Crafty Cartons

Seems to me this is about the same as a solo cup.

 

I've got a fundamental problem with a disposable product that is touted as environmentally friendly when a perfectly good reusable alternative (the glass growler) is available. Biodegradable? Great if you are composting (and here in Portland, we have curbside pick-up and city-provided composting bins, which is the exception), but it doesn't do any good when you are pitching it into a plastic garbage bag.

Granted I latched onto a characteristic that was a little off the key topic, but that really rubbed me the wrong way.

 

None of that stuff applies to growlers if you are planning to consume the beer within 3 hours, which is what these cartons require. This is just a way to take something that is reusable and replace it with something that is disposable, and not nearly as good to boot.

 

I'll take a glass growler over this any day. They last longer than most people say if they are properly filled. I don't have to finish them in 3 hours or worry about them tipping over on the drive home. Personally I don't see any advantage besides them being smaller than a standard 64 oz growler, but they do make 32 oz just not as many breweries/ brewpubs carry them.

 

Don't blame the product, blame the lack of a recycling program. It's not the carton's fault if someone throws it in the plastic bag. I do question the "greenness" of something that has to be manufactured, distributed, filled, used once, and carted away for recycling in a land fill. Now if the carton was used as mulch in a barley field, we would have something "sustainable". You see that? I just argued it both ways. I'm so confused.

 

Checl this out:
http://growler-station.com/novotap/

I had one of these in Greenville, SC the other day...it is called "The Beast" and it is a 2L plastic bottle. They do something to push the oxygen out ... so no foam. no mess. The beer (Highland Gaelic) tasted absolutely amazing.