| Crowlers vs. Growlers by Diana Joysen Hello Bob! I'm one of your loyal readers from Texas and I thought you and your readers might like to hear what's going on here in the battle of Crowlers v. Growlers. Don't laugh, it's a serious court case. A little more than a year ago, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) raided the Austin Cuvee Coffee Bar and seized its Crowler machine. I wasn't there but a friend of mine was and she said half the people were outraged and the other half were laughing since the whole thing just seemed so silly. At the time, the state’s alcohol control board had banned the use of Crowlers. Just for those who might not know, a Crowler is a 32 oz. sealed cans of to-go beer. I like it because a regular growler is just too much beer for me to finish before it loses its freshness. The TABC main argument was that (are they kidding?) bars offering Crowlers were acting as manufacturers. For quite a while these so called regulators had threatened to pull the sales licenses of bars that used the machine despite the fact that the state still permitted glass growlers to be filled. I didn't get their logic then and I still don't get it now. Well, finally some sanity has entered the picture. Last week, Texas administrative judge John Beeler struck a blow for logic and against the state’s case when he rendered a decision that totally refuted the state’s arguments. “There is no material difference between growlers and crowlers,” Beeler wrote in his decision. I'd say that's so clear even state bureaucrats can understand even if they don't agree with it. Judge Beeler went on to dissect the state’s claims that the use of crowlers “jeopardizes the general welfare, health and safety of the people” because “beer in crowlers is not properly oxidized, organisms can get into the product.” Bob, I couldn't make this stuff up. The Judge went on to say that “It appears disingenuous for (TABC) Staff to assert crowlers are dangerous to the public, unless they are sold at brewpubs,” So it's okay at a brewpub but not a bar?? Unfortunately it seems that Judge's Beeler’s decision that Cuvee wasn’t in violation of the law was limited to just the case at hand accoding to Cuvee’s attorney Angel Tomasino. He was quoted in our local newspaper as saying: “As of now, TABC has not changed their stance on crowlers, so they could still take action against other retailers — including Cuvee — if they find them using the crowler machine,That said, Judge Beeler’s opinion was fairly broad.” Huh? I'm guessing they see it as being the same if the bar was physically capping bottles, rather then using a screw cap or flip top, but honestly its really hard to tell how they will interpret things. The way the laws stand now it seems to me that only breweries and brewpubs can put beer in crowlers. Well then I hope that every brewery and brewpubI will buy cheap crowler machines now and then sell the crowlers to bars for resale. Take that TABC. That's it from me. I tried to be objective but I don't think I was. Sorry about that. Anyway, thanks Bob for listening. Hope your readers will find it interesting. ---------- Many thanks Diana for sending me your article. I agree with you that there isn't much difference between a crowler and a growler. Hope you get a chance to send another article in and update us on the issue. I'd like to invite everyone to send me their own columns about anything related to beer/drinking/booze just as Diana did. I select the best and publish them here. So join in and get writing. Cheers! Bob |
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