Refusing to fill a growler

I always clean my growlers after use. I have 2-3 ready to go, if I ever go back there again.

Cheers!

 

I am always given a new cap even when I already have one. Not sure why.

I had a growler in my car one time and the bartender rinsed it in ice water to cool it down before filling it up. That was cool.

Never really had any growler issues.

Enjoy

 

that's not a 'clean' growler though.

 

Me, too. I've had two separate places (both brewpubs) tell me not to bother bringing the caps in. For one reason, the caps tend to have smaller nooks for bugs to grow in. For two, the pubs I go to always write the beer name and ABV on the cap, so the old kne would get tossed even if it were perfectly clean.

 

He got a growler every day? Holy crap, that must have done bad things to his waistline and his bank account.

 

It's often not a case of "should they or shouldn't they" but what the state requires. You need to read your specific state regulations on the use of growlers. Like other alcohol laws, growler regulations vary from state to state.

For example, in some states, the servers are required to visibly inspect growlers brought in by the customer to insure they are clean. If they aren't, the servers are required to clean them. This can be an inconvenience for the retailer if the establishment is busy and thus, they prefer not to clean and fill dirty growlers.

Check your individual state here:
https://www.brewersassociation.org/government-affairs/laws/growler-laws/

 

Any time I have brought one in they usually wash it out for me and fill. I never heard of being turned away for dirty growler.

 

From my own experience:
I went on a VT beer trip with the family, bought a growler and beer from a smaller brewery. After drinking the beer and not cleaning the growler well, sealed it up and left it for awhile. After 1+ years I opened the growler, and it hissed, like opening a fresh beer (gas pressure). The thing reeked of pure acetic acid (think vinegar), likely from the bacteria that got into it. And worth noting, it wasn't a sour beer (Scotch ale I think), so wild microbes did this.
So I'm saying this is guaranteed to happen, but if a growler is improperly cleaned, it is possible bacteria or wild yeasts can act on it, producing sour flavors, or various other off flavors like diacetyl in a beer that wouldn't normally display these. I think brewers absolutely have the right to refuse growler fills, since people such as us review beers, and let's be honest, not every reviewer is perfect. If somebody has a bad experience, no fault to the brewery, that is still going to reflect on them.

 

@Giantspace
@beertunes @dennis3951

I never minded giving the cap but we asked him to save "this one" hed come back and all our caps are gone. Came in the last time without it and the manager said he needed to buy a bigger growler if he wanted a new cap. Nothing i can do. He got angry and never came back. I remember the beer was a Carton brunch dinner grub. Good beer. Sad situation.

 

It's less than a six-pack. Probably split it with the wife or somebody.

 

You know that Sharpie wipes right off? It's just wasteful. There's nothing wrong with reusing a cap a few times. If it gets screwed on gorilla tight (which I'm guilty of sometimes), it can stretch the cap a bit, and it won't seal tight, but that's an extreme case.

 

You misunderstand, it's not me tossing the caps, it's the pubs. It's the way they want to present their own product. But OK.

 

Honestly this is like "those people" that never washout their coffee cups.

Washed and dried after every use, I never leave a cup dirty.

 

One of the bartenders walked in to the bar one night on her night off and was going to get a growler fill. I started smelling this foul vinegar smell and I sniffed the open growler and said WTF are you seriously going to put beer in there, she was like yeah forgot it in the back of the car. I told her that puppy needs to be soaked for a few days. So yes I agree with a brewery/bar not filling a dirty growler, they ain't your mom, clean you shit and bring it back.

 

I've been there many times and I could never understand why people wouldn't just hang onto the cap...

 

Comes down to knowing the cleaning and filling regimen that a taproom or growler store follows. One place I go, you pay a $3 deposit for a 32oz or 64oz bottle, rinse it when done, and toss the cap. When you take it back, they exchange it for a sanitized bottle with a new cap at no additional bottle cost (surely the cost is included in the growler fill cost). I've asked - they don't want the caps back. They also put a heat-shrink seal on the cap, with the name of the beer. Sanitized bottles with new caps protect them.

Other places sell you a bottle, and you better clean it, dry it, and keep the cap because they're expecting to fill a clean bottle with cap.

 

A good many places here just rinse the growler in a sanitizer and rinse it for you no matter if it's clean or not. Lowes Beer Den actually has a commercial disinfection matching, must use heat I think. Hey it's your growler if you've got stale beer in it that's on you, I'd still fill it but I'd post that clean growlers were on the owner.

 

Growlers should be cleaned, then sanitized.

How many of you would give a bar/brewpub/brewery a pass for dirty tap lines? Not me.

 

I was working in a franchised liqour store. We didnt have proper ways to clean things for customers let alone be paid enoughto do it including everything else i did.

 

A place near me takes the opposite approach. Bring in a CLEAN growler for refill, get your "clean growler" card punched. 10 punches = free fill.