Glass growlers or single use plastic jugs?

I guess this is the key detail for me. I’ve found crowlers to be good for up to a month in storage and it very well could have been good for longer but I just haven’t kept one around long enough to find out. Growlers should be good for better part of a week it seems if opened minimally.

 

This guy^^^^ gets it.

Big REAL societal changes needed now or none of this recycling debate stuff really matters.

 

Taking your word spacing as an indication of degrees - your stance still just seems a bit odd to me. Wouldn't an aluminum crowler be situated closer to the plastic jug rather than the glass growler? A glass growler has the best chance of being a non-single-use container. Although it appears that the plastic jug in the OP is intended to be single-use by the brewer, it still isn't locked into being single-use as much as the crowler. Ignoring circumstantial recycling idiosyncrasies, the plastic jug and the crowler are both recyclable. The environmental impact of creating the aluminum crowler is notorious. The current zeitgeist outside of beer is anti-plastic, but your spacing gaps above seem to give the crowler far too much credit as an alternative.

 

Wandering around the landscape looking for beer and having beer shipped is resource-intensive. I used to go to a local brewery to get grower fills, but the round trip of 20 miles made the entire enterprise an ecological loss, even takng the reused growler into account. I suppose if I had other errands to run in the same direction as the brewery, I could put some of the expense off onto those things. Glass is probably a better choice for the environment than plastic or aluminum, even if the glass isn't recycled efficiently. Plastic and glass both could be reused with the right closures. Maybe bring back the cone-top can, possibly with a screw cap, for small scale operations? Refillable then.

 

I think we need to start viewing glass and aluminum as a finite resource and that breweries should do their reasonable part to ensure their packaging makes it back into the recycling stream. They should absolutely charge deposits on any single use container- cans, crowlers, bottles, etc. and be responsible for contracting with their waste disposal company to regularly pick up these items returned to the brewery. Drink local? Okay, breweries start being responsible to your local community.

 

Can you explain this?

 

Sixpoint tried it - short-lived. I used to buy one in a liquor store next to a BYOB sushi place that had half-priced lunches. Every can foamed all over upon opening. Perhaps a coincidence.

 

How would the brewery reclean them? What about when folks "lose" the caps.

 

The owner of the container would clean the container to be refilled for him/her self -- a process that I've used for growlers. Homebrewers routinely clean and reuse their bottles (I have done so for 60 years, starting at age 15 with home root beer). Almost no breweries have facilities for cleaning used containers, so any containers returned, but not meant to be refilled, would have to go to recycling. Caps could be replaced without much trouble. Several years ago, the brewery I most often used for growler fills would, without even asking, usually provide a new cap with a growler refill.

 

People often don't clean their glass growlers. For glass, a cap can be reused multiple times, for those aluminum bottles, the cap is part of the lid, and aren't designed to be reused. Replacement caps for those aren't available. There are reasons they aren't more common.

 

I wasn't thinking of the capped can illustrated in the recent entry cited by jesskidden. I originally thought of the old cone top with a resealable closure, rather than a crown. Thinking about it, a contemporary "ballpark" package looks to be just the ticket:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1846887125...MIzbmYj9LE-AIV0_HjBx1-lAnXEAQYAyABEgJpI_D_BwE
Growler owners who don't want to refill probably won't adequately clean their glassware. Those who want to refill (and save a couple of bucks) will take a few seconds to clean them out. No problem!

 

Say no to any single use plastic.
There used to be a dive bar around here in the '90's that would fill a milk jug of beer for you to go for only a couple of bucks. It was not meant for long term storage.
As far as growlers go, I agree with Stainless steel, ceramic or glass being the best options.
Crowlers are ok, as I cash in my cans.
Long live returnable bottles! I think the home brewers, ahem..., might be slightly responsible for the decline of that practice?
That is the most eco friendly method of packing, besides kegs.
I gotta give Staub's props, even though I can't choke down their beer after one. I just don't care for it at all, any of them.
Returnable bottles are thicker too, which helps prevent degradation.
I really hope this makes a comeback.

 

Reuse is best I think. And yes to weaning ourselves off of throwaway plastic.

 

Have you guys ever had beer served out of plastic bags?

Saw this when I was in China, craziest thing.

Here’s an example article:

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2...t=Forget about beer in a,out of a plastic bag.

 

Do the Chinese use the expression:



And perhaps more importantly: can you buy crazy straws in China?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Cheers!

 

My guess is they are referring to over mining of sand. Every now and then you see articles on sand shortages. I guess the type of sand matters in construction/manufacturing vs what's needed for a beach. Here is just a random article from a quick search.

Sand shortage: The world is running out of a crucial commodity (cnbc.com)

 

Ive had a 2016 Double Bastard crowler for 3 months in my fridge. They fill it to the very top and that helps. My friend who works at the Stone taproom i go to said hes kept DB and IRS crowlers for up to a year and their fine. Ill find out soon

 

That is how milk is sold here.

Also, several places have that cask-in-a-box available around here. By all accounts it’s pretty good. I assume the bladder is a plastic bag.

 

Even if plastic is recycled it still sits at a landfill just like regular trash at this point. We have more recycled plastic accumulating than we can actually utilize. Plastic harbors more germs to.

Aluminum or glass. Preferably glass