Back With A Growl

March 8, 2011, by Crafty Pint

Back With A Growl

The Great Aussie Growler Shortage of 2010/11 is over! Yes, the days when possessors of the two-litre vessels had to practice ninja-like stealth to get their refills done for fear of being ambushed by rabid non-possessors are no more. The long-awaited shipment from the States has docked and growlers have started making their way across the land ready to deliver draught beer goodness to the homes of good beer lovers everywhere.

Long popular in the States, they first appeared in Australia at breweries such as Murray’s and 2 Brothers (who still have the best-looking growlers by far) and made it onto the pages of Epicure last year (with a little help from The Crafty Pint) when they were installed at Slowbeer. Now, having proved immensely popular, they’re going to be available more widely. Slowbeer has taken a fresh delivery, thereby narrowly avoiding mutiny at its Hawthorn store, Murray’s has more coming, while there is a bunch in storage awaiting the opening of The Local Taphouse’s bottleshop in St Kilda. Some 2 Brothers growlers are available at Valley Cellar Door (Moonee Ponds) and Blackhearts & Sparrows (North Fitzroy), Bridge Road and Warners at the Bay (Newcastle) will be filling their own soon. Nectar in Brisbane also installed growlers recently, while Thunder Road will be using them once the brewery is up and running in the coming weeks.

FOR A FULL LIST OF GROWLER FILLING STATIONS HEAD HERE

Eden Gilbert, from Blackhearts & Sparrows, says: “Paul [the owner] saw them in New York last year and mentioned them to me and it got me thinking about my grandparents in New Zealand who had jars they’d get filled with beer from the local shop. There’s a bit of history to it and it’s also a really green way of drinking your beer.”

He’s expecting their system to be ready to go any day now, with the intention of offering growler fills on Fridays and Saturdays. There will be an upfront charge for the growler (no more than $20) with which you’ll get instructions on how to care for it. Already waiting in kegs are beers that include Hitachino Nest’s Red Rice Ale, White Ale and Classic Ale, Renaissance MPA, BrewDog Hardcore IPA, Vitus and more. The store has its own kegs that will be sent to local brewers too.

“It’s a good way of getting more exposure to beers that you can’t get in bottles and is far cheaper than buying them in a pub.”

 

Warners-2

 

Warners is awaiting delivery of a system from China that will allow them to pour six beers at a time. Manager Mark Mead says they’ve been in discussions with Murray’s about offering them a permanent tap as they’re practically neighbours, while their plan is to only feature beers that cannot be purchased in bottles.

“This opens up a heap of beers that we haven’t been able to access before, like the Holgate Road Trip IPA,” he says. “We’ve got 500 growlers with our logo on and we’ve had interest from a lot of Australian brewers keen to supply their beer.”

At Slowbeer, growlers cost $15 upfront, with filling usually done at weekends. The Local Taphouse has sent theirs to Adelaide for printing in readiness for the opening of the Bottle Store, which should be in the next seven to eight weeks.

More details on others when we have it.

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