Eco-Friendly Beer Drinking: Growlers Are Hot The New York Times

We had beer with dinner last night. It came in a bottle, from a six-pack we picked up at the grocery store. It was, we now realize, not the greenest choice we could have made. Instead, we should have been hunting for growlers.

If you don't know what a growler is, you're not alone. We didn't either. Growlers are reusable, refillable jugs that some breweries will fill with freshly brewed beer and sell. You can take a growler home, enjoy the beer, wash the jug, and take it back to be refilled.

Still don't get it? This New York Times article explains the phenomenon (which is apparently getting big in Brooklyn) pretty well. Growlers have been around for ages, but their rekindled popularity can probably be attributed to some things we really like: a sort of beer-fueled locavorism and eco-friendly, reusable packaging.

A little research and we realize we can get a growler at a brewery that's just a few blocks away from our apartment. So we'll be giving it a try.

Now, if only we could solve global warming by drinking beer the right way ...

(Image: Flickr member JoePhoto licensed for use under Creative Commons)

Comments (9)

Mad Anthony Brewery in Fort Wayne, IN has been doing this for years. It was great because for broke grad students you could refill your growler for less than the price of a 6 pack and enjoy any of their great microbrews. I highly recommend using them if your local brewery has them available - plus everybody gets a kick out of the girl who brings a jug of beer to the party.

Several pubs that brew their own beer in my city have growlers. They are great if the pub doesn't sell it's beers in stores or if it's a brew that available only in the pub.

The downside to growlers though is that the beer goes flat quickly after opening the growler for the first pour when you get it home. So you either have to drink it all in one sitting (bring friends) or cook with it when the rest of the bottle goes flat.

The Norwich Inn in Norwich, VT has great beers, growlers, and rocking chairs to enjoy a growler with amongst friends. In college we used to bike over and enjoy one and watch the sunset:
http://www.norwichinn.com/new-england-microbreweries.php

Not available for sale in some states :(

You mean normal bottles are not refilled down there? Wow! Here in Canada something like 97% of beer bottles come back and get refilled.

If you really want to go green with your beer or wine consumption, look for something brewed locally, with local ingredients. Probably nearly impossible in most places.

the pub down the street from our place has always had growlers - they will fill "almost any container" with beer and sell it to you. :) We usually prefer to drink ours directly from the pint at the pub, however! ;)

2nding Condo Blues's comment - growlers can be a better choice for the environment, but you run the risk of wasting beer, the brewing of which is probably almost as wasteful as the production of the bottles. Probably the greenest choice is just not drinking beer (says the fiance of a homebrewer).

Hopworks Urban Brewery in Portland! Hooray for the growlers.

Yeah, Growlers are hot and eco-friendly as well! My wife is a keen ecologist, she'll be so happy to see me return the beer bottles. Mark Tesman, proud member of Beer of the month clubs.