SPECIALTY BREWS TO GO

BY ANDREW LARSON

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

FAIRFIELD — When a pint of beer isn’t enough, bars have a new option: selling customers a growler to take home. A state law that went into effect July 1 allows restaurants and bars to sell beer in growlers, which are 32- and 64-ounce glass containers filled from a tap.

As interest in craft beers expands beyond the wildly popular IPA style, Tomer Raviv, co-owner of Craft 260, believes the convenience of buying draft beer at a local bar will allow consumers to try a wider range of brews.

“It benefits the restaurant, it benefits the breweries, it benefits the customer,” he said.

Because bars receive kegs of specialty beers that aren’t available in stores, the ability to buy take-home containers from bars will give consumers access to beers they might otherwise have to drive to the brewery to find, proponents say. “Is it more convenient and accessible? Absolutely,” said beer enthusiast Steve Mc-Cracken of Plainville. “If somebody in Fairfield or Litchfield County could go to a local bar to bring home a growler of something made by Beer’d, that’s way better than making the drive to Stonington.”

Craft 260 was one of the first restaurants in the state to offer growler fills of all 11 of its draft lines — even for trophy beers such as Lawson’s Finest Liquids’ Sip of Sunshine, which is available in cans but typically sells out within hours at stores.

Recently, Craft 260 customers kicked a barrel of Sip of Sunshine in two days. The problems some people envisioned didn’t materialize.

See BEER, Page 5A

Shannon Elmendorf, a bartender at Craft 260 in Fairfield, hands a customer a growler filled with beer Tuesday night. A new state law that went into effect this month lets restaurants and bars sell the large glass containers of draft beer to go.

ERIN COVEY REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

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The bar sold Sip of Sunshine in 32-ounce, restaurant- branded growlers for $17 — or 53 cents per ounce. That equates to less than the 66-cent-per-ounce price of an $8, 12-ounce pour.

There was no line for growler fills, and the added workload on bar staff didn’t cause any delays for customers dining in, Raviv said.

Craft 260 is one of a handful of restaurants in the state that has fully embraced growler fills. Cask Republic and Coalhouse Pizza in Stamford have taken an equally open-minded approach.

Still, as restaurants try to balance consumers’ desire to take home draft-only beers with the need to satisfy patrons eating and drinking on site, many owners are approaching growler fills with caution.

Pies & Pints, with locations in Waterbury and Middlebury, plans to fill growlers of a handful of its 28 beers on tap.

Co-owner Theo Anastasiadis is eager to start selling growlers of the brew pub’s own beers, Bulldozer IPA and Break Out black rye IPA. Until recently, the house beers, which are brewed at Shebeen Brewing Co. in Wolcott, were only available on for on-premises consumption.

Now, patrons can bring a clean growler from any brewery to the restaurant for a fill of either beer.

Before Pies & Pints starts filling growlers with other types of beer, its owners are figuring out how the process will work, without slowing down service for diners. A 64ounce growler takes about a minute to fill.

“Our primary business goal is to be a restaurant,” Anastasiadis said.

Plus, he wants to serve specialty beers that arrive only a few times a year to as many customers as possible. Pies & Pints receives a log, containing 704 ounces of beer, of New England Brewing Co.’s elusive Fuzzy Baby Ducks a few times a year.

That’s enough to fill 22 small growlers or 58 pub glasses.

Anastasiadis wants to offer growler fills of beers that are popular and somewhat hard to find, but not so highly coveted they’ll prevent regular customers from getting a taste. Finding the right balance will involve trial and error, he said.

“It has to be craft beer and it has to be not extremely rare beer,” Anastasiadis said. “At the end of the day, that depends on the type of beer and the quantity available.”

Some bars in the state have opted out of the growler fills, including J. Timothy’s in Middletown.

The Corner Tavern in Naugatuck is taking a conservative approach and is only offering Pabst Blue Ribbon, which is readily available in package stores, for growler fills.

“No one seems to be interested,” a person responding to messages sent to the tavern’s Facebook account said.

Growlers line a shelf behind the bar at Craft 260 in Fairfield.

ERIN COVEY REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN