Growlers

In the years before Prohibition, a growler was a pail of beer sold at a local brewery or pub so people could carry fresh beer home. According to rumor, the beer made a rumbling or growling sound as it sloshed around in the pail. Another story has it that fathers and grandfathers who sent kids to fetch a pail of beer would growl if too much beer was spilled from the pail on the way home.

In modern times, the concept of a growler was revived by craft brewers in the Rocky Mountain region in the form of a sealed half-gallon glass jug. Over the years, it has proven itself a simple and cost-effective way for small breweries to package beer for customers.

Unlike single-use bottles from large breweries, growlers are not merely recyclable, but refillable too! The total energy consumed in processing new glass, including transportation, is about 14.5 million BTU’s per ton of new glass bottles. The life-cycle energy requirement for a refillable growler used 50 times is about 6% of that for a single-use bottle. Also, the water requirement for a refillable growler used about 50 times is about 20% of an equivalent quantity of beer sold in single-use bottles.

Finally, our growlers are sold with a deposit, which means that they do not end up as improperly discarded trash. They are worth $1 each on return to the brewpub or $2 toward an exchange for another growler of beer. Returned growlers are machine washed and refilled on premises to complete the cycle!