Mad Giant growlers ready to take home
A few months ago, a fellow twittererer suggested I write a post on where to get your growler filled up (thanks @SeanTick). So here, at last, it is! For those that don’t know, a growler is a somewhat piratey, flagon-like refillable container (usually made of glass) that you take to your local and get filled up with fresh draught beer. You can buy them at certain homebrew stores, a few liquor stores and at a happily growing number of breweries. It’s reusable and therefore environmentally friendly and generally offers a way better deal than buying bottles (or in some cases, even better than drinking draught at the brewery). Breweries will wash and often sanitise your growler before filling, but be sure to give it a good clean before you set off.
Note there are two ways that people in SA are currently filling growlers – either straight from the tap or from a specially built growler station. The former has a shorter fridge life (read: drink the same day) and will likely go flat if left undrunk, while those which have been purged of C02 and filled carefully can last a few days in the fridge. Generally though, if you’re filling up a growler, you’re probably heading to a braai or else you want to continue the draught beer fun when you get home. Who these people are who have growlers full of ale sitting in their fridge for a week, I do not know.
Without further ado, here’s a list of places to fill up a growler in South Africa. Please get in touch if your establishment fills growlers and want to be added to the list.
Eastern cape
Richmond Hill Brewing Co., Port Elizabeth
Gauteng
At Hops End, Modderfontein
Copperlake, Lanseria
Pick n Pay on Nicol, Johannesburg (fills of RedRock Brewing Co)
KwaZulu Natal
Hillcrest Tops at Spar, Hillcrest
Nottingham Road Brewing Co., Nottingham Road (5L kegs also available)
Stumpnose Brewery, Kloof
Mpumalanga
Riverside Tops at the Grove, Nelspruit
Western Cape
Afro Caribbean, Kenilworth
Aegir Project, Constantia and Noordhoek
Biggest Little Beer Shop, Belville
Black Eagle, Langebaan
Brewers Co-op, Woodstock
Hey Joe, Franschhoek
Jack Black, Diep River
Route 62, Montagu
Shackleton, Salt River
Soul Barrel, Simondium
Woodstock Brewery, Woodstock
