Growlers in Bavaria

Depends on where you are.
Some will look strange,some say it can't be done due to health reasons, some in rural parts of franconia or upper palatine won't bat an eye and fill anything for you,from growlers to old buckets to milk cans.

 

The general answer is a question: why the hell would you want to do that?
If you're in 99% of German bars, you'll have on tap a Fernsehbier, or mass produced swill like Warsteiner, and that beer on tap is much more expensive than in a bottle in any local supermarket. Now, imagine you're in Düsseldorf at a Altbierlokal like zum Uerige or Füchsen, both of which can be found in bottles at some local supermarkets or department stores. Nonetheless, you don't have time and you're at the bar, so they sell bottles for take away at the bar. Craft brew pubs are rare, but even there they sell bottled versions of their beer. Finally, in Bayern you might be at a Gastwirtslokal, or Brewery/restaurant/inn, and again they sell their beers in bottles at the bar. The only time I can imagine a place selling to you in an unsanitary container is in a Zwickel brewer in deepest Franken in Bayern, and considering the the lack of cultural knowledge displayed by your question, the chances of you knowing which special places they're found and times they're open and have beer for sale is even more questionable.

My question to you is were you, OP, asking simply out of curiosity and believing that just because you do something in America that you were wondering if it's done elsewhere as well? Or was it it a serious question because you are thinking of bringing growlers to Germany? The issue for anyone in allowing sales in growlers is that they're unsanitary; thus, there's an extreme likelihood of the beer getting a wild yeast infection and going sour. Why would any place do that when they can sell you relatively the same stuff sanitarily in bottles or you buy it in supermarkets?

Finally, if you're in another part of Germany and want their beer, just order it online and it'll be delivered to your door before a week is out.

 

Tony (@boddhitree), thank you your thoughtful post.

If packaged beer is available at the German Brewpub that is indeed an ideal solution for buying their beer to drink at home. As you well know for American Brewpubs buying previously packed beer is typically not an option so customers who want to drink that beer at home need to get a growler and/or more recently a crowler. I have a growler from a local brewpub of Iron Hill and the following is labeled on that growler: "KEEP COLD CONSUME WITHIN 48 HOURS"

Your discussion topic of the sanitation issues of a growler (crowler) is apropos and one more reason why quick consumption should be a priority.

I personally do not buy beers in growlers very often but I did purchase a growler of Hill Farmstead Everett (a Robust Porter) recently. I opened this growler within 48 hours of getting it filled. I posted in today's New Beer Sunday thread a side-by-side blind tasting of this beer vs. a homebrewed Robust Porter: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-sunday-week-580.402889/#post-4657907

Tony, I always enjoy reading your posts!!

Cheers!

Jack

 

So at my local German restaurant, which is owned by a Bavarian, I have seen growlers used as decoration. They are mostly this style:


And a pic of the inside of his restaurant, but there are other locations within that have them displayed.



Some are stoneware and adorned like steins, some look like there was a seal on it and at one time held beer. Next time I'm in I will ask him the origin of the ones he has on display. Seeing how he uses very authentic decorations, I've always thought growlers were a thing in Germany.

 

German beers have been bottled at the brewery and exported to the US in those 2 liter "flip-top" bottles (just as US brewers once bottled their draught [unpasteurized] beer in what is today the standard glass "growler").

 

Most any place in Franconia will fill a Siphon -- or in the local dialect, a Stuetzla -- for you. Lots even have them for sale in the brewery or gift shop. But the general expectation is that you will take them home and drink within 24 hours or so. Heres the one I used to get filled at my local, Mahrs Brau, near-nightly

 

When I went to Bamberg last summer, I stayed at an apartment very close to Brauerei Faessla. Among the amenities supplied by the excellent owners was one of these (a bembel):


Every afternoon after we finished bike-riding or sightseeing, I would walk to Faessla and have it filled at the Ausschank window with a liter or two of helles or pils and then walk back to the apartment for a little brotzeit and relaxation before we went out for dinner. So yes, you might consider this a type of growler, albeit a version used in one of the greatest beer places in the world. And when I walked on the street carrying it, no one ever looked at me as if anything out of the ordinary was happening.

 

In some parts of bavaria, it makes perfect sense to have something filled. In Zoiglstuben for instance, beer is usually only aviable on the premises, is cheap as hell (well under 2 Euros/0,5l)- when we went zoigling as a group, we always brought some empty plastic water bottles with us to have them filled. Same goes for many tiny village breweries where beer isn't aviable in bottles, or simply when you are there late and want something to drink at home when no store has opened anymore.
The practice of bringing an old bucket or milk can to the Wirtshaus and have it filled is still very much alive in many places, and gladly so- it is just a thing of beauty to behold.

I remember the first time I sat in my now favorite brewery and an old lady came in with her milk can and had it filled with delicious beer and went down the street to her husband. It's just some deeply,traditionally rooted magic which has to be seen to be believed.

Want I want to say basically is- it's not only the "deepest parts of Franken",as is evidenced by Bamberg for instance- throughout parts of bavaria, there are many places where beer is culturally VERY different to the rest of germany, thus, making it normal to fill beer from a pub in just about anything, since it is seen as "liquid bread",as an "elixir of live"......

 

This is what original growlers were in the U.S. -- brought here by German immigrants -- imagine. Workers would carry their lunch to work in these lunch "pails" (if you're old enough, you probably remember that term from your parents) and have neighborhood kids run to the corner tavern for a lunchtime fill -- yeah, then go back to work.

They'd also use it to stop at the tavern on the way home for beer with dinner.

Here's a great historical write-up on old-time growlers courtesy of someone we know quite well.

 

But I'D say that nowadays, the culture is very different, right? I mean, buckets filled with beer is something "common simple" workers,blue collar types, carry around in rural parts in bavaria to jug down simple country brews after a hard day of work, like in the us in the "olden days", but now, i see growlers in the us more of an elitist craft culture phenomenon for limited release "craft" brews, consumed by thin, tatooed, bearded 20something craft nerds... is this just stereotyping?Maybe, but I fear some truth might be in it, right?...
Anyway,very fascinating article indeed.

 

I'm not elitist, I have no tattoos, I'm not exactly thin, I do have a goatee, and I'm a little more than double 20 something -- and I'm known to get growler now and again. I have a pretty decent collection of growlers from many different brew-pubs around the country. When I was in college we had "growler night" at one of the local bars once a week -- long before craft brewing, and the growler looked more like the 19th century model than a glass jug.

Perception is everything and it's easy to create stereotypes. I think growlers faded from greater popularity once bottled beer became more prevalent. Brew-pubs renewed the popularity to allow customers to bring home unique beer that wasn't available other than at the pub proper, but this started well before the craft culture gained steam.

 

When I first came back to the US from Germany, I found the "growler" concept quite odd. Can't tell you exactly why, maybe the law requirement (recently changed here in CA) to have a branded growler from the brewery you bought it at was too serious for a simple purchase. In any event, I'm still not a growler-kind-of-guy, but I "get it" in the meantime. Brewery fresh beer to go - and then it dawned on me that the concept could SERIOUSLY work in Germany... buy fresh beer directly at the brewery in a large format, more than likely less expensive due to less packaging. Has some level of appeal, I must say, and a concept I'm surprised does not exist in Germany.

It just seems so German...

 

But it does -- read thru some of the posts above. The beer may not be direct from the brewery, but fresh from the tap a is pretty nice convenience.

"I would walk to Faessla and have it filled at the Ausschank window with a liter or two of helles or pils and then walk back to the apartment for a little brotzeit and relaxation before we went out for dinner."

Just the sort of quaint tradition I love about the old country.

 

And the concept "take a container and have it filled directly at the manufacturer with the alcoholic beverage for a bargain price" is VERY common in some german regions with Federweisser for instance sadly, with "normal" wine I have only seen it in italy and france...

 

Yes @Lurchus and @steveh, I understand, but it's much more (99.99%?) the exception than the rule.

 

Couldn't you say the same over here? It's probably less than the balance between "beer drinkers" and "craft beer drinkers."

But that wasn't really the point -- the point was that "carry out" beer is available if you look for it.

 

I've absolutely seen it in Bamberg. Both the clay variety and the normal 'ol glass swing-top like we have here.
I met a guy who was really proud of his swingtop and thought I'd be amazed to see that he was filling it at Keesmann.
The clay ones I mainly recall seeing at Greifenklau.

 

Again, I don't doubt that it exists, but it's not commonplace when you consider the size of Germany and the number of smaller breweries. Here in the states, it seems like there's always someone coming into a local place for growlers, and many of my friends have large collections of growlers.

 

One more addition: The first wave of "new brewupubs" in germany (yeah, the ones that mainly serve Pils, Helles, Dunkles and Weizen, all cloudy and green in taste ) basically all use to this day those 2l swing top bottles for draught beer to take home,called a Siphon, though usually you HAVE to buy a branded one there and bring it back to the exact same brewery, which always seemed silly to me.
But:

You have been to places like franconia or oberpfalz, right? It is ABSOLUTELY common, as stated by many here, for someone to come in with a specially designed container or basically anything and have it filled. Where small brewery traditions are alive, so are customs like that.
Just see the ending at 5:00 of this wonderfull video

BTW: I begin to wonder-what would would happen if I go to a US brewpub which does growler fills with an old milk can or empty plastic bottle and say "fill it up please"?