It was always our plan to get smaller Growler-like vessels for takeaway tap beers from The Local BottleStore & Provisions and Darlo Taphouse and they're now on the way! To be called Squealers (cleverly named by Ale Star and Hall of Famer, Steve Roberts), these 1 litre jugs will mean that you don't have to wait for a gathering of friends to drink a 2 litre Growler. You can down a Squealer on your own!
They will be available in about 6 weeks. Like the Growlers, there will be a one-off cost for the physical Squealer and then a charge for each refill.
As always, we are happy to fill growlers from any other businesses with only a small surcharge a $2 surcharge.
Great news this- 1 litre is a good size for me, less chance of the beer going flat!
ReplyDeleteWhat is the reason for the $2 surcharge? Surely it is just as easy to fill someone else's growler and the money you make is on the liquid inside the growler. In fact, if the experience that Slowbeer is anything to go by, you should be grateful that people are using other growlers to save you from running out.
ReplyDeleteHey Anon,
ReplyDeleteWe invest a lot of money in our own growlers and squealers and in order to get a return on that investment we place a tiny surcharge on filling other people’s growlers and one litre bottles to encourage our customers to buy ours. You could consider it a similar concept to corkage at a BYO and licensed restaurant – if you choose to bring your own wine rather than buy theirs, there is a fee. Only in the case of a BYO restaurant, it's often a much more significant amount.
We also have no idea of the condition someone else's growler has been kept in and need to clean the growler prior to filling.
Hope that helps.
Fair enough Steve, it still seems to go against the trend I observed in the US (and also at places like Murray's and Slowbeer) where the growler is sold at close to cost given that the growler is necessary to buy the beer.
ReplyDeleteWhile it is absolutely your right to charge such a surcharge, I see it as unusual and something that I wouldn't want to see become a trend. As for the condition of the growler, you have no idea about the condition of one of your own growlers that is being reused so that argument is spurious.
Cheers DG. Like many others, we sell the physical growlers at $15 which is not far off cost anyway. The cost to one business depends on printing, size of order etc. Murrays get very large orders I think.
ReplyDeleteNothing is ever set in stone so we will see how this goes. As my wife says to me, it's our prerogative if we change our mind!