Crowlers in the NW

As a hinged-top glass growler guy, & w/ my CO2 stainless on the way, I'm going for some crowlers, next GG trip.
Since my tolerance is quite low, two pints into the glass hinge-top is usually when I stop. I'm lucky enough most fills to get a tilted, bottom-up pour. But even pouring two pints (especially the 1st pour chugging out of the tiny neck) spends carbonation & oxygenates the beer left. It might just make sense to add $2 for two crowlers to better protect my grenade limit. Certainly the way if you want draught beer fresh longer than 24 hours, as I imagine all do. A camping delight, no doubt!

 

Both Growl Movement locations (South Salem & Keizer) are doing Crowler fills now.

 

The Growler Guys in Boise doesn't have this just yet, or at least they didn't. Can't wait for my Bend day trip now to stock up on Boneyard Crowlers.

 

Updated list, I can't stop laughing at naming a place Growl Movement. Wish I had come up with that one.

Oregon
Bailey's Taproom
Deschutes (Bend brewery tasting room)
Growler Guys (both Bend locations, Eugene, SE Portland)
Growl Movement (Keizer, Salem)
Oregon City Brewing
Stickmen Brewing

Washington
Elizabeth Station (Bellingham)
Geaux Brewing
Growler Guys (Spokane)
Tin Dog (Seattle)

Alaska
49th State Brewing
Seward Brewing

 

Growler = Kiwi for vagina...my girl's quick w/ the innuendo. I always fancy a fill.

 

Block 15's new production brewery does crowlers.

 

Lower Case Brewing in Seattle does crowlers, or Lo-Boys as they call them.

 

Boise: Payette Brewing has one.... And PreFunk in downtown was the first place to have one. Not sure about the other PreFunk locations.

 

Is there a kickstarter set-up to get a Growler Guys location in Seattle? We seem to be getting our asses handed to us in this movement

 

Growler stations don't seem to be a thing in Seattle like they are in Oregon. I wonder why that is?

 

Maybe because all the breweries, bars, beer stores, and a lot of the regular stores fill growlers? I know it's pretty similar down in OR, but, as cool as they are, they're kind of a redundancy. I dunno though, ask @woemad how the Growler Guys in Spokane is doing.

 

I don't know, I see them all over the place. The Bartell's down the street has a fill station, the gas station next to Chuck's, gas station up on 105th and Greenwood. That's just what I've noticed in my neighborhood, excluding of course all the fine beer bars and breweries that offer fills as well.

Maybe we don't have quite as many as Oregon, but I'd be willing to bet we have more than almost any other state.

 

In Eugene at least, they are not a redundancy. We have 3 "Craft Beer Bars" in the city, all of which are over priced IMHO, and tend to serve only the uber trendy stuff. The growler fill spots here give them fairly stiff competition serving full pours at lower prices, and doing fills at sometimes $3-10 cheaper depending on the beer. It has really put a kabosh on the Craft Bars claiming that it is the ABV or cost of kegs that jack up the prices since these places are buying for the same price and selling it cheaper.

 

If you've ever taken a bunch of beer with you camping, or wanted to keep a growler a while w/o losing carb, you would not think that it's a redundancy at all. It's quite a different format.

 

I think @beertunes was referring to the redundancy of having growler fill stations all over town if there is already a plethora of locations to get growler fills already, not to the redundancy of filling a Crowler when you could just buy beer in bottles or glass growlers.

 

Yeah - i don't disagree with any of that, but we are pretty short on places that offer a great selection for growler fills at prices that aren't a joke. Places like Brouwers and Noble Fir also fill growlers - I have never once seen anyone fill one. If you want a growler fill of Manny's, no need to go further than your local Shell station. Growler guys gets right to the point, where a lot of other places just offer it as an ancillary service.

 

Yup, that's what I meant.

 

This is what I meant.

 

You're 100% right. I was looking at it in completely the wrong way. Most of the growler stations in convenience stores and gas stations have 0 taps I'm interested in. I can't imagine many other BA's being psyched to get fills of Manny's, Mac and Jack's or the like from folks who probably have no clue how to properly fill a growler anyway.

It's not something I really considered since I live half a block from Naked City and about 5 or 6 from Chuck's. My growler needs definitely are not lacking. But I'd be happy for something like Growler Guys to open nearby and offer even more options.

 

A) We have plenty of storage in a unit behind the main store. We ordered two pallets, but a couple hundred were damaged in transit, since they were shipped on a mixed load with a bunch of other shipments. So don't expect to get a 100% yield right out of the gates. If you don't have adequate room on-site, you're going to have to find somewhere off site.

B) Cans are rinsed prior to filling.

C) We are working on finding a solution for C02 purge, but do not have one in place yet. Bottom filling the cans has given us success and we've had crowlers last for multiple weeks without issue.

D) Have not had any issues, I can anticipate there being an issue if the can is underfilled, as there would be too much oxygen present inside the can and it would quicker deteriorate the beer inside. Bottom filling with no excess room has yielded great results.

I should have some more concrete numbers soon, but thus far Crowlers have been a success for us, we have been charging $2 for the crowler, plus the price of a 32oz fill ($5-$40+).

If you have any more questions feel free to message me. Cheers!

The Crowler of Citrus Wizard from Cigar City I received was mighty tasty. I could see some Bottom Cutter Crowlers being well received, but I don't know if I want to share that one ha.