Growlers bring that brewpub taste home

Ed McAleer likes to drink his brown ale and IPA straight from a beer tap. But he doesn't need to be in a pub to do so.

When he has a hankering for a draft beer at home, McAleer pours himself a cold one from a growler, a refillable 64-ounce glass jug that he buys from Federal Jack's, a brewpub and restaurant in his hometown of Kennebunkport, Maine. If he's having friends over, he'll sometimes pick up two or three growlers filled with different types of beer so his guests can sample a variety.

Around the country, hundreds of brewpubs, breweries and even grocery stores are cashing in on the growing popularity of growlers, a term that dates back more than a century. when people would carry fresh beer in buckets.

“I like the ability to get a draft taste instead of a bottled beer. To me it's a fresher taste,” said McAleer, 61, who is retired. “I also can't get some of the beers in bottles. And the price is good.”

Most everybody knows beer comes in bottles, cans or kegs. Mention the word “growler” and you might get a blank stare.

But the moonshine jug-looking containers are catching on, said Julia Herz of the Brewers Association in Boulder, Colo. Generally speaking, people buy growlers at brewpubs, where they're filled with beer and capped. After they're brought home, the beer will stay good for two to five days once opened.

In the Chicago area, beer lovers can get them in a number of suburban spots — from Mickey Finn's Brewery in Libertyville to Rock Bottom Brewery in Lombard.

Consumers like growlers because they're green — they're reusable and don't contribute to the waste stream — they're good for sharing with friends and the beer is less expensive than buying pints at a pub, Herz said. They're also nostalgic. The pails that people used to haul beer from a pub to home or to work in times long past became known as growlers because of the growling sound they emitted as the beer sloshed about or perhaps from the growling of a worker's hungry stomach just before he enjoyed a beer with his lunch.

But it's the taste that keeps people coming back, Herz said on a recent day when she had a growler filled with 400-Pound Monkey, an English-style IPA made by Left Hand Brewing Co. in Longmont, Colo., in her refrigerator at home.

“What's nice about the growler is you pour it into the glass, and that's the proper way to enjoy all that a beer has to offer for flavor and aroma,” Herz said.

In Pittsburgh, Scott Smith started the East End Brewing Co. seven years ago, making small-batch beers that he sold in kegs to bars and restaurants. Nowadays, growler sales make up about half of his sales, with customers showing up at his brewery — he doesn't have a brewpub — at limited hours five days a week to get jugs full of his Big Hop IPA, Fat Gary Nut Brown Ale and other varieties so they can drink his beer at home without having to buy a keg.

A couple of years ago, Smith was buying growlers in batches of 2,000 and they'd last for about three months. He now buys 4,000 at a time, which last about two months.

“With growlers, you're getting the freshest beer you can get short of putting your head under the tank at the brewery,” Smith said. “You're getting the freshest beer we can manage to get to you without giving you the keys to the place for you to come in and drink at will.”

Customers also like the prices, Smith said. His growler bottles sell for $3 apiece and refills cost $10 to $15 each, so people can enjoy a pint of high-quality draft beer for about $4, he said.

Herz, with the Brewers Association, expects growler sales to continue growing as new technology develops that will give growlers a better seal to keep the beer fresh for a longer time.

“It's a big part of the brewpub movement,” she said.

Here is a sampling of local microbreweries that sell growlers:

• Emmett's Ale House in Palatine, West Dundee and Downers Grove

• Gordon Biersch Brewery in Bolingbrook

• Mickey Finn's Brewery and Restaurant in Libertyville

• The Ram Restaurant and Brewpub in Rosemont, Schaumburg and Wheeling

• Rock Bottom Brewery in Lombard

• Stockholm's Brewpub in Geneva

• Two Brothers Tap House in Warrenville

• Two Brothers Roundhouse in Aurora