Growler Deposits

The buy back portion is really good. I don't think i'd partake in 16 oz growlers much (nor did I know they existed). My preference would be 32 and 64 oz.

 

This is the protocol at a few places that use these nice swingtops near me (not recalling the exact glass price but it's similar) and people seem to make use of it. The one factor I would recommend you consider and investigate is the logistics/cost of cleaning and sterilizing the returned growlers. Will you have the pressurized growler fills?

 

I love your idea, its great to see, with that said one item that comes to mind would be folks who already own a growler (not your bar growler). Can they bring them in and get a fill for the cost of beer only? I think if that is allowed you have a good idea because you get people to participate who don't own any and then you reward others who already own growlers (not your bar growlers) with the ability to use their own stuff.

Cheers

 

Its a great idea and great way to minimize waste and also like you said give people the ability to return the growler and not have 20 in their closet lol. Keep up the good work!!
Cheers

 

Why wouldn’t you just offer crowlers?

Not sure why you’d want to deal with the cleaning and sanitizing that are required under your plan.

 

Growlers are a major pain in the butt at retail. The concept is better than the practice. They take retail time, offer wastage, and are better looking than useful. I've been around these things and I hate them. Crowlers might be more expensive seeming, but seem to be a better retail and on-premise option.

 

In opposition to @rgordon 's points, a couple things: where ya gonna store a minimum of a large, tall pallet of empty crowlers (and attendant lids)without them getting dirty or damaged? If it's just a storefront operation, there's unlikely to be a garage door sized door to get that pallet in through. And, where ya gonna park the needed forklift? Propane or electric forklift? Certified operator(s) to satisfy the Insurance folks?

Also, a lot of what the OP proposes is very dependant on state and local laws. Here in Washington, we have great growler laws, and in my city of 90k people, only one of our 13 breweries does growler swaps. We can fill any sealable container, and, everybody owns too many branded growlers. Shrug.

So much is dependent on OPs location, and market, that all we can do is point out what we see, to give dude as wide an overall view as possible.

 

I have a friend that brews kombucha and they moved away from exchangeable bottles because once they got to a certain size cleaning bottles had become the largest part of the job. Different products, different scales, etc.. I hope you guys can make it work because it is the most reasonable seeming option. I like the convenience of crowlers because I'm an entitled american but convenience is a lie and there are hidden costs, reusing quality glass containers is better for everyone if you can make the practice functional for your circumstance

 

You are going to spend a lot of time cleaning growlers, arguing with customers about what constitutes 'clean,' and end up having to dispose of a certain number of them. People are shitty. If they're not stuck owning the glass, if they can just just swap it out for a new, clean, growler, they will not take proper care. I sometimes clean growlers for my LBS and have been amazed at the inventive ways people find to fuck them up.

At four/eight bucks, you've built in a decent margin for expense and inconvenience. I like the idea in principal although I highly doubt that I'd shell out that much for a glass bottle unless I lived next door and came in pretty much every day. I voted 'no' simply based on the $8 cost of the 32oz growler - I can't conceive of buying a 16oz growler under any circumstances.

 

I answered no for several reasons. First - I go to a large local store that does a lot of growler business, and they manage to do 32 and 64oz growlers with a $3 deposit on the 32oz. I believe that it's also $3 on 64oz, but I don't do that often so not sure. They sanitize/steam bottles when cycling them through, so all I have to do is rinse it out and toss the cap. I think it's a mistake to depend on the customer to sanitize a bottle. Inevitably someone will get sick and/or complain about off-tasting beer - and it will be caused by their lack of cleaning.

While I like your 16oz option, you'll get pinged for not having the traditional 64oz. Lastly, I despise flip-top bottles. It makes them harder to clean and I've gotten bent ones. Perhaps that drives your price up too. If you stick with caps, giving a new one every time, and sanitize your returned bottles, you'll cut down complaints of "bad beer".

 

The same space limitations pertain to growlers as well. Many businesses will not fill an empty customer supplied growler, but require that a new one be sold. It is a weird business model that adds an inordinate amount of tough to quantify labor time. If I owned a store I would never sell them. Of course, there could be Bob the growler guy like Carl the greens keeper. Dedicated.

 

I applaud any effort to not use aluminum and to re-use glass. Other than that I have no ideas to add how best to make the system work, nor predictions how successful it likely is to be. Wish you good luck with the brewery!

 

This concept should really be more commonplace throughout the industry. If I recall correctly, packaging accounts for much of the environmental impact of beer when considering its entire life cycle. Any efforts to move to reusable packaging as a strategy to reduce packaging waste should be encouraged.

Your program sounds well thought-out and will initially resonate with people who are concerned about their environmental impacts. I don't think there's ever been a sustainability survey conducted on craft beer consumers, but I'm going to guess that most people are either indifferent or aren't concerned with their impacts. In order to get this latter group to buy into your program, your deposit prices have to be designed to give them a nudge.

I assume you'll be using some kind of washer/sanitizer machine? I found this on youtube.

 

Can you please provide more information here?

I have seen growlers filled via counterpressure fills via a growler filling station:



And I have seen growlers filled by just pouring the beer out of the tap.

Cheers!

 

My local store just pours from tap, lets just say its not a very high level of cleaning and all, lol.