Beer Growlers

The Libby Glass outlet store had them when I was in just before Christmas. I know you can get them filled at Swiggs but not sure if you can bring your own bottles or have to buy theirs. I beleive the beer and wine cave on Heather downs as well but not 100% on that.

The oliver house has them, and yes your beer goes flat pretty quick with these. Gotta drink it fast! :)

Sellers of Growlers:

*Oliver House (Mutz/Maumee Bay Brewing) *- will fill any brand growler with their beer. (6.50 most fills on Thursday, growlers are $3 or $5)
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Beer and Wine Cave (Key/Heatherdowns) *- sell/fill any brand growlers with 1-2 beers on tap, fill prices vary by beer

*Swig (Perrysburg) *- will sell/fill only their growlers, fill prices vary by beer.
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Libbey Glass Factory Outlet *- no beer here, just growlers for $5 (search for 15-20% off coupons online)

Granite City Food and Brewery - purchase a (filled) growler any day. Get it refilled on Tuesdays and Thursdays for $6. I've had good luck with their beer not going flat too quickly - have kept it in the frig for a good 5 days.

If you're up for a little road trip, there is Zero Gravity microbrew in Milan, MI. It is close to exit 25 on US-23. Good stuff up there.

beer goes flat... but not that quickly. easy 3 days, maybe 4 days you should drink contents. really, with home-made brews and certain micro-brews not being pasturized, it is possibly going to spoil (flavor will decay) in about that time as well. titegemiers(sp?) in the south end has growlers and you can even get better sealing caps there that will help hold the carbonation. still... it is best to drink it fast!!!

EES - It will go flat long before there are spoilage issues. The alcohol content, in addition to refrigeration will prevent any spoiling. I would recommended that growlers be kept refrigerated at all times and their contents drank within about 4 hours from opening for best results. Some carbonation may be able to linger for a couple of days if the growler is quickly recapped. The beer will acquire a "wet cardboard" off-flavor as it oxidizes. "Skunking," which is caused by light, can be prevented through the use of a growler made from brown glass.

Libbey Glass may sell empties. However some places that fill will only fill their own.

Maumee Bay Brewing fills with their own beers and Swig in Perrysburg will fill at least with one of their beers, not sure about the rest.

Granite City Brewing, a chain restaurant at Fallen Timbers fills as well but they only use their ridiculously ornate and expensive growlers.

Your best bet is to drive to Detroit (I highly recommend Kuhnhenn's), Ann Arbor, or Cleveland. In fact in Parma (I think) there are gas stations and groceries that also fill growlers.

brainswell... i equate the begining of "spoiling" with the "flavor decay" that starts with oxidation - i think we were saying the same thing; this starts as soon as you first open a sealed beer (homebrew); carbonation loss will be the primary enemy of commerical/pasturized beers bought in growlers- also, the relatively low alcohol content of beer (compared to spirits) does make mold growth set in pretty quickly - certainly not in the first week however.

taliesin... if you are going to drive all the way to cleveland, wouldn't you go to great lakes brewery and get a growler of the specialty beers they don't regularly bottle? then go to the westside market!!

Flatrock Brewing out in Holgate, Ohio is doing 32 oz mason jars as 'mini growlers'. They have four on tap, including a couple of Belgian styles. I love the smaller size - I'm not hustling to get the entire growler downed before it goes flat!

Enjoy - Most defintely on both accounts (WSM is just plain fun to walk around, although it gets expensive since I apparently don't have much self control).

For Great Lakes Brewing, if you ever see Rackhouse on tap get as much as you can carry. Same goes for Barrel Aged Blackout or the Cherry Vanilla Eddy Fitz.

Another Cleveland area definite is the Brew Kettle. Their White Rajah is one of the highest ranked IPAs out there.