Growlers – Q & A

December 3, 2011

Many of you have asked about growlers so I thought I’d answer all the questions we have received to hopefully answer all the lingering questions out there.

What is a growler?  A growler is a 64 ounce / ½ gallon glass jug that we fill with your favorite NoDa brews for you to take home (or elsewhere) and enjoy.  Per NC law, growlers are to be consumed off-premise and cannot be opened in the brewery.

Why is the container called a growler?  According to Wikipedia, the term likely dates back to the late 19th century when fresh beer was carried from the local pub to one’s home by means of a small galvanized pail.  Often the inside of the pail would be coated with lard to decrease foam and allow for slightly more beer to be in the pail.  It is claimed the sound that the CO₂ made when it escaped from the lid as the beer sloshed around sounded like a growl.

After purchasing a growler, how long is the beer good for?  As long as you do not open the lid and the growler remains refrigerated, it will stay fresh for at least 7 days.  Once the growler cap is unscrewed, letting the carbonation escape, drink it within 24 hours. 

What is the cost?  The NoDa glass growler itself is purchased for $6 and then the fill / refill cost is $12 – $15 depending upon style.  For refills, all you do is bring in your empty NoDa growler and we’ll fill it up for you.  Click on the Tap Room tab on our website to find out which styles are available for growler sales.  www.nodabrewing.com/tap-room

Why is Hop, Drop ‘n Roll IPA not available for growler sales?  Hop, Drop ‘n Roll is made with two of the hardest to obtain hops, Citra & Amarillo.  We have been able to secure enough Amarillo hops for future batches, but are having issues finding Citra.  

Recently we have found a very small amount of Citra hops that became available to home brewers.  We were more than willing to pay 3 times the normal price paid by professional brewers to obtain enough for one 15 bbl (465 gallons) batch.  Unfortunately, even this supply has dried up.  With that being the case, we want our current inventory of HDR to last as long as possible and if we would have sold it in growlers, I can guarantee you it would have been gone within a week. 

The good news is a brewery in Oregon, Full Sail Brewing, is kind enough to sell us enough Citra hops to brew two more batches.  We should be receiving this supply in the next couple weeks.  MAD props to them for being willing to help out a start-up brewery.  This is just one of the many reasons craft brewing is the coolest industry to be a part of!  They recently began selling their beer in Charlotte so next time you are out wanting to try a new brew, please give them a try.

So, maybe down the road we will offer Hop, Drop ‘n Roll in growlers.  It all depends upon hop availability. 

Can you fill other breweries growlers?  By NC law we can fill other breweries’ growlers but for a small brewery, it is cost prohibitive.  We would have to relabel the other growler with a waterproof sticker.  This sticker must include all our brewery’s information plus all the required legal notifications. 

In addition to relabeling with the required info, we would have to remove, deface or cover all the other brewery’s information prior to adding our label.  Seems somewhat simple but large waterproof stickers that would cover a full growler are pricey in the limited quantities we would need.

Below is part of the NC ABC code relating to growlers:

(c) Holders of a brewery permit that have retail permits pursuant to G.S. 18B-1001(2), may refill customer’s growlers provided a label is affixed to the growler that accurately provides the information as required by 04 NCAC 02T .0303 and .0305.

(d) Breweries that refill growlers sold by other breweries shall relabel the growler prior to filling it with malt beverage.

(e) Breweries that refill growlers sold by other breweries shall remove, deface or cover any permanent or non-permanent labels prior to affixing a new label.

Hope this answers most of the questions floating around.  If not, please ask.  We appreciate everyone’s support in the tap room and around town at your local watering hole!  You have made our first 5 weeks in existence absolutely wonderful.  You guys are the best!!!