Outside Growlers BS in NC

I was just in Charlotte this past weekend and experienced this same thing. Being from Virginia, I was not aware of the law in NC. Just about every VA brewery / establishment that does growlers will refill any 32oz/64oz regardless of logo on on. Some do require the Surgeon General Warning as the only stipulation. I thought it was a nice way to work around having consumers keep purchasing new growlers. Visited The Beer Growler and my brother-in-law, with whom I was with, brought in his used growlers from their location in Alpharetta. The Beer Growler's service is that they will exchange their branded 32oz or 64oz growlers with a new (i.e. washed & sanitized) growler at no additional cost. It was a good concept. I could have exchanged a 32oz for 64oz at no cost or vice versa. Just the cost of the fill and they had a great selection of 45 or so taps.

 

Well, I guess now they won't have to worry about anyone drinking their beer and enjoying it.

 

It is simply an issue of sanitation that people want to control the best way possible. There is no other point.

 

It just seems more like an excuse to prevent you from using a growler from another place. Here in SC, all the places I've been to will do a quick wash of the growler, and then fill it up, regardless where it's from. It's a fast process. Up in NC, some places like Beer Growler in CLT do the same, some places like WW, I have to use their growlers only. I've even been to one brewery in a small town that didn't even wash my growler, just filled it.

 

I know that here in Virginia the only requirement is the government warning label, but even some places overlook that and will fill just about anything. I have yet to find a brewery here that refuses another brewery/bottle shops growler. They are in the business to sell beer- not glassware.

Answer Brewpub in Richmond will, however, only fill flip-top growlers with their beer, but any other tap with screw cap ones. Supposedly, it's a freshness issue.

 

Another wrinkle to the issue is that in NC, growlers have to be marked with specific information. IIRC, each growler must be marked with or contain information describing:

1. Brewery name
2. Beer name
3. Address of the fill location
4. ABV (if over 6%)
6. Surgeon General's Warning
7. Pasteurization Warning
8. Date of the fill

Some places meet this criteria by attaching tags with the pertinent info. Other (newer) breweries/bottleshops will have some of this information printed on the glass. Obviously some locations will take these rules more seriously than others. I imagine it is probably less of a headache if breweries/bottleshops limit fills to only their growlers.

Total Wine & More and Lowes Foods locations equipped with growler stations in NC will fill outside growlers (or at least the ones near me do). Some other places will fill outside growlers with a fee for the extra work they have to do to make it meet code.

IMO, it isn't that big of a deal, but I can understand why folks might be perturbed by the inconvenience.

 

At my store, we use the same method that I am accustomed to back home in Ohio. All I do is make sure theres nothing in it and then give it a good smell. If it doesnt pass either, I will refuse to fill it. I then have to explain that filling it would give you a product that the brewery didnt make. It wouldnt taste anything like the brewer intended when it left the brewery.

Funny story though:

Before I moved to NC I lived in Ohio and would frequent Great Lakes. The last time I went was on opening day for the Indians which is one of their busiest days as they are across the bridge from the Jake. I would order my pints and get my growler filled. They would then hold it in the cooler until after the game. I would ride the shuttle to the game and back. After the game I would order a nother pint and grab my growler and go home. As absolutely slammed as that place was, they never missed a beat on filling it or remembering that it was my growler.