Whether they’re watching a ball game, dining out at a restaurant or checking out the newest brewery in town, there’s no denying Americans love their beer.
Fourteen percent of Americans drink beer once a week and American consumers aged 21 and older consumed 27.5 gallons of beer and cider per person during 2015. Furthermore, a 2016 Gallup Poll found that 43 percent of legal drinkers prefer beer over wine and spirits.
The growing popularity of the craft beer market has increased beer’s popularity as well. The U.S. craft beer market is worth $23.5 billion and small and independent brewers now represent 12 percent market share of the overall beer industry. In 2015 alone, the number of operating breweries grew 15 percent to 4,269-the most at any time in American history.
As the craft beer industry continues to grow, Americans are flocking to breweries to try the latest and greatest brews. Seasonal beer is a popular draw in the craft beer market and eighty four percent of craft beer customers like to choose their beer depending on the season. To enjoy your favorite seasonal beer a little longer, a growler is becoming a must-have for beer connoisseurs.
What is a growler you ask? A growler is an air-tight jug that allows you to transport larger quantities of beer without a loss of quality. Think of it as the ultimate thermos for your favorite beer. There are many types of growlers including glass growlers, stainless-steel growlers and ceramic growlers. A glass growler is the most popular because its widely available and you can see through it, which helps during the filling process.
Aside from their usefulness, there are plenty of other reasons why a growler is awesome:
- Easy Transport: As previously mentioned, growlers are a great way to carry beer while maintaining the quality of the suds. A 64 oz growler is a popular size, but 32 oz containers, also called howlers, are also available. Even when filled, growlers aren’t too heavy and they have a handle, so they’re easy to carry around.
- Drinking locally: Owning a growler gives you plenty of opportunity to visit a neighborhood brewery and fill up on the local offerings. Be sure to check with a brewery beforehand to see whether or not it’ll fill up your growler, but if they do you can bring it in and enjoy beer fresh from the source when you get home. Love the local watering hole’s summer blend? Looking for a way to enjoy that dark ale all winter long? Grab a growler and head to a local brewery.
- Sharing: As the craft beer market has grown, so has the popularity of home brewing. When your homebrew is finished, bottling it is an easy option, but so is storing it in a growler. Storing it this way means you won’t lose the quality of your homebrew and also allows you to share it a lot easier. If you want to share your homebrew with friends and family, it’s far easier to transport it in a growler instead of bottling it.
- Collecting: Much like baseball cards and stamps are popular for children, collecting growlers has some popularity among beer enthusiasts. Collecting growlers gives beer drinkers a chance to remember what breweries they’ve visited or what beers they’ve tried. Plus growlers can be colorful and just plain fun to collect. For beer lovers, a growler collection is not only useful for storing beer, but collecting them can add more enjoyment to your experience of traveling and tasting new brews.
- Tapping New Kegs: At parties, kegs can empty fast and rather than draining one to its last drops, growlers can help. As a key nears emptiness, pour the remaining beer into a keg and tap a new one. This ensures that no beer goes to waste and keeps the suds flowing without having to take a break to tap a new keg.
Visiting local brewers to taste the latest beer flavors can be a blast, but if you’re looking to enjoy that limited edition flavor a little long or want to share your favorite flavor with friends, growlers are the way to go.