Where to fill up a growler in South Africa

mad giant growlers

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

 

10 Comments

  1. Thandi

    Hey hey! there’s a few other places in Gauteng: Norman Goodfellows in Illovo and Blue Bottle Liquors in Kyalami come to mind. They’re running the EZ Growler stations.

    Reply
    • Lucy Corne

      Do they also sell growlers? i have emailed some of the liquor stores in Gauteng but no one replied 🙁

      Reply
      • Atron Seige

        Yes, they do sell. Obviously the growler will depend on who owns the stand. With Growler Brewing you get their branded glass bottles, with EZ you can get glass or their very pretty metal growlers.

        Reply
  2. Thandi

    Tops! Radiokop have also got a station through Growler Brewing. I’m dying to see the full Gauteng list. Can’t tell you how happy Growlers make me!

    Reply
  3. Atron Seige

    Spar Tops Radiokop (Growler Brewing Co) and Overland Liquors Rock Cottage (EZ Growler)

    Reply
    • Lucy Corne

      Thanks Jaco – I have already emailed both waiting to hear what the deal is, price wise, and if growlers are on sale but no response yet…

      Reply
    • Lucy Corne

      Thanks Jaco – I have emailed both waiting to hear what the deal is, price wise, and if growlers are on sale but no response yet…

      Reply
  4. andrew

    Stone Circle brewery – Solan Road Gardens – Cape Town

    Reply
  5. Willem

    Birkenhead Brewery In Stanford Western Cape sells and fills growlers as well.

    Beer be with you.

    Reply
  6. Jana

    Filled up at Triggerfish last week, 3l for R90, phoned quite a few other breweries today, all want to charge sit down draught prices x 6, hopefully some more folks come to the table soon.

    Reply

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  1. How to enjoy your beer while social distancing - The Brewmistress - […] If you’re social distancing but not self-isolating, pop into your local brewery for a growler fill. That way you…

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