We get this one a lot at the end of a tour, usually after someone's fallen hard for whatever's on at the last stop: "can I just take some of that home with me?" The answer is often yes — and the thing that makes it possible is a growler. If you've spotted the big glass jugs behind the bar in a taproom and wondered what they're for, or heard someone mention a "crowler" and assumed it was a typo, here's what a growler actually is, how it differs from a crowler, how to look after one, and where you stand getting fills around London.
What is a growler, exactly?
A growler is a large, resealable container — usually glass, sometimes stainless steel — that a brewery or taproom fills to order straight from the tap, so you can carry draft beer home rather than settling for whatever's in a bottle or can at the shop. The standard size in the UK and US alike is 64oz, or roughly 1.9 litres, which works out at around three and a half pints. Some places also do a smaller "growlette" at 32oz for anyone not planning a session.
The appeal is simple: it's the closest you'll get to a proper taproom pour without actually being in the taproom. Draft beer that hasn't been pasteurised or force-carbonated for packaging often tastes noticeably fresher and more like the brewer intended than the same beer once it's been through the extra processing steps needed to bottle or can it for the shelf.
Where does the word "growler" come from?
Nobody can prove it definitively, but the most commonly told story is a London one. Before pubs sold takeaway beer in bottles, it was common for a child (or a put-upon junior in the group) to be sent to the local with a metal pail to fetch beer for the table — a job known as "going for the growler." One theory says the name came from the growling noise the lid made as CO2 escaped on the walk home; another says it described the grumbling of whoever got sent to do the fetching. Either way, the term crossed the Atlantic with Victorian emigrants and was later revived by the American craft beer scene in the 1980s and 90s, before growlers found their way back to British taprooms as craft beer took off here too.
Growler vs crowler: what's the difference?
Both do the same basic job — getting fresh draft beer out of the taproom and into your hands — but they work quite differently:
- A growler is reusable. You buy or bring one, it gets filled and capped (usually with a simple screw or flip top), and you take it away. Next time, you bring it back and fill it again.
- A crowler is a single-use, tallboy-sized can — usually around 32oz (about 946ml) — that's filled and then mechanically sealed shut on the spot using a dedicated seaming machine, the same way a normal beer can is sealed in a brewery.
The practical upshot is freshness. A crowler's seam is essentially airtight and excludes almost all oxygen and light, so the beer inside keeps well for weeks, much like a shop-bought can. A growler's screw-top seal, however carefully filled, lets in a little more air and light over time, so it's best treated as a short-term option rather than something to squirrel away in the cupboard.
How to look after a growler once it's filled
A growler isn't difficult to use well, but a few habits make a real difference to how the beer tastes when you finally open it:
- Get it cold and keep it cold. Refrigerate as soon as you're home — draft beer that's been sitting warm loses condition fast.
- Keep it out of light. UV exposure is what causes beer to go "skunky," and clear or lightly tinted glass offers little protection, so store it somewhere dark.
- Minimise how often you open it. Every time you crack the seal, oxygen gets in and carbonation starts to escape, so pour what you're going to drink rather than opening and closing it repeatedly.
- Drink it sooner rather than later. Aim for within 24–48 hours of filling for the best flavour, and treat a week as the outer limit even with careful storage.
- Rinse it properly after use. Hot water and a bottle brush, no soap residue left behind — old beer smell or a soapy taste will spoil the next fill.
Hop-forward styles like IPA are particularly quick to fade once packaged, since the volatile hop aromatics that make them special are also the first thing to disappear. A malt-led stout or a barleywine will hold up for longer in a growler than a hazy IPA will, so factor that into how soon you plan to drink it.
Do you need to bring your own growler?
Usually not — most breweries that offer fills sell their own branded growler, which you keep and bring back to refill whenever you're passing. Some will also fill a growler from a different brewery as long as it's clean, though a handful prefer to fill only their own for hygiene and carbonation-control reasons, so it's always worth checking before you turn up with someone else's jug under your arm.
Getting a growler or crowler filled in London
Growler and crowler fills aren't universal — availability depends entirely on the individual brewery, what's currently on tap and whether they've got the kit for it, and it does change over time. Some taprooms on the Bermondsey Beer Mile and across the wider London scene do offer fills, so if there's a beer you've particularly enjoyed on a visit, it's always worth asking the bar staff whether they can send you home with some. For a wider sense of which parts of London are worth exploring for this kind of thing, our guide to London's best breweries, area by area is a good starting point — and if you're after the fundamentals of what separates these small independent producers from mass-market beer in the first place, see what is craft beer.
If you'd rather taste your way across several taprooms in one go than take a single beer home, that's exactly what our guided Bermondsey Beer Tasting Tour is built for. An accredited Beer Sommelier and Certified Cicerone® hosts a tutored tasting at four of the mile's best taprooms, meeting at Southwark Brewing, 46 Druid Street, with tours running 2 to 3.5 hours from £49 per person. It's a brilliant way to work out which brewery's beer is worth going back for a growler fill of afterwards. Read more about how those venues actually work in our guide to what a taproom is.
Growlers as a gift or a group activity
If you're planning a get-together, splitting a growler or two between friends works out as a fun, sociable way to try draft beer somewhere other than the pub — though it's obviously not a substitute for visiting the taprooms themselves. For a proper group day out exploring several breweries together, we run private tours for groups of 6 to 60+, from birthdays to work socials. And if you know someone who'd get more out of an afternoon on the Beer Mile than another growler in the fridge, our gift vouchers are delivered instantly by email and never expire — see gift vouchers for details.
Is it worth it?
If you've had a beer at a taproom that you can't stop thinking about, a growler fill is genuinely one of the best ways to extend the moment — provided you drink it promptly and store it properly. It's not a way to stock a long-term beer cellar, and it's not necessarily the most efficient way to sample a wide range of styles; for that, a guided tasting tour covering several taprooms in an afternoon will show you more of the scene, faster. Think of a growler as the souvenir you take home after deciding what you loved, not the way you go about deciding it.