It has to happen sooner or later. The mainstream media has gotten the good beer bug and for the most part has added to the discourse. Stories about ingredients and techniques, stories about rare beers and beers from places that are hard to reach. And, now, the story of the growler beginning with the beginning:
“Growlers have been around since Christ was a child,” Mr. Granger said. “We’re not doing anything new.” In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, both The New York Times and The Brooklyn Eagle regularly published contentious stories about the containers, which then took the form of small galvanized pails. The articles cataloged the complaints of saloon keepers, who thought growlers cut into their profit, and those of temperance groups, who hoped to curb home drinking. “Rushing the growler,” connoting children hustling pails of beer for adults from bar to table, was a common expression. The curious name is thought to be inspired by the rumbling noise escaping carbon dioxide made as the beer sloshed about in the pail.
Sure - if we accept the underlying theory of Ron Pattinson's good work - it's likely all a big fat lie but what a comforting lie. I wish I had a place I could walk to from my place, an empty growler in a satchel slung over my shoulder. Who wouldn't? Cheap and cheery and sustain-a-tastic, too.