Today’s craft beer world offers more convenience and more choices than ever before. Fresh cans of beer are available almost everywhere, and breweries have become remarkably sophisticated in packaging and distribution.

Still, it’s hard not to feel a little nostalgic when spotting a dusty growler tucked away on a shelf in the basement. It’s a reminder of an era when craft beer seemed so much more exciting and vital. For a generation of beer lovers, it wasn’t just a container. It was part of the adventure

There was a time when no self-respecting craft beer fan left the brewery empty-handed. Before four-packs of hazy IPA filled every supermarket cooler and before breweries shipped fresh beer across the country, there was one simple way to bring draft beer home. You grabbed a growler.

For much of the craft beer boom in the late 2000s and early 2010s, the growler became a symbol of the movement itself. It represented local beer, fresh beer, and the idea that the best beer came directly from the brewery tap.

But that familiar amber jug has largely disappeared from taproom counters. Some breweries still fill them (more in the Pacific Northwest), but most have gone the way of the fax machine.

So what happened?

The growler actually has a much longer history than you might think. The name dates back to the late 1800s, when workers carried fresh beer home from neighborhood saloons in galvanized metal pails. Legend has it the beer sloshing against the lid made a growling sound on the walk home, giving the container its memorable nickname.

Modern growlers made a comeback decades later as America’s craft beer renaissance gained momentum. Usually holding 64 ounces, they gave small breweries a practical way to sell beer for off-premise consumption without investing in expensive bottling or canning equipment. Customers could sample a favorite draft beer at the brewery, then take the equivalent of about five pints home.

It was a win for everyone. Breweries generated additional sales with relatively little investment, and beer lovers got access to the freshest beers that more often than not, couldn’t be found anywhere else.

The experience became part of the fun. Many brewery taprooms  sold branded glass growlers as part of their beer gear. Craft beer pilgrims built collections from breweries they visited on vacations, road trips, or weekend beer adventures.

The growler also reinforced one of craft beer’s biggest selling points. Freshness mattered. IPAs were best consumed quickly, and many breweries encouraged customers to drink their freshly filled growlers within a few days after opening.

But as craft beer evolved, the growler’s limitations became harder to ignore.

For starters, oxygen is beer’s enemy. Every growler fill introduced some air into the container, and once the cap came off, the countdown began. Unless several friends were gathered around, finishing 64 ounces before the beer lost carbonation or freshness could be a challenge.

The containers themselves weren’t exactly convenient either. Glass growlers were heavy, awkward to carry, and notoriously easy to break. Nearly every longtime craft beer fan has a story about a prized growler slipping from their hands and exploding in a parking lot or kitchen floor.

Sanitation created another hurdle. Breweries needed to ensure every customer-owned growler was properly cleaned before refilling it. Different state regulations complicated matters even further, with some jurisdictions restricting refills from other breweries or imposing strict labeling requirements.

Then came the craft beer canning revolution.

As canning technology became dramatically more affordable, and craft beer in cans, more acceptable, small breweries embraced aluminum at an astonishing pace. Cans kept beer fresher, protected it from light, traveled better, and were easier for retailers and consumers alike. Four-packs and mixed packs offered convenience and retail value that growlers simply couldn’t match.

Consumer habits shifted as well.

Craft drinkers increasingly sought variety over volume. Rather than bringing home 64 ounces of one beer, many preferred picking up four different four-packs and sampling a range of styles over the course of a week.

The COVID-19 pandemic briefly gave the growler a second act. When taprooms closed in 2020, many breweries leaned heavily on growler fills and crowlers to keep beer flowing out the door. For a few months, the old glass jug felt relevant again.

But the real winner turned out to be the crowler.

Introduced by Oskar Blues Brewery, the crowler is essentially a large aluminum can filled and sealed on demand. It offered many of the same benefits as a growler while keeping oxygen exposure lower, eliminating the need for customers to return empty containers, and making transportation much easier.

But that doesn’t mean the growler in its most traditional form has disappeared entirely. Some  neighborhood breweries still welcome loyal customers carrying their favorite branded jug, but there are definitely less of them.

Still the growler marks a special place in craft beer history. It was a time when the craft beer movement seemed so youthful, its possibilities endless, and the beers so exciting. A more innocent time for the beer business and its fans.

But unfortunately no one can stop the passage of time or the packaging advances that laid the growler to rest.