The take-home glass flagon, or ''growler'', as it's commonly known, is one of the fastest-growing trends among craft beer outlets, but red tape surrounding excise issues is threatening to strangle its growth.

Most growlers hold 1.89 litres - a half gallon in the US measure - and are filled directly from kegs through a dispensing system; customers buy their empty glass growler for about $15 and pay $18 and upwards to have them filled. They fit easily in a fridge and stay well carbonated over a couple of days, once opened.

Too much red tape ... Mark Mead, of Warners at the Bay, offers craft beers in refillable vessels. Credit:Peter Stoop

''It's allowed us access to beers which we couldn't otherwise find in packaged form,'' says Mark Mead, the bottle-shop manager of Warners at the Bay, a Lake Macquarie specialty beer outlet that carries more than 1000 beer brands. ''Murray's [Craft] Brewing Company does one-off brews in kegs for two or three bars and us, and we've had beer from the Rocks Brewing Company and Wig and Pen, who make draught-only beer.''

Mead says he was inspired to install a growler-filling system a year ago after a holiday in New Zealand.