64 ounce growlers—the refillable bottles used for beer—are now legal in Florida after a three year legislative campaign.
Roger Beck is watching while a bartender at Tallahassee’s Growler Country fills his new half-gallon growler.
“I’m a growler enthusiast and have been since they opened up shop,” Beck says.
And he’s not kidding—Beck’s got three growlers loaded into a padded cooler.
“What I got filled today was a Swamphead oatmeal stout,” Beck says, before adding, “And then I missed the Tamoca brewing feature on Sunday, so I came and got two of the Tamoca brewing company’s beers. One is a wheat beer and one is a porter.”
At tap rooms across the state, beer lovers are filling the oversized bottles. In recent years growlers have become popular among the craft brewing set as a way to get fresh or hard to find brews. From the brewers perspective it’s a way to experiment with one-off styles that won’t be brewed in large enough quantities to justify commercial bottling. For Growler Country’s owner Mike Carbonell it means a busy day.
“I believe the first one was Six Point Sweet Action—which is a cream ale—a good cream ale from them,” Carbonell says.
To mark the occasion, they’ve made commemorative bottles.
“So what we’ve got is a 64 ounce screw top with a phenolic cap, that actually has a nice seal on it, that’s comparable to the swing tops but a good price,” Carbonell says. “We’ve got the American flag on it, and it says sixty four ounces to freedom 2015 with our logo. It came out pretty good. It’s a pretty snazzy growler.”
And perhaps fittingly state lawmakers freed the growler just in time for Independence Day.
