More Local Bottle Shops Doing Growler Fills?

It's common here, but it's also getting more common for the big box stores to have them as well. We have gas stations here with growler stations as well. At least one car wash too.

 

It would be nice if total wine or world of beer filled. Imagine the selection!!

 

I wish I had a few more right near me.

 

Our Total Wine locations do, well at least several of them do. Maybe yours will soon as well.

 

None of the retailers near have any interest in doing growler fills and only one bar fills them. They don't think it's worth the time or space needed to do it.

 

How many beers on tap do they offer?

 

Total Wine on 21st in Norfolk added 4 taps for fills. bottleBOX, the super new bottle shop around the corner from TW, has 12 taps for fills. Grape and Gourmet in VA Beach also has a new growler fill gadget... I've heard rumors of Krogers in the area doing fills, too.

Yeah, growler fills are blowing up in Hampton Roads.

 

These have become prolific in the Northwest. It's easier to get licensed/operate in some states more than others, so a nationwide trend is going to be tough to establish.

 

Growler fills make much more sense in a brewery or brew pub than at general retail. Growlers are very labor intensive, messy with a good amount of wastage. Unless a retail establishment is really set up to properly handle growler sales, I don't think most places make enough margin to justify the offering. Also, from the consumer perspective, the value seems to be in having draft and not any advantage in per ounce savings from bottle offerings. Rare growler fills is another story altogether.

 

Must be great to get growler fills anywhere besides the brewery.

#CaliforniaBeerLawsSuck

 

Only breweries and brewpubs can fill growlers here in Massachusetts. The legislature is working on a provision so that bottle shops can fill growlers. Hopefully in the next year or 2.

 

Wait so these establishments fill growlers? Does it have to be a blank growler?

 

Well, a lot of bars near me do fill them, but at RIDICULOUS prices. Meanwhile, I love Joe Canals for growler fills but it's a pain in the ass to get there and back on weekdays.

 

Growler filling stores and bars are blowing up in Md, too. I'm excited that Crowlers are available now (the Wine Source), so I'm hoping that trend grows.

 

Never mind bottle shops i was on vacation this spring in Mobile Alabama from Connecticut and i was awed by the fact that you can get growler fill ups of all the best locals right in the grocery store now that is an awesome concept!

 

Yeah, you can get a growler filled pretty much anywhere that sells beer around here.

 

I have a few over the NY border to the north, as well as many Whole Foods locations in NYC. It's a great way for me to get to sample a lot of the newer NYC and Hudson Valley breweries lately.

 

All good beer stores in Long Island have at least 8 growler taps

 

Yep. As I drove through Oregon and Washington, I was painfully reminded of this. Not to painful as I picked up a growler of Hair of the Dog Fred, Caldera Good Bean Coffee Brown, and Georgetown Lucille. One didn't even last the trip home.