on the growler).

What is forgotten in the discussion and nobody probably cares about it that breweries need to get approval for each and every size they will fill. If they are only approved for 2L growlers they can not fill a 64oz, 32oz, 1L, etc. It's really not very hard at all to get approval for many sizes but I am of the belief that many many breweries that will fill "anything" probably don't have approval for all of the sizes they'll readily fill.

What also is forgotten is that a brewery needs to get approval for their hangtag. It needs to have all of the relevant information you'd normally find on a bottle of beer. Alcohol warning, vessel size, ABV %, etc. Breweries that simply cover up another breweries logo and mark the name of the beer on top of the screwtop or write it on the masking tape are technically in violation of the law. Not saying anyone here or anywhere should be busting on them for it, all craft breweries and consumers should be on some kind of same team regardless of whether they like the brewery's beer or not. Just saying it is technically illegal to write "DIPA" on the screw top and call it a day. You need approval for your hangtag.

Hopefully this clears up some stuff people may be wondering about.

 

What's also forgotten is that breweries need to do this even when they'll only fill their own growlers. So most every brewery out there is doing it illegally at this point.