Clear growlers?

Yes, this is true. But only the alpha acids in hops cause the lightstruck sensation. Miller Brewing Company uses modified hop extract made using the beta acids in hops rather than the alpha acids. One result is that Miller beers do not become lightstruck. It's also the reason Miller can be sold in clear bottles without damaging effects of light. Thirty years ago AB and Miller slugged it out over the benefits of clear glass versus brown glass.
[I'm not promoting Miller Beers, merely highlighting the difference in the hop extract that enables Miller to use clear glass.]

 

I totally agree

 

I went on the tour at Lake front brewery and they handed you a plastic glass at the beginning of the tour stating "insurance rules" can't take the chance that broken glass might end up in the product at the end of the tour you traded the plastic glass for a real one.
Now as to beer skunking so fast, if I am to believe what I read in this thread, if I pour a beer into a glass and go outside on a sunny day to drink it, it skunk before I'm finished. lol

 

It can. In this thread there are quotes from the Master Brewers Association of the Americas and from Brooklyn Brewery's Garrett Oliver to that effect. Why would they lie? What's in it for them?

Ah, for good measure, here's another one:

"A surprising fact is that beer in the regular amber bottle will begin to be noticeably 'lightstruck' within about two minutes, while beer in a clear glass will begin deteriorating within 30 seconds."​

---An Introduction to the Brewing Process: Comments on Bottled Beer - R.G. Black​

Funny but that's never been my reaction when it's happened to me, but then I know enough to keep my beer out of the sun.

 

Fastest beer I've ever had skunk was Yazoo's Summer Ale. I think it was all saaz, and that beer would get light struck during the walk through the parking lot. Yazoo uses clear growlers, no idea why.

 

Should we be using brown glass glasses?
I live in AZ sometimes while at an outdoor bar beer glasses in the sun can't be avoided.

 

Then that is the onus of the owner, the brewer, employees to remedy this issue. Bars and restaurants manage to serve in glass why can't a tap room at a brewery, i understand glass and price and breakage and all that can add up, but in the end it just looks poorly on a product that you give a damn about.

Yes you have people on a tour and it is a place of business, in a light industrial area with moving parts, chemicals and things that can kill you or cause serious bodily harm. Keeping chemicals in the open while an active tour is taking place is just calling for lawsuit, lock it up keep it clean, keep it off of production days so beer maybe fermenting but they won't burn themselves or slip or bang their head. If you want to add beer to your tours, then offer them after in a separate area and not in a production area. And if you are serving after a tour, train your staff not to overserve your clientele, you want them to enjoy have fun get home safe so they can enjoy your products.

Clear growlers= clear bottles = cheap product, screams your product is also cheap
Plastic glasses + clear growlers = money over product

Just my opinion

 

Interesting. One brewery I visit in Arizona regularly started out with clear growlers, but have recently switch over to brown. While I don't know the obvious reason, I guess I could see why. However, if you're going to drink the growler gone with 48 hours, clear may not do the absolute worse damage.

 

There are several growler only breweries in your state. Trillium and Treehouse are two of the best MA breweries and you can't get their brews in a bottle shop. Trillium has very recently released bottles of their flagship brew to two bottle shops, but most of the stuff they brew is still growler only.

 

Right but they also don't send their growlers to bottle shops...Not that I've ever seen anyhow. The people who do (Opa Opa, Berkshire etc) are also available in bottles. I'm missing your point. If you read the context of the post you quoted, all will be clear.

 

No they don't. I misunderstood your post. I thought you were saying everything that comes in growlers also comes in bottles. Now I get it. I would never buy those bottle shop growlers and I completely agree with you. I kind of forget that exists. My bad.

 

I try to forget it exists myself.

 

I'm sorry this just stinks to high heaven of someone cutting pennies off and blaming it on the insurance company. Post the policy or its bogus.

 

I only drink beer in absolute darkness.
I usually spill most of it but at least the taste isn't compromised. Fucking amateurs.

 

I have (and still use) clear glass growlers. Back in the day, just about every brewery I visited used clear glass and the paper label. That worked/works for me as after rinsing those growlers in hot water, the paper label comes off quite easily. When I take that growler back, they just slap another paper label on it and fill it, no problem. FWIW, most (not all) of my clear glass growlers date back to the early 90s.

 

Of all the breweries I've been to in the country, that one has been the biggest disappointment. Plastic cups, a token system to buy an effing beer, cordoned lines... The place is an abomination.

 

Wouldn't a paper label work on a brown growler?

 

Well, that's litigation for you. All of it is possible. OP mentioned the same thing coming from the brew side as well. I can think of at least an arms length of clubs and latenight alcohol resource centers that use plastic cups for everything the bartender pours and it is for the obvious reasons that glass is also a weapon and people are there to get shitfaced and/or laid. So, this isn't new and let's face the music here. Red plastic cup wins for being the single best serving vessel known to mankind.
Having seen tours at both brewery and brewpub sides. I'll pack both into a single sentence. From a cost of business perspective as a brewery, I'd rather serve 5 oz - 8 oz sized beers than a full glass because I'd rather kick a 1/6 as opposed to a 1/2 bbl of whichever suds are up I'd also from the brewpub perspective rather see those people take this lingering taste to the bar where they can order a full glass.

Onto the clear growlers.
Because you are not supposed to keep beer in them beyond the 3 day window, clear growlers will get used because they look sexier than the brown glass. And, let's face it. You have to be a bit of a pill to manage to get one lightstruck. If just kind of screams, I do not want to take personal responsibility for what I personally purchased and wish to share and enjoy. It's their fault my enjoyment of it is diminished because IT IS universally accepted that this is A PERISHABLE PRODUCT.