Great Notion

LOL. I was tempted to ask the same question, but didn't want to show my ignorance. I've heard of places that will counter pressure fill a growler, but never a crowler. So I'm no help.

One thing I would mention, is that GN generally doesn't do "on the spot" crowler fills any more (not in some months, based on my experience). Usually, a certain number of crowlers are filled during a given release, and are available until they're all sold out (which can be in a few hours or a few days). I don't know if that makes a difference or not, but figured I'd throw that out there.

One last observation, and then I'll shut up. There was someone from SoCal who came up a few months back, and as favor I ran over and picked up a couple of crowlers for her, a couple days before she actually arrived (as they would have been long gone by the time she arrived). She didn't actually open them until she got back home, so I think she'd had them for at least several weeks before she opened them up (she did a lot of traveling in the PNW before going home). She sent me a text to let me know they were fine and in great shape. So it sounds like they can last for at least a couple of weeks (which is consistent with what I've heard in various other threads as well).

 

And on that note... today's weekly update:

1. Beers: BA Contraband is a great barrel-aged farmhouse ale on tap now we brewed months ago with Oedipus Brewing out of Amsterdam. We also have on tap now Japanese Maple and Guava Mochi. Japanese Maple unexpectedly came in at 11% ABV, so watch out because the maple and chocolate hide it very well...and Mochi is big at 9% too, so we have some serious beers on right now. Next week, Ripe Invader launches into space (on Alberta ) as well as Big Papaya will be back in the house! In collabo news: Our pina colada IPA we brewed with Courtyard Brewery in New Orleans is out now, so if you’re in the land of beignets and Cafe Du Monde, pls go try that beer. Earlier this week, we brewed a collabo with our friends in Oregon wine country: Wolves & People, a funky IPA which will be a cool combination of our 2 styles. Then this forthcoming week, we have Mikerphone from Chicago coming to town to brew a Strawberry Milkshake IPA with us!
   
   Wolves & People Collabo Day
   
2. Brunch: This Sunday the 21st at 10am. We have made some changes to the menu which will hopefully speed up service this second trial time around. Look for a new tasty cremini mushroom and goat cheese chilaquiles. That sweet amazing Double Stack Reduction Syrup will still be around, as well as the official GNB Bloody Mary, Blueberry Pancakes (the beer if you ask for it, as well as the breakfast entree), Flannel Hash and more! If things go smoothly as planned this Sunday, we will hopefully start offering brunch every Sunday from now on. This is not 100% confirmed, so stay tuned for more info to this next week or on our Instagram channel.

BBDS: Many of y’all fine folks have been asking about Bourbon Barrel-Aged Double Stack. Yes, it exists and it’s almost ready! It will be released either this Spring or Summer. We have at least six barrels filled with DS, including some Heaven Hill and a bunch of local, amazing Bull Run Straight Bourbon Whiskey barrels. Some of the beer has been aging more than a year, some 9 mos, some 6 mos, etc. Our plan is to blend all the barrels together in a blending tank in our new facility and then bottle it all up. We are still just trying to decide how to release it and if we should wait until the grand opening of our new taproom this summer or potentially drop it earlier. Side note: We also have a barrel filled with Vanilla Limousine, an imperial stout with coconut in House Spirits rum barrels, as well as a couple of Woodford Reserve barrels filled with a vanilla imperial stout.

 

Today's weekly update:

1. Beers: As of Friday afternoon, we have 14 lovely beers on tap right now, including Best of Craft Beer Award’s Gold Medalist for New England Style IPA -> Space Invader and Bronze Medalist in the DIPA category -> Juice Box! Along with 6 other hazy IPAs and a few sours, such as Blueberry Muffin and I Love it When You Call Me Big Papaya, you’re in for a nice weekend at GNB. Also, if you’re elsewhere in the Portland area this weekend, please look for our collabos with Modern Times at their new PDX location, Nearly as Fast as Light (hazy IPA) and Bitcone (wild IPA) brewed with Wolves and People at their pub in Newberg. Next week, look for tentative crowlers of Double Stack, Strawberry Cream (Mikerphone collabo) and more.
2. New Brewhouse: If you’ve been following our Instagram stories this week, you know that we finally have our brewhouse in the building. We are pumped that all of our big tanks, platform, and all other big equipment initially purchased is finally in the building. Now we have a month left of piping, installations and inspections ahead of us before we can brew. Hopefully just a month, but we shall see. Our air compressor and keg washer are hooked up so we can finally stop relying on our amazing friends at Ex-Novo to wash our kegs which they have graciously done the past 6 months or so.

 

Today's weekly update:

• Fat Sunday: Beer & Beignets! This sunday, starting at 11 am we will be serving King Cake and Beignets with multiple dipping sauces inspired by Double Stack, Blueberry Muffin and more! We will have a ton of beers on, including a special beer shipped in from our friends in New Orleans, Courtyard Brewing!

• Collabo Beers: Today we put on tap both Bitcone, our Wolves & People collabo and Nearly as Fast as Light, our Modern Times collabo. Both are hazy IPAs.

New Beers: This past summer, we brewed Blueberry Muffin's twin sister, Strawberry Shortcake. We saved a few kegs of it and filled a barrel with our house sour culture. Now many moons later, BA Strawberry Shortcake is currently on draft and tasting puckerly amazing! This coming week, we have two (potentially 3) fruited, slightly creamy IPAs going on tap. Flavors include strawberry, orange and passionfruit (this will be end of week or following week).

 

It hasn't been discussed before (that I'm aware of), but to the best of my knowledge, this is always the way GN has done things. On several occasions I know I've taken advantage of this arrangement, grabbing a seat at the bar, ordering a glass of beer and telling the bartender to add a couple of crowlers onto my order.

Of course that was roughly a year ago, before the current crowler restrictions, so back then this wasn't a big source of concern.

I agree it does sound unfair, but what would you recommend if you were in GN's shoes? Let's say a group of 4 sit at a table, drop $150 on beer and food, and one of the customers asks to have a crowler added to the order as well. Be kind of tough I think to tell him/her that they need to go stand in line if they want to get a crowler to go.

Unless GN decides to completely prohibit customers from buying a crowler unless they stand in the "to go" line, I'm not sure what can be done.

Hopefully, once they open the new facility on the West Side, this won't be so much of a problem any more.