Hill Farmstead growler fills

You can bring your own as long as it is brown glass.

 

What is the purpose of this, other than the obvious reason of light? Ive never heard this one. I only ask b/c Magic Hat's are clear.

 

Light. For the same reason you don't want to stick a beer in a clear bottle, you don't want to stick it in a clear growler. The last thing HF wants is people drinking their beers and saying "oh this is awful/skunky and I just bought it yesterday!" while not realizing it's because they left a clear growler on the backseat in the sun for the 3 hour drive home...

I know MH uses clear growlers, but I couldn't tell you for the life of me why they do that...

 

According to my friend, they said it was so they could tell if the growler was clean or not. That's all I've got.

 

interesting. Ive heard of alot of places that will sell only sealed new ones bc of laws (breweries in Mass), and Ive heard of places that will only fill their own (ie Portsmouth). But this was new to me.

 

I think you can fill anything except clear glass growlers. I'll confirm that today since im making the trek up anf have a blue glass growler.

 

please do. i have a blue growler that i'll be heading up with in the near future. thanks!

 

Where do you guys get blue glass growlers? I don't think I've ever seen one...

 

To 3rd/4th what was said before - When I was up there a few months ago they said they would fill anything but clear glass. The reason was light and the deterioration of quality.

There was a funny (sad) twitter conversation from Sean Hill and someone drinking an Ephraim two weeks ago. Apparently the person was drinking a 5/6-month old growler. Sean said that is the reason why they won't bottle their pales, because people will hold them for too long, and not enjoy them fresh.

 

Yeah, I was at the brewery in the begining of March and they said they will NEVER bottle a pale.

 

Growler Station in NYC

 

Very cool. I don't know what it is about blue glass, but I really like it...

 

I'm pretty sure I remember reading somewhere that blue is just as bad as green, which is only marginally better than clear.

EDIT: Ah yes, http://hw.libsyn.com/p/8/d/d/8dde0d...32349584&hwt=e8149be3fe012a295fb7d5ffd6672657

 

Portsmouth is also due to NH law. In NH, they only fill growlers with from the brewery you are getting it filled at.

 

Those are some beautiful growlers and The Growler Station is awesome!! Definitely worth a stop whenever you are in NYC

 

This is somewhat off topic, but how long could you hold onto a growler before it was flat or oxidized (both screw on and swing-top)?

 

a pre-evacuated swing top can last longer than month with no noticeable difference. Most people would say longer, but I would say a month for anything hoppy.

Screw top is 2-3 days tops.

 

It depends on how it was filled. HF does a CO2 purge and a proper gentle fill, and most of the screw-top growlers I've gotten from them were A-ok at 2-3 weeks. Only once did I have an issue where the beer was a bit off by the time I got to it. I've also gotten a number of growlers from all over via trade, and they've always been fine. (Also shipped out a bunch of HF and they are always reported delicious)

But yeah, a crappy quick pour from a tap and I wouldn't let it go more than 2-3 days.

Also, in general, if someone counter pressure fills it should last as long as if it were bottled. (Normal hoppy/fading issues apply...) I think I saw one-time where Sean said they only counter pressure Ephraim though. But if you see growlers on store shelves, they've been counter filled, and are good like a bottle.