Growler Fill Question

vraiblonde

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
All of them, right? I ASSume that any brewplace will fill your personal growler. Try Ruddy Duck - I'll bet you they will.
 
glhs837

glhs837

Power with Control
I know Ruddy Duck Solomons, and Twist. You might need the standard alcohol warning and clearing labels. Maybe not. Required in Calvert, but they might not care. Twist has a special on I think Wed night. There are other places that can fill, but I have not verified any of them personally to fill growlers
 
lovinmaryland

lovinmaryland

Well-Known Member
vraiblonde said:
All of them, right? I ASSume that any brewplace will fill your personal growler. Try Ruddy Duck - I'll bet you they will.
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You would think that but no unfortunately its not the case. There is some law apparently that Maryland Breweries are only allowed to fill growlers that are purchased and marked in the state of Maryland. We have growlers from several out of state breweries that no one will fill. I'm not even sure why that is a law but whatever. Also some places will only fill their growlers...obviously a ploy to make more $$
 
lucky_bee

lucky_bee

RBF expert
lovinmaryland said:
Is it their growler? Because we tried to take a growler from Mullys and from Ruddy to have them fill and they said they only filled their growlers.
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well, shoot. IDK now. He only has like 6 different growlers, most he's picked up at various breweries in his travels outside of SOMD, but one is an ABC one.... I swear I see the others full and in the fridge from time to time, but you're probably right. Sorry for the misinformation :blushing:
 
lovinmaryland

lovinmaryland

Well-Known Member
lucky_bee said:
well, shoot. IDK now. He only has like 6 different growlers, most he's picked up at various breweries in his travels outside of SOMD, but one is an ABC one.... I swear I see the others full and in the fridge from time to time, but you're probably right. Sorry for the misinformation :blushing:
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No worries just wondered if they had changed their rules. We do the same thing when we are out of town, visit a local brewery and get a growler...we started amassing a nice collection. We haven't done it much lately though because we can't find anyone to fill them :duh:
 
GWguy

GWguy

*
lucky_bee said:
well, shoot. IDK now. He only has like 6 different growlers, most he's picked up at various breweries in his travels outside of SOMD, but one is an ABC one.... I swear I see the others full and in the fridge from time to time, but you're probably right. Sorry for the misinformation :blushing:
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Maybe he empties one into another, then goes back for another fill?
 
lucky_bee

lucky_bee

RBF expert
lovinmaryland said:
No worries just wondered if they had changed their rules. We do the same thing when we are out of town, visit a local brewery and get a growler...we started amassing a nice collection. We haven't done it much lately though because we can't find anyone to fill them :duh:
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His collection is pretty nice too, keep a few displayed around the kitchen and living room.

GWguy said:
Maybe he empties one into another, then goes back for another fill?
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He doesn't drink enough to do that. Maybe a glass or two a week. Maybe he's just emptying the ABC one into another just to use it for his own personal amusement - something different :lol: I don't question these things anymore.
 
glhs837

glhs837

Power with Control
lovinmaryland said:
You would think that but no unfortunately its not the case. There is some law apparently that Maryland Breweries are only allowed to fill growlers that are purchased and marked in the state of Maryland. We have growlers from several out of state breweries that no one will fill. I'm not even sure why that is a law but whatever. Also some places will only fill their growlers...obviously a ploy to make more $$
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So, barring statewide laws, it's devolved upon the counties to make there own rules regarding this. Calvert's requires the cleaning and surgeons general warning labels, and allows places to refuse to fill ones that are not theirs, and does have the restriction that they must be from in-state breweries. Which is stupid, very few places, if they mark them at all, mark them with what freaking state they are from. My Craft Brew Exchange one from South Carolina doesn't mention that it's from there. My Bavarian Barbarian one from a one man brewery in PA that's since shut down doesn't. My two from Charlottesville, ones marked Devils Backbone, one unmarked at all, but neither gives a state My two Ruddy Duck ones don't mention they are from Maryland. Do they keep a up to date list of all breweries in Maryland, of course not. St Mary's I don't think they have actually adopted one yet. Which means each place can do what they wish.

lucky_bee said:
ABC liquor store will. My guy takes his over there all the time. Same plaza as Nicoletti's.
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lovinmaryland said:
Is it their growler? Because we tried to take a growler from Mullys and from Ruddy to have them fill and they said they only filled their growlers.
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All reports I have says that ABC only fills their own. Part of the profit center. They will use the excuse that since they use a machine that pressure fills vice a bartender, I think that's BS. The machine is designed to fill a standard 64oz glass growler. And it contains the growler inside a protective case.

EDIT: Might be, LM, if your man is a known quantity, a "friend of the bar" sort of guy, they might do that for him.
 
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lovinmaryland

lovinmaryland

Well-Known Member
glhs837 said:
So, barring statewide laws, it's devolved upon the counties to make there own rules regarding this. Calvert's requires the cleaning and surgeons general warning labels, and allows places to refuse to fill ones that are not theirs, and does have the restriction that they must be from in-state breweries. Which is stupid, very few places, if they mark them at all, mark them with what freaking state they are from. My Craft Brew Exchange one from South Carolina doesn't mention that it's from there. My Bavarian Barbarian one from a one man brewery in PA that's since shut down doesn't. My two from Charlottesville, ones marked Devils Backbone, one unmarked at all, but neither gives a state My two Ruddy Duck ones don't mention they are from Maryland. Do they keep a up to date list of all breweries in Maryland, of course not. St Mary's I don't think they have actually adopted one yet. Which means each place can do what they wish.





All reports I have says that ABC only fills their own. Part of the profit center. They will use the excuse that since they use a machine that pressure fills vice a bartender, I think that's BS. The machine is designed to fill a standard 64oz glass growler. And it contains the growler inside a protective case.
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Typically we've been turned down when they see the brand/label, ones we have from Founders, Sweetwater, Half Acre, etc... are spotted right away smaller local places in different states they inspect. We even tried wearing our growler covers but they didnt go for that :lol: I'm not sure its just a calvert thing because we took one to Franklins and they wouldn't fill it either saying it had to be made in Maryland :rolleyes:
 
glhs837

glhs837

Power with Control
See, it gets into a mess when the state sets a loose law that basically says. Yep, you can sell growler licenses for the following sorts of businesses. And leaves it at that. So each county then decides what it's local regulations look like.

http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/news/local/ph-cc-growler-law-20140918-story.html

According to the above, Anne Arundel actually restricts it to places within the county. Why? Because the local board decided that the regular SG alcohol health warning and the regular cleaning instructions were not good enough. they require additional wording about keeping the beer cold. Without that, it's not legal for any filler in AA county to put beer in your growler.

Now, over in Carol County, it looks like this....the local inspector says as long as it has the regular cleaning and SG health stuff, and, and this is important, the name of where it came from, even out of state ones are good to go.

http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/news/local/ph-cc-growler-law-20140918-story.html

It's a firkin mess.
 
John Z

John Z

if you will
Maybe we need a growler with the logos of all state and regional brewery names as well as all the applicable warning labels from the area. I'm sure that would be rejected by every brewery, but it would be funny to see. Kind of a waste to have to purchase a growler or two for each brewery that you might visit in the area.

Another growler annoyance is that many places price a growler fill to not be terribly competitive with bottle/can prices. Some places, like Calvert, IIRC, has typical craft beers at $14/fill. That is like a six-pack of 12 oz cans/bottles for $15.75. I know you feel cool and all getting a growler, and some products are brewhouse-only (not packaged for stores), but it is a pricey proposition.
 
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