Growler Law Update

Article about the new bill in the SF Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/wine/brew/article/California-eases-up-on-buying-beer-to-go-4888968.php

 

The line about growler fills of Younger had me chuckle. It's been at least a couple years.

 

Regardless of how this new bill rolls out it's still up to the brewery if they want to participate. I know a couple great ones that are not due to the costs involved. It's actually quite a bit of $$$.

Cheers.......

 

How? The only way I could see it costing them money is if they make a large chunk on the sale of their glass. The only other thing that might cost them is getting some sort of hanger, tag or sticker for their growlers... But they already need to do that sell their growlers legally, so they should probably do that anyways.

 

Lets see, ABC =$$$ Cost to print labels and tags =$$$, obviously a lot more than you are aware of, they all have to be approved by the ABC and the last time i checked the ABC was not a non profit organization.. It was the brewery owners that gave me the total $$$ to do it, this isn't me just assuming costs. It's costly and a lot of smaller breweries just will not participate.

Cheers.....

 

...but labels for their growlers have already been approved and, again, thare ey NEED to put the name and ABV of whatever beer is in the growler in order to legally sell it. Regardless of if it's blank or not. That still doesn't make any sense, unless they're illegally selling their growlers.

 

Do those breweries still fill growlers though? If so, they're doing it illegally.

The amusing thing here is that pretty much every brewery out there that's currently filling growlers is doing it illegally. If they want to fill growlers at all (theirs, or blank/obscured ones), then they have to get ABC approval. For each beer.

 

BAW HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHA So now the loss of glass sold and cost of labels that already need to be created/filed for approval as a major $$$ is the excuse.

 

I posted a way, using stamps and hangtags that would cost $0.03 per tag after an initial $60 investment for the stamps.
I can't imagine the filing filing fee with the ABC would be prohibitively expensive for any sized brewery.

 

One in particular which I will not name, fills growlers of their own beer everyday and do it very legally. Your point regarding ABC approval for each and EVERY beer they intend to fill is well taken and actually to a degree, accurate, as well as costly. I will not speculate on your assumption that every brewery filling growlers is doing it illegally however. The various costs and paperwork which equates to basic bottom line hard costs are incredible, as with this brewery, who at any given time has a dozen of their own beers on tap available for fills. Also, it's not just raw $$$, it's the time to stop, and physically hand label/tag each growler that needs to be addressed, in a very busy pub that all adds up. I personally see this breweries stance and support it whole heartedly. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this is never going to be a broad spectrum change in policy.

Cheers......

 

Don't drink the koolaid brah. There are plenty of affordable printing options out there. It's not like these labels or tags are going to be made from the highest quality stock, printed using PMS colors, embossed, spot varnished, and die cut (with a custom shape).

Check it out bro. If you go to this printer, PSPRINT, you can spec out a 2"x4" color hangtag printed on 14 pt gloss cover stock for $164 per 2,000. I'm not sure how much approval with the ABC costs so maybe someone can chime in on that. These breweries can gain a positive rep and sell even more beer by ponying up a small amount of money. Instead they're being obstinate for no reason and that's putting it lightly.

 

Stone, and every other spot that uses hang tags, does a good job doing what you're describing and they get pretty damn busy.

 

This is exactly what's wrong with the industry. Too many bullshit excuses.

 

Care to clear up how these two aren't in direct conflict? How are they marking the beer name and alcohol percentage in a ABC approved fashion? Only filling growlers for specific styles?

 

Whoever is telling you these things is full of it.

 

If they're not putting the name and abv on every single growler, then it is NOT a legal fill. Full Stop. It doesn't matter that it costs them more money, or that it takes extra time; if they want to legally sell growlers in this state, that is what they have to do. I can understand why they don't want to do either of those things, but in order to make that legally viable we would need to change a few laws. Which I'm all for! But until then, they're supposed to label all of their growlers.

EDIT: One point I keep forgetting - if the abv is under 5.6%, then it isn't required on the label. That's it though.

 

Here's what the tags at the Stone Company Store in Pasadena look like (I kept them b/c they're also stickers):

These get zip-tied to the growlers. Easy-peasy.

 

they also have generic fill-in labels with their logo on it for use with beers that don't have custom tags. i would think the same or similar solution could work for other breweries.

 

They do put the name and abv on every growler. This is their decision on the growler law, not mine.I'm just conveying what a particular brewery has chosen to do and shared with me. For their business model it doesnt make fiscal sense. You guys can talk yourself blue over this point but the bottom line is everyone is going to address it in their own way, that's all I said. Dont kill the messenger.

Cheers......

 

I fail to see how it's a bad fiscal choice for a brewery based on what you've told us. You claim it would be a costly endeavor to print hang tags yet I provided an inexpensive option for printing. Design would be trivial as well. Heck, I'll even design a universal solution for free if it means getting these breweries to stop coming up with these lame ass excuses. The only way this would affect their bottom line is if they depend on the profit from growler sales, and if that's the case, just say so. What a lot of these places are doing is very patronizing.