Outside Growlers BS in NC

what places in Winston will not fill them?

 

I think it's more likely the establishments -- and the people behind the bar to whom you're speaking -- don't understand the new law. But you may be right.

 

CLT breweries won't fill outside growlers. They told me it was against the law too. I told them that law has changed and got the 'we only swap out growlers' story. I finished my pint and left . Whataya gonna do? I certainly don't need any more growlers. I don't have room for all of the ones I have!

I haven't had that problem anywhere in WS. Bestway won't fill non-Bestway growlers.

 

I completely agree. I for one think that the breweries a) want to make money on the growler purchase itself b) want the free marketing of you having the growler. Another common ridiculous excuse I've heard is "what if you take this ABC Brewing growler to a party and everyone loves the beer, but we here at XYZ Brewing filled it and they won't know its our beer" Thats why I typically bring a Greens Bev growler so I can say that its not another brewery's growler.

 

How do shops fill outside growlers and insure that the transfer is sanitary? Do they always use a tube and sanitize it after each use?

 

How do shops fill inside growlers and insure that the transfer is sanitary? Most in house glass is taken straight from the box to the tap without any sanitizing. I'd say that my ability to wash my reusable growler is at least as good if not better than one that comes straight out of the box.

 

Just to throw something out here....As a retail shop, when the law was passed, in that law it was required of us to wash and sanitize all growlers before they were to be filled (a part of the law pushed through predominantly by breweries that wanted to make sure their product was sent out the way they intended), and we are required to label the growlers with certain required information. I would imagine this is where you are coming into an issue, with shops and breweries. Most won't fill other growlers, because that would require you, the customer, waiting while they cleaned, sanitized, and dried your growler. This is the "it's against the law" comment that your getting from people, as opposed to the long drawn out reason. I only fill our growlers, however I will clean and sanitize a growler if the person is willing to wait 20 minutes or so while it dries, most won't, but it IS in fact a law and that is the comments that you are getting. And I am not sure about other places but all of our glass is cleaned and sanitized as we pull it fresh out of the box before we fill it....I wouldn't just drink out of a pint glass that came off of a store shelf, and I wash my underwear before I wear it when I bring it home from the store!! Hope this helps with your frustration

Chris

 

Huh? You popping tags at the thrift store for your drawers?


As for the drying thing...why does it need to dry? Wash, dunk in san star (or whatever you guys use), wait a minute, rinse, dump, papertowel outside, fill. That is what I do with my homebrew kegs and growlers (that I fill from my own kegerator). No need to dry (unless that is the law).

 

Growler Grlz in Durham does a fantastic job with outside growlers. Of course, they are set up completely for growler fills (and pints). If you bring in an outside growler, they will run it through a quick wash cycle, compressed air dry, san star rinse, compressed air dry and then fill. Start to finish it's less than 5 minutes and encourages one to buy a pint. Win/win from this consumer's perspective.

That said, not all bars/breweries/groceries are set up to be quite as efficient, obviously.

 

Don't you judge me by where I buy my underpants!!
Yeah...I bought a little much on the sanitizer that I use, it's one of the commercial grade, strip the top layer of skin off kind of stuff....still trying to get rid of the 5 gallon buckets that I bought! However you are correct a dip in San-star won't have to be completely dry....but still has to be done

 

Here's another "good read" for the growler laws in NC from the brewers association...you might have to click on NC to get the proper laws for the state http://www.brewersassociation.org/government-affairs/laws/growler-laws/

 

If I had to wait 20 minutes to buy a growler I wouldn't so they would actually be losing money from me.

I have no problem with the law or breweries interpretation of it. I always bring a labeled growler to the places I visit in Asheville and if i go somewhere else I either cough up the money for one of their growlers or don't buy one.

 

I guess what I am getting at is that I have seen places fill growlers before without washing them... granted more so before the new laws, but I've still seen it. I didn't know if there was something they were doing that could some how make this sanitary and I just missed it or didn't know about it (but that something certainly wasn't washing).

 

** If growler grlz wasn't a complete rip-off and if they counter pressured their growler fills then it would be a slam dunk**
Once Glass Jug (Durham) opened and set their prices to more reasonable rates I was sold. Ohh and they counter pressure your beer so it'll stay MUCH fresher longer than the no pressured treated growlers.

 

What I've seen a couple of places do (and it could be more widespread and I just haven't seen it) is they'll take a case of growlers, sanitize them and the caps, let them dry, put the cap back on and then store them that way. Then when they need to fill a growler they just open it up and fill, already sanitized. If the place was storing their sanitized growlers in the case they came in, it certainly could look like they were just pulling them from the case and filling them.

 

I get the idea of counter pressure filling, but I've never had problems with regular fill growlers. Then again, I don't intend to keep them for more than a few weeks.

I definitely like what Glass Jug is doing, but they just aren't getting the volume of good beer (mostly Wicked Weed) that Growler Grlz does.

 

The "wash and sanitize" requirement doesn't explain why an establishment won't refill an outside growler. I could buy a growler from Bob's Brewery, take it home, drink it, bring it back (presumably dirty) to Bob's and Bob would refill it, whereas Bob won't refill a growler from Jim's Brewery, or even worse an unmarked growler.

I was just at Wicked Weed in Asheville yesterday and they refused to fill my flip-top (gasket) growler and instead forced me to buy their screw top one. Duckworth's also forces you to use theirs (also screw top - bought an Ommegang Quad that went flat within two days). In Charlotte, OMB allows you to trade in your unmarked flipper for their prefilled (and presumably counter-pressured) ones. Sugar Creek will fill yours. Bottle Shop will too, but you have to have the state's health disclaimer notice on a tag or a sticker. Beer Growler on South Blvd. will fill yours, as will Total Wine.