Crowler Kickoff Tonight at Craft Beer Cellar

Head over to Craft Beer Cellar (301 H St. NE Suite A) tonight for their Crowler Kickoff at 6:30pm. Going forward, you will now be able to stop by the store and pick up great draft beers freshly sealed on-site into metal crowlers. One advantage of crowlers over growlers is that they can (sorry) keep your draft beer fresh longer than a growler will. Tonight they will fill 16oz crowlers with beers from the following breweries in our region: Charles Towne Fermentory, Fine Creek, Ocelot, and RAR. I'm pasting the store's full explanation of what this how this came to be below because it's a pretty cool story. 

Many of you are probably familiar with growlers. These re-usable containers, typically made of glass or stainless steel, and typically 32 or 64 ounces in size, allow you to transport draft beer home or to a party. If you're like us, you may have one or two, or too many, in your cabinet.

In 2013, Oskar Blues, in partnership with the Ball Technology and Innovation Center and Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry, developed a new container and sealing machine The "crowler", or can-growler, was a 32-ounce can filled with draft beer and sealed using a sealing-machine, keeping the beer in and oxygen and light out. Crowlers are one-use only, but 100% recyclable. The technology has evolved during the last 6 years and now multiple sizes of cans are available.


DC law allowed retailers such as Craft Beer Cellar DC to fill and sell growlers, but it specifically defined a growler as a "reusable container", thus prohibiting retailers to fill, seal and sell crowlers. In February 2018, DC City Council gave members of the alcoholic beverage community a chance to give input on the Omnibus Alcholic Beverage Regulation Amendment Act of 2018. CBC DC Owner Erika Goedrich testified before the Council Subcommittee on the benefits of crowlers and requested that the law be changed to allow retailers to fill and sell crowlers. Goedrich then worked with Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen and his office to get the changes made. After being approved by DC City Council, Mayor Muriel Bowser and Congress, the Omnibus Alcholic Beverage Regulation Amendment Act of 2018 went into effect on October 30, 2018.

Last week, our can seamer equipment started arriving and Veteran Draft Services installed our draft lines. This week, we're going to celebrate with a Crowler Kickoff at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 27th Friday, March 29. We will be filling 16oz crowlers and have beers available from Charles Towne Fermentory, Fine Creek, Ocelot, and RAR.

Moving forward, crowlers will be available during normal business hours. We'll keep the list of draft beers available updated on Untappd, and of course, announce new tappings on social media.
We appreciate Councilmember Charles Allen and ABRA working with us to make this happen.
Beers will NOT be available for on-premise consumption. Legally, only grocery stores in the District can be both on-premise and off-premise retailers.