As craft beers grow in popularity, customers are looking for more ways to take a fresh-from-the-tap brew home. Enter the growler – a 64-ounce glass container made craft beers portable. But like all inventions, there was room for improvement. Enter the crowler – a 32-ounce aluminum can be filled and sealed at the tap. Customers have a fresh-from-the-tap taste, with all the convenience of a traditional six-pack can.
Crowlers have taken the craft brewing industry by storm so it was only natural that Dick’s Brewing Company would make sure they had the machine to meet their customer’s needs.
“I had seen crowlers around at different breweries and loved the idea right away,” says Dave Pendleton, co-owner of Dick’s Brewing Company. Julie, Dave’s wife and co-owner of Dick’s Brewing, was excited about the idea because she knew it was something the customers would love.
Crowler Benefits
Dave and Julie say there are a lot of advantages to the crowler, over a growler.
- Cans are not breakable like glass growlers.
- Crowlers are easy to recycle.
- Beer stays fresher longer because the process removes the air. With growlers, beer is only fresh for a day or two before it starts to oxidize. You can still drink it, but it starts to go flat and the flavor changes.
- Crowlers are easy to pack.
- A crowler is a smaller size making it better for an individual to consume. And, since it’s less beer, it can be consumed quicker so you won’t have wasted beer.
Going on a plane? Machine-sealed aluminum cans do not leak on planes – great news for tourists wanting to take back a taste of the Pacific Northwest or for delivering a gift to out-of-town relatives. “Because it’s a can, it’s so much easier to take anywhere,” says Dave. “Our customers are very active and the machine allows them to take our beers with them hiking, camping, boating – whatever it is they like to do.”
Julie adds that she and Dave take crowlers camping and find them so convenient. “With the larger cans we just open one and share it,” she says. “We don’t have to worry about breaking glass at the campsite accidently or packing the empties carefully so they don’t break on the trip home.”
The taste is another big perk to buying beer in crowlers. While canned beer at the store is just as convenient, you do not know how long it has been in the can, sitting on a warm shelf. “I don’t particularly care for beer in the can because it tastes funny to me,” says Julie. “With the crowler, because its fresh beer off the tap and it hasn’t been sitting in the can long, you don’t notice that aluminum taste.”
For Dick’s Brewing Company fans, one of the biggest advantages to their new crowler machine, however, is getting a chance to take home those specialty, small-batch beers that are never bottled. “We offer several beers that are fresh-on-tap at Northwest Sausage & Deli and the Brewery Tasting Room that customers could only get there,” says Julie. “Now, with the crowlers at the brewery, it gives us another avenue for getting our products to the consumer.”
Dick’s Brewing Company’s new crowlers will have special labeling. Be one of the first to fill a crowler with your favorite beer at the Crowler Release Party on Friday, September 1 from 3:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Then, on September 16, come to Dick’s Brewing Company for their annual Cornhole Tournament & Sausage Fest. The event takes place from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Cost is $20 per two-person team with pre-registration or $30 when signing up on the event date. Proceeds will benefit Centralia Community Foundation. For more information visit the Dick’s Brewing Company website and follow on Facebook.
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