The fight to fill growlers to the half-gallon mark is still underway in Florida. But while current bills are moving through state government, craft beer brewers are losing their spirits about the legal size of containers they can sell.
A growler is a portable, reusable jug that is filled with beer, usually from craft breweries. They can be legally sold in Florida in 32-ounce and 128-ounce containers.
However, it is illegal to sell any container size in between, prohibiting the 64-ounce growler, an industry standard that is the preferred size in the 47 other states where it is legal.
Because Florida operates on a three-tier brewing system, brewers are required to sell to distributors first, who are then allowed to sell beer to consumers. Growlers act as a legal way for breweries to sell directly to their consumers without the middleman.
Ben Radich, the store manager of Tipple’s Brews, said because growlers don’t have long shelf lives and lose carbonation, the 64-ounce jug is the perfect size to share — the main reason it is preferred.
“It’s basically two beers for two people,” he said. “It’s the feasible amount of beer for the lifespan of a growler.”
Radich said the law that prohibits half-gallon growlers is “antiquated” and left over from the Prohibition era.
“It seems kind of silly,” he said. “You can get two quarts filled, but you can’t fill one vessel with that equal amount.”
Mike Halker, the president of the Florida Brewers Guild, an organization that advocates for craft beer and the rights of craft breweries, agreed. He said the 64-ounce growler is the “Goldilocks size.”
When the law was set in place for container size, growlers weren’t a consideration, Halker said. It was mostly set in motion to control the market so that certain companies wouldn’t be allowed to sell popular beers in alternate container sizes. This is also the reason 40-ounce beers are illegal in Florida.
Andy Bielecki, the bar manager of local Swamp Head brewery, said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the bills moving through state government.
“It’s a little frustrating that we’re not in line with the rest of the nation,” he said. “We’ve seen this in the past … We’re holding our breath to see what’s going to happen.”
Halker said Florida’s system is outdated. Despite the guild’s efforts to change the law to allow half-gallon growlers, controversy remains prevalent.
In a recent article from the Associated Press, Florida Senate President Don Gaetz said he supports whatever beer policies his friend Lewis Bear, an Anheuser-Busch InBev distributor, advises him to support.
This time, it is to ensure that 64-ounce growlers remain illegal.
Bielecki said he’s frustrated with Gaetz because he isn’t fully informed. To combat that, some breweries are spearheading campaigns to help him understand the brewers’ side.
“I’m hoping that he will listen,” Bielecki said.
Halker said he is “disgusted” because Gaetz doesn’t care or understand what he’s voting on. Instead, he’s simply supporting his friend’s cause.
“Now we have this gigantic opposition in Tallahassee,” he said.
Halker said that while the Florida Beer Wholesalers Association cites overconsumption as one of the main reasons it doesn’t support the legal sale of half-gallon containers, it doesn’t make sense because brewers are allowed to sell gallon growlers.
“We can’t get a good reason from them because there is no good reason,” he said. “Whatever answers they give don’t make any sense — they’re just going to keep their foot on us.”
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 3/24/2014 under the headline "Brewers still battling state for half-gallon growlers"]
