Grrrrrrrowler...

I'd never heard of a growler until a few weeks ago - but they seem to be pretty popular in America. Buying a big glass jug and filling it up with beer and reusing the jug next time you want to buy something different.

I'd read on the internet that a new Duane Reade (a chain a bit like Boots) had opened in Williamsburg, on Bedford Avenue and that all the locals were very annoyed. All the Hipsters were trying to boycot it apparently, they wanted independant shops in their neighbourhood. So in an attemped to win the locals over, Duane Reade not only built a big walk-in-fridge section full of quirky beers (that all the Hipsters love, all brewed locally or within America, all with funny names), but they also build a growler filling station in the shop.

I saw some pictures on the internet and thought that the filling station and the branding on the growlers looked absolutely fantastic - it was called 'Brew York City' and was done really nicely, just white handwritten type on a dark brown/black jug.

So I set myself my own little mission whilst on my Walkabout, to find the particular Duane Reade that has the growlers and get one...

They had a great selection of local beers on tap - they had Blue Point (which is lovely) and some Six Point (which is brewed down near Ikea in Brooklyn) and a some Brooklyn Lager. I decided to go for the Brooklyn Summer Ale for mine.

The whole thing was really nicely done, all the shelves look great and the branding was great on the bottles. There was no sign of the Duane Reade branding on the bottles either, which was quite brave, but I'm sure very deliberate too. I'm not entirely sure how popular it's been, most people seemed to be going straight to the walk-in-fridge, but I was certainly very impressed.

I later went back to the apartment and enjoyed a jam jar or two...

Cheers!