The Bar Towel

Hey guys,

Maybe someone can shed some light on this, because this goes against everything I know about growlers...

So I'm getting dinner ready just now when I notice at the bottom back of the fridge a growler of something from the granite...actually less than half - I'm thinking uh oh, how long has this been here. Trying to think of when I last bought growlers from the Granite and it occurs to me it's from the Grey Cup! November!

So I'm curious and try to open it only I can't. The lid is on real tight. Eventually I get it loose and a ton of gass gushes out...the beer is VERY carbonated. I think the carbonation was keeping the lid tight. Now not only is it still carbonated, but more carbonated than I ever remember a Granite growler being.

And it tastes pretty good, despite having a muted aroma...

I'm pretty sure they don't condition their growlers, so what's the deal, do you think? How is less than half a growler just as good, if not a little better after 3 months being half empty in my fridge?

Hopping Mad is one of their cask beers. Perhaps your growler was bottle conditioned?

LUCK! DUMB LUCK!

cattersley wrote:LUCK! DUMB LUCK!

Probably. Ron emailed me back and said that there's residual yeast in those growlers, so if the seal's tight enough...

Residual yeast because it was one of their cask beers, or residual yeast is found in all of their growlers?

midlife crisis wrote:Residual yeast because it was one of their cask beers, or residual yeast is found in all of their growlers?

I'm pretty sure they don't pasteurize any of their beers and their filtration may be as simple as cold conditioning, which will always leave some yeast in the beer. The assumption is the sugars are fermented out and the yeast will have nothing to do in the growler, but that would be under lab conditions. Anything can still happen.

The cask conditioned beers will definitely still be more 'alive'. Also, since the cask is exposed to air, there is a greater opportunity for infection, so I wouldn't keep those beers around for long.