Did a search on their site and on here and couldn't come up with an answer. Does anyone know why Jacks Abby only allows certain size growler fills (either their 32oz or 64oz) for specific beers? For example; they only have two beers on tap today you can fill a 32oz. I totally understand their more limited stuff being a smaller fill only but it's actually the opposite in some cases, like the Nouveau Pilsner is a 64oz only. I don't get it. Personally I prefer the 32oz and would like to be able to get any of their offerings with it. Thanks in advance.
Man, you read my mind. Wanted a 32oz of the Joint Custody yesterday but couldn't get it. Had to take the 64oz.
Yeah I've wondered that, too. How did the Joint Custody taste? I see no reviews posted yet. EDIT: Nevermind, I see it's listed under Otter Creek
I believe it's something along the lines of if you can buy it in the store than they only fill the 64oz but for brewery only they make the 32oz available. I prefer the 32oz as well, I pretty much only use my 750ml's @ tree house.
My friend was at the brewery today and asked. It was explained to him that if they made everything available to be filled with the 32oz growler they would run out of 32oz growlers
With everyone stopping by for 32s of Smoke and Machette, 3x DH HU, and Ginger and Juice, it sounded like they were already running low this afternoon.
They should probably buy some more. Isn't the point of the deposit so that they aren't in the red if they have a lot of "float?"
I don't recall the exact price, but I think their deposit is relatively low when compared to NS and Trillium ($5/per) so they may not be covering cost. Also, unlike some other local breweries, they exchange and clean every growler which probably adds to their cost. That said, JA has one of the best growler policies around. Growlers are exchangeable for credit towards beer and new growlers are offered for refills. I've never run into a situation where they've run out of fresh 32s, but I also tend to go around opening on Wed. or Thurs. when they likely have a fresh stock for the day.
I don't proclaim to know how they'd do the accounting, but it looks like screen printed amber Boston rounds are $1-2 in an reasonable quantity (e.g., http://www.egrandstand.com/32-oz-amber-boston-round-bottle-33-400.html). So the $3 deposit probably covers the cost, but even if it doesn't, the extra $2/64oz they'd probably charge for 32oz fills would quickly defray any overage. Maybe you allocate that extra per-fill charge to covering the cost of spillage during fills and cleaning labor. I just don't see how it can't be at least a wash relative to a 64oz growler (easily $3/each even in bulk). Within the confines of what the MA ABCC says is ok, definitely. Given that cost doesn't appear to be an issue if my back of the envelope math is on target, I suspect the lack of 32oz fills is more inertia than anything else.
