Does anyone actually like growlers?

I love growlers.
Some of my first tastes of beer were from growlers, back in the early 1960s. My older brother used to order pizza from the Liberty Tavern in Fords, NJ and always brought home two growlers of draft beer. If was usually either Ballantine Ale or Krueger Pilsner. I was only around 9 or 10 but was always allowed to have some beer with food (our family had Eastern European roots...so it was just a normal thing, even at our church dinners) and it was awsome with the pizza. It really set my palate early on to appreciate the general superiority of draft beer over packed product.
Nowadays, growlers are also great since I prefer my beer to be less carbonated...and the process of the growler fill helps to rid the beer of some of the flavor masking excess carbonation.

 

Trading in person might work, but not shipping. By the time it gets somewhere, it would be flat I'm thinking. I am trying to humor you Dave. You humor me as well.

 

People trade growlers a lot more often than you think. It's probably not ideal, as you have to take some extra precautions with packing, but two or three days in transit is hardly anything to fret about. Of course, that is assuming that it is filled and capped properly.

 

I guess our definitions of "damn good beer" are quite different. I would certainly be willing to trade you cases of those beers for HF growlers any time you'd like.

 

I wouldn't waste my money on the hype of HF.

 

Like em, would use them more if the beer available around here was better and justified the volume. I'm guessing $16 or so if you have a growler already.

 

Yep, Pizza Boy is like $17-20 for a growler fill which is 64 oz. I could get a case of Springhouse's Big Gruesome for $37, which is 288 oz. To me, 4 pints aren't worth more than $8-10.

 

Your so far in the minority here on that one. It's not rare stuff, it's available every week is multiple forms. But it is remote, it is a pain in the ass to get to, there's bottle limits, long slow lines. So there's not much being traded from there. I'm not trading HF or the like for Zombie Dust, sorry not, HF is a commitment to get to, love their beers.

 

Just because beer is on draught doesn't mean it is fresh. At least with bottles there's a chance you can determine a freshness date. I doubt most on premise accounts are going to let you tour their cooler to check keg collars for dates.

 

A growler of Treehouse never presents a problem, no matter how large and how few people are present.

 

big fan of growlers..always keep a few empty bottles in my car, in case I hit up a brewery, or beverage store and they have something new and interesting on tap

 

Well, your thinking would be wrong. Ship growlers back and forth with a buddy in California quite often (2-day USPS flat rate boxes) and they never arrive flat. If they are filled properly then growlers do not go flat for months, as long as the seal is maintained. Now once it is open you need to drink it up (within an evening). Apparently, some have an issue with drinking 32 ounces of beer in a sitting, but I have never had a problem doing so.

 

Sadly for me, 90% of my local breweries don't distribute (yet) and only offer their product in either their taproom and/or growlers. In New Brunswick at least, Growlers are a great way to consume local beers.

 

I love growlers. My local beer store always has awesome stuff on tap and rotates quite often. I usually fill up once a week (or every two weeks).

 

Economy of scale is hard to ignore. They offer take-home "Crowlers" (32oz cans) at a local bar here and often times it is the same price as a pint to drink at the bar. If you've got someone to share with... totally worth while.

 

I get my fills at Liquor Shed and the beer guy is emphatic about not over ordering so the kegs are fresh.

 

Also worth stating, growlers are great for visiting your local. Crowlers are great for beer to go on longer trips or camping.

 

I love grolwers as they are a great way for me to get beer that I would not normally be able to try. Local Whole Foods and Total Wine have growlers and they are my go to for fresh beer in the Vegas market. I have also obtained a couple of grolwers in trades as extras and got to say they still tasted plenty fresh four days after being sent. I will be going to Russian River soon for vacation and can promise you I will be buying growlers to drink first and bottles to take home.

 

My two favorite local breweries (Casa Agria, Institution Ales) are pretty new and haven't bottled much, so growers are great since I prefer drinking at home if I have no one to drink with. 32oz growlers are great.

 

I prefer the crowler, it is 32 oz, and can sit in the fridge over a month and be ok.