Growlers on Ontario compared to USA, what the hell?

cattersley · Post by **cattersley** » Fri Jun 24, 2011 4:11 pm

I bought 3 growlers from a brewpub in Niagara recently, drank them, and brought them to the USA during a road trip. Everywhere there from brewery to beerstore would gladly fill my growler for me. I called the Publican in Peterborough, and the Mill St. Brewpub in Toronto, and both told me that they wouldn't fill my growler for me, and I could not cash mine in for there's because they're growlers had there name edged in the glass and they wouldn't except other breweries generic growlers. What the f**k is up with Ontario. Does anyone no of brewpubs in Toronto, for a I am taking my Dad up for Craft beer week tomorrow that will fill my growlers?

Regards, cattersley.

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Fri Jun 24, 2011 4:30 pm

cattersley wrote:I bought 3 growlers from a brewpub in Niagara recently, drank them, and brought them to the USA during a road trip. Everywhere there from brewery to beerstore would gladly fill my growler for me. I called the Publican in Peterborough, and the Mill St. Brewpub in Toronto, and both told me that they wouldn't fill my growler for me, and I could not cash mine in for there's because they're growlers had there name edged in the glass and they wouldn't except other breweries generic growlers. What the f**k is up with Ontario. Does anyone no of brewpubs in Toronto, for a I am taking my Dad up for Craft beer week tomorrow that will fill my growlers?

Regards, cattersley.

I believe its an AGCO thing, mostly due to ABV labeling requirements

grub · Post by **grub** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 1:51 am

not just an ontario thing either - some states are really lax and will let anyone fill anything (like NY, with places like consumers doing random growler fills), others will only do brewery glass at the brewery itself (like ON), with lots of variation in between.

and just so you don't think ontario is bizarre: in florida, they can do 32oz and smaller growlers or 1gal and larger growlers (including 5gal kegs) - 64oz is strictly forbidden...

cattersley · Post by **cattersley** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 8:25 am

So does anyone in Toronto refill someones own growler???

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 8:29 am

cattersley wrote:So does anyone in Toronto refill someones own growler???

No, as is the case in all of Ontario, refills don't happen. Exchanges only occur with brewery branded glass

mintjellie · Post by **mintjellie** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 3:23 pm

What laws prevent this? If labelling is the reason, then why whont a handwritten sticky label stating the ABV suffice?

cattersley · Post by **cattersley** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 3:49 pm

That is exactly what was on the growler from Taps, just a paper label on a plain growler, no Taps logo embedded in the glass. One beer store I went to in the USA had 32 draught taps, and they would fill any growler, even the pop-top bottles, example, the Christoffel 2 litres from the LCBO. They have the same down there and are sold as a "professional" style growler for numerous reuse. Good lord, I wish I lived closer to the border! The breweries in Ontario are honestly shooting themselves in the balls with this ridiculous business policy!

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 4:11 pm

cattersley wrote:That is exactly what was on the growler from Taps, just a paper label on a plain growler, no Taps logo embedded in the glass. One beer store I went to in the USA had 32 draught taps, and they would fill any growler, even the pop-top bottles, example, the Christoffel 2 litres from the LCBO. They have the same down there and are sold as a "professional" style growler for numerous reuse. Good lord, I wish I lived closer to the border! The breweries in Ontario are honestly shooting themselves in the balls with this ridiculous business policy!

the breweries have no choice in the matter

Kel Varnsen · Post by **Kel Varnsen** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 5:26 pm

icemachine wrote:
cattersley wrote:So does anyone in Toronto refill someones own growler???
No, as is the case in all of Ontario, refills don't happen. Exchanges only occur with brewery branded glass

If this is the law I am kind of OK with this. I was in Victoria earlier in the year and my sister took me to the Phillips brewery to do a growler fill. I was kind of surprised that they just refilled the growler she had with fresh beer. If I was a brewer I would much rather take that bottle back and exchange it for a new one, since I would hate it if someone's opinion of my beer was based on how good they were at bottle cleaning. I am sure the professional bottle cleaning equipment at any brewery is better at cleaning, and getting the soap out of a growler than my kitchen sink is.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 7:40 pm

They are only allowed to sell pre-filled growlers as others have noted.

Ale's What Cures Ya · Post by **Ale's What Cures Ya** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 7:47 pm

Kel Varnsen wrote:
icemachine wrote:
cattersley wrote:So does anyone in Toronto refill someones own growler???
No, as is the case in all of Ontario, refills don't happen. Exchanges only occur with brewery branded glass
If this is the law I am kind of OK with this. I was in Victoria earlier in the year and my sister took me to the Phillips brewery to do a growler fill. I was kind of surprised that they just refilled the growler she had with fresh beer. If I was a brewer I would much rather take that bottle back and exchange it for a new one, since I would hate it if someone's opinion of my beer was based on how good they were at bottle cleaning. I am sure the professional bottle cleaning equipment at any brewery is better at cleaning, and getting the soap out of a growler than my kitchen sink is.

If someone is on board with buying a growler, I'm pretty sure they'll take care enough to clean it properly.

My Stone growler gets treated better than some of the world's children.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 8:25 pm

Ale's What Cures Ya wrote:

My Stone growler gets treated better than some of the world's children.

sadly this isnt really that much of an accomplishment

Ale's What Cures Ya · Post by **Ale's What Cures Ya** » Sat Jun 25, 2011 9:44 pm

matt7215 wrote:
Ale's What Cures Ya wrote:

My Stone growler gets treated better than some of the world's children.
sadly this isnt really that much of an accomplishment

True enough.

Cagiva650 · Post by **Cagiva650** » Sun Jun 26, 2011 10:00 am

When I was in the Czech Republic last year we were in a small town looking for Pivovar Matuska http://www.pivovarmatuska.cz/ We never found the brewery but the local sports pub at the soccer pitch sold us two 1.5 litre fruit juice bottles of the beer straight from the taps. He emptied the remaining fruit juice, rinsed out the bottles and filled them up from the taps. No problem

Gotta love the Czech Republic.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1 ... =754420523

The Matuska beers are in the clear bottles on the left.

The Great Gatsby · Post by **The Great Gatsby** » Sun Jun 26, 2011 1:32 pm

Cagiva650 wrote:When I was in the Czech Republic last year we were in a small town looking for Pivovar Matuska http://www.pivovarmatuska.cz/ We never found the brewery but the local sports pub at the soccer pitch sold us two 1.5 litre fruit juice bottles of the beer straight from the taps. He emptied the remaining fruit juice, rinsed out the bottles and filled them up from the taps. No problem
Gotta love the Czech Republic.

Yeah, Europe makes our ways seem so puritanical.

Brasserie 4:20 in Rome filled up an empty water bottle full of Cantillon Iris for my train ride to Florence; even gave me a glass to drink out of on the train.

The Bar Towel

Growlers on Ontario compared to USA, what the hell?

Growlers on Ontario compared to USA, what the hell?

Re: Growlers on Ontario compared to USA, what the hell?