Pump your gas while they fill your glass

DES MOINES, Iowa — Move over slushy machines. Gas stations and convenience stores are making room for a more adult beverage dispenser.

More gas stations want to sell beer on tap

I find this strangely amusing. Many gas stations already sell beer, but this good news for people who stay away from the yellow water, such as myself. Buy or bring your own growler and have it filled while you pump your gas. Might be the most "convenient" thing since sliced bread. Here's a clip about Missouri.

About 35 states allow retailers to sell the refillable, half-gallon glass jugs known as growlers, according to the Brewers Association, a national trade group, and several states, including Florida, Iowa and Missouri are considering laws to allow the practice.

Get with the times! I regularly fill multiple growlers and to think that certain states won't allow anything larger than half a gallon, even directly from the brewer is ridiculous,. There are draconian prohibition laws that big beer companies are desperately trying to keep in place to keep a growing minority of craft beer drinkers from filling up. Iowa is a good example of this.


Iowa could allow gas stations to fill growlers to go

Currently, Iowa uses a federally enforced, three-tier system to regulate the beer industry. That system's intent is to keep alcohol manufacturers, distributors and retailers separate, and the regulation dates back to the Prohibition Era.
Under that system, companies that make beer can't directly sell packaged beer to consumers. That worked out well in the age dominated by mega-brewers like Anheuser-Busch. But as the craft beer industry grows, smaller outlets who make and bottle their own brews want to sell it directly to their customers.

Here's the more idiotic part. The current law in Iowa lets brewers sell growlers onsite but brew pubs or restaurants that brew their own beer cannot sell it to their customers simply by how the law is worded. They must make their own beer on site, have it picked up by a distributor, only to be redelivered back to the same place that originally brewed it. Stupid and a waste of resources if you ask me. But, how else are you going to tax the crap out of something multiple times and get away with it?

That is the only way they can serve their own beer in their own restaurant. The flipside is, a brewery that can sell growlers onsite cannot serve food. Once again, another example of our loopy law system. Makes me want to crack a beer just thinking about it.

Opponents of the bill looking to level the playing field between brewers and distributors have put forth some pretty flimsy arguments. Not to mention there are those who are morally opposed to the easier and more convenient access to alcohol. I say, they're going to get their hands on it anyway.

"You're still dealing with a highly controlled product," he said. "You don't see drug manufacturers retailing prescription drugs. I think there's a distinction when you get into the sale of alcohol products, because they're highly regulated, and there are a lot of tax and revenue implications for the state in the sale of alcohol products. Wholesalers collect a lot of tax revenue for the state. The system has benefits, and it protects consumers, beyond the business implications."

Here's a thought, any tax revenue lost through distribution sales could easily be made up for by legalizing marijuana! A distributor's wet dream and the solution to any state facing chronic budget deficit's.


Some places ARE doing it right and one of the first large retail gas stations to adopt the idea was Sunoco. I just might have to change the place I get my gas.

Today, Sunoco fills growlers in 65 convenience stores in New York and South Carolina. Each has six to 12 beers on tap ranging from $8 to $20 per half-gallon. Customers can bring in an empty growler or buy one for about $4. Employees trained to work the taps fill and seal the growlers.

"The Growler Guys" have taken this a step further and even franchised the idea. They have ten locations in the northwest and their original store has more than thirty beers on tap. Craft beer is a labor of love and although the competition is fierce, brewers are more worried about how well their beer stands up to the rest of them.

In Irvine, Calif., a company called The Growler Station manufactures equipment that uses carbon-dioxide to keep beer fresh longer in growlers. Since 2012, the company has installed its patented growler-filling system in more than 100 gas stations, grocery stores and other shops.

I say, lets keep the ball rolling. I have two "Sip of Sunshine" by Lawson's Finest Liquids in my fridge and they will be drank in the name of helping the little guy take down Goliath. Do your taste buds a favor and support your local brewery.

Brewery Locator

List of breweries in the United States


Cheers!

The local PDs DUI arrest quota will be met regularly on the end of that Gas station street.

a reply to: zazzafrazz

These are pretty standard in my town. The good gas stations have Kombucha right next to the beer.

I can't imagine a person trying to drink out of a growler while driving, though. The beer that comes in a bottle is far more convenient for drinking while driving so I can't imagine this contributing to DUIs.

In the UK, if you walked into a shop and asked for some growler you'd be in for a bit of a surprise.

ETA: So, the wife and I are wondering, what do you call a lady garden in the states?

a reply to: skalla

Buckwheat in a leg lock?

a reply to: eisegesis

We really are two nations separated by a common language

It costs me about $ 100 to fill my 4wd tank in Western Australia if they gave me a beer while they were pillaging my bank account I'd probably quit bitching about it lol:devil