In Praise of the Wonderful Mini-Growler ...and notes on Town Hall Hopfen Ublich

Seen here, my first mini-growler from Town Hall, with a pour
of Hopfen Ublich at it's side.

In Praise of the  Mini-Growler (with notes on Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery Hoppfen Ublich double pilsner)

Hey, everybody. Let's go back in time a bit. In 2003, a law changed here in the state of Minnesota, and our breweries and brewpubs were finally able to sell growlers. Can you imagine the time when they didn't exist, when it was illegal? At long last, we could take home beer from our favorite brewpubs, like Town Hall, Rock Bottom, Fitger's, Great Waters, Barley John's and more. Only brewpubs did growlers at first, for there weren't many breweries small enough to do them then, and the ceiling was set at 3,500 barrels per year. (I may be wrong about some matters here, as I'm admittedly metro-centric. At some point in time, Brau Brothers was doing growlers, and maybe others that I'm forgetting.) In late 2006, Surly began doing growlers, around the same time they started canning their beers. And the next year, they started selling something else that became legal along with growlers: 750 ml/1 pint, 9 ounce, aka 25 oz. "bombers." That would be Darkness in 2007 and '08, and a certain bottle near and dear to me, Surly Two. )(For these reasons….)

The option to do 750's was not exercised very often. Fitger's does it, and Rock Bottom's done it, and for one year, Town Hall offered their Barrel-aged series in that format, but never again. I used to pester them about releasing more of their beers in 750's, but there was no interest in that. Was it because they didn't want to deal with bringing in new equipment and technology? Not sure, it would be speculation on my part, but it seems likely based on recent events. (Again, if I'm wrong and missed a fact or two, don't crucify me, folks, I don't know everything.)

Some brewery taprooms like to decorate with growlers from
other breweries, such as Excelsior Brewing does here.

So, growlers have been king for over a decade now, but not everyone likes them. Their size makes them ideal for sharing at parties and tastings, between two people or ten. If you're drinking solo, however, that may not be in your best interest. Personally, if I have an evening to myself, I have no problem putting back the equivalent of 4 pints by my lonesome. If we're talking about stronger stuff, and if there's less time at my command, we start scoring in the negative column. Other people who aren't me just don't want to commit to that much beer. They may only want one pint a night, and there's the problem. A well-filled growler can last months, even years (yes, it's true, I have story to tell you some time) unopened, but once opened, they will be no good after two days. If you don't want to, or can't drink two pints a night, two days in a row, you're wasting good beer and good money.

Enki Brewing, too, has a comprehensive and growing
collection. we're all one big happy family, it says.

Another reason that some have been anti-growler is that until recently, our Minnesota laws said that you could only get a growler filled with a glass vessel provided by the brewery filling it. If you get my meaning. You couldn't take one from Town Hall and get it filled at Great Waters. That's a no-no. Why? Oh, ….reasons. Some of them noble, but none of them necessary.

Dangerous Man Brewing Company has a most impressive collection of growlers, and this is only
a glimpse. You can see more arranged throughout the room. 

Because of this, if you, like me, enjoy taking home the beers of Minnesota breweries, you end up getting one or more from each of them that you visit. In my case, you end up with a lot more. Back in '03, I started trading growlers with folks around the country (chronicled here), and through these trades gathered up some from breweries and brewpubs I'll probably never visit in my life. (I've been retired from this for years, and will probably never return to it.)Some were donated to Town Hall when they started a growler collection (now vanished), some sold to the owner of the Growler magazine for display at the St. Paul store, and my Surlys all sold to collectors. Last year, I cleaned all my growlers and collected them in one place, and posed them for a photo. It was an astonishing 52! That was before the stack collapsed and a few fell to the ground, breaking, winding up in recycling, lessening the numbers a little.

A few months ago, I sorted them out again and had a new count…again, 52! When people say they have too many--10! or 8, or 6, I have to laugh! Ha, ha, I say.

Here was my collection in March of last year, before they came a-tumbling down.
I counted 47, but then I found some more. 

Currently, I have 4 each from Town Hall and Dave's Brewfarm and Fitger's (and I've only been there once), 3 each from Hammerheart and Dangerous Man, 1 each from just about every brewery in the state, and many from out of state. Some no longer have labels and I have no idea where they came from, or how I got them.

This growler display was curated and installed by yours truly on a slow Sunday at the Harriet Taproom. A stuffed puma guards it from above, while a hop-owl keeps watch below.

Four went away when the law finally changed and breweries could now fill any other brewery's growlers, and I returned my Harriet growlers to the brewery, as they were one of the few to embrace this change. The others, so far as I know: Bauhaus Brew Labs, and the one I work for now, Eastlake craft brewery. There are many and various reasons why other breweries do not fill other brewery's growlers, and I respect them all. Probably the best reasons is that these breweries have been filling their growlers by the brewers using a specialized system for many years, and they don't want to turn the job over to bartenders to fill when they might be too busy to tie up a draft line so that one customer can take 64 ounces home at a lower price. They might not have time to do, or to take the time and effort to do it correctly.

One way to lessen them is to return them for credit, which some do and some don't. I have multiples from several and need to check with them about their policy so I can pare it down to just one from each, or even two, if I desire. How about Town Hall, they sometimes give a credit …or…what about ….the mini-growler?

Did someone re-interpret the 750 ml bottle allowance and turn it into a 25-oz. growler? Or was that option always there? I know for a fact that the first to do so locally was Dangerous Man, earlier last year, but for some reason I thought it was a half growler, 32 ounces, never realizing that the law was so strict that it really meant you could only fill two sizes of bottles, 64 ounces or 25. Why not 32, or 44, or 22 or 16, or 56, or anything? I just don't know. It's the Minnesota way, that's why.

Sisyphus Brewing became the next that I know of to do a 750 ml growler, a few weeks ago, and they chose the smaller size vessel due to their smaller sized brew house. And this brings me to monetary value. Smaller growler sizes are not always particularly cost effective, but I excuse them due to the brewery's (usually) smaller size and quality. Dave BrewFarm's 1 Liter growlers sell for $10. I normally eschew a $20 2 liter growler fill, but in the case of the BrewFarm, the uniqueness and rare quality of the beer, and the small size of the brewery qualifies the higher cost. The 32 oz. growler I got from Oliphant a few weeks past cost me $9. Would I have paid $18 for a 64 ouncer from a larger brewery? Only if I knew the beer's quality was high.

Bringing us to: the arrival of the mini-growler at Town Hall. This is how they will fill the barrel-aged offerings this year. A tiny amount were filled of the Russian Roulette chocolate Imperial Stout (5!) yesterday, and I forgot to call them and have them reserve one for me. (If only I'd been like Frank!, who picked his up today, while I sat at the bar.)So, I went to the brewpub with 2 empty Town Hall growlers, of my four (!), thinking that I'd fill one and return the other, until I got to thinking…are all of their beers being filled in the mini-size? Yes! Then it dawned on me…what about those beers I want to take home, but don't really want to drink 64 ounces of? They're in the mini-growlers! But what about monetary value? I chose to get a 64 of one, and a 25 of another, one that I wouldn't necessarily want 64 ounces of,….and that smaller growler? After the deposit is subtracted, merely six dollars. That's it, I'm sold.

What are  the pro's  of the mini-growler? They're lighter and cheaper, for two. It's a pint and a half, easy to drink in one evening. Their smaller size means that I can fit more of them in the fridge, and don't need to drink them right away. They can hang out with the milk and the orange juice. I can think, "yeah, it's a beer and I can drink it, when I don't need, or want,  to drink 4 pints in one night."

My current plan is to still trade back two of my four TH growlers, and hang on to two minis, or even one. I no longer need worry about how much of my drinking time in the week will be occupied by the growlers I take home, and how long I have to wait until I can get to the bottles in my fridge.

So, now I get to the first TH beer I brought home in the mini-growler (Growlette, some call them, and I've heard Growlito.), Hoppfen Ublich, which is a beer they've made for a few years now. Why didn't I take it home and write about it earlier? Because I didn't think I would want to drink 64 ounces of a double pilsner. I didn't find any info on it on their current website, but found a lot on Cal's blog entry from 2012. I'll share that at review's end.

Hopfen Ublich double pilsner. 6.7% ABV.

Appearance: clear, bright golden coloring, head as white as the pure driven snow, leaving some lace, looking utterly lovely.

Aroma: Delightfully floral nose, slightly spicy.

Taste: Crisp and clean and wonderfully hoppy. Nicely spiced, with some citrus fruit character, and floral notes. Light bodied. Exceptional drinkability. Smooth and just short of sweet. Just plain ol' tasty every time I bring it up to the lips and let it slide down. A little sweet, a little spicy and plenty of hops.

Here's why I usually don't care for double pilasters: they too often come across as slightly rarified malt liquors. Lots of booze, and not enough flavor. The head rush comes in too quickly, boom, boom, boom! The opposite of what's happening here. It's nothing but smooth and nice and utterly all right.

Here's what I grabbed off of Cal's blog post from 2 years ago:

"Roughly translated - "Hops Traditional"

A very special double lager! We gained access to some of the only Floor Malted Pilsner available. The Floor malting process is way old school and a very traditional method of grain modification. This is extremely high quality barley used in this beer.

The hops are Hallertau Mittelfruh, one of the German Noble hops (very traditional to Hallertau region of Germany.) We used massive amounts of this hop in leaf format (our system is designed for pelletized hops) that created a challenge in the brewery.

The result is a beautiful pale double lager/pilsner that we are very pleased to be serving."