Let’s be honest with ourselves, beer is best served fresh, the grace period varies between styles but once a beer is tapped, packaged or leaves a brewery you can rest assured that the brewer has done everything in their power to create and deliver to you the best version of their original vision possible. So it makes sense that in order to experience the beer as the brewer intended, we would want to get out hands on it as soon as possible and have it treated with the care that it deserves to give it the greatest chance of arriving on your tongue in the best condition it can be.
Largely, this process is out of our hands as consumers, but we can also take responsibility, by staying up to date with when new batches and sourcing from the breweries themselves and constantly checking in at your local bottle shops and venues. This can take considerable effort depending on your location, available time and resources, so when we do acquire these wonderfully hand crafted creations we also need to protect them as best we can.
Some of the biggest threats to beer are oxygen, light and heat. With traditional brown glass growlers you fill the bottle straight from the tap and seal the lid, which is a good way to transport that fresh beer back home. The problem here is though you have introduced oxygen which allows bacteria to start developing and Co2 begins to be released leaving the beer flatter than intended. Even counter pressure filled growlers only delay this issue until the growler is opened, and with brown glass you prevent light UV light from entering the bottle, but in doing so attract more heat.
Unless you have grabbed yourself a GrowlerWerks uKeg that tackles all the issues mentioned above keeping your precious cargo, fresh and carbonated for up to two weeks. GrowlerWerks uKeg uses Co2 Cartridges and a double walled, vacuum insulated stainless steel body which will help protect your beer from light intrusion and also help keep your beer cold for hours during transport.
We Love Craft Beer stock the full range of GrowlerWerks uKeg ‘s including the uKeg64 and uKeg128 in 3 different colours, plus a range of refills and accessories in our online shop. The growler itself is durable and has a tap handle for easy dispensing so your only real issue now is where to fill up!
Where you can fill your GrowlerWerks Ukeg:
Beer Barrel Growler Station – 3 Regent Street, Chippendale.
Located a short walk from Central Station in Sydney, Beer Barrel Growler Station is situated in an understated, modest shopfront. But behind the glass doors, between the walls of growlers lies a selection of 18 different local and international beers.
Craft Cartel / Wenty North Liquor – Shop 13/26 Emma Cres, Constitution Hill.
Craft Cartel Liquor opened its doors in Sydney in 1998 and began developing a craft beer range nine years ago. They now have over 700 craft beers in store and online. New beers land daily at the Constitution Hill bottle shop which features a growler station with four rotating taps. Free craft beer tastings hosted by special guest brewers also take place in store most Fridays from 3pm to 7pm, so you can try them before you buy them!
Bondi Beach Cellars – 50 Hall Street, Bondi
We aussies love our sun and our sand, we don’t mind a beer either! So what better place to have your growler filled than just a few hundred meters of one of Australia’s most iconic beaches. Grab a fill up from one of their 3 regularly rotated taps and head on out for a day in the surf!
The Beach Club Collaroy – 1058 Pittwater Road, Collaroy Beach
The Beach Club Collaroy, located overlooking the beach at Collaroy has some of the best views of the coast extending from the Central Coast to Long Beach. “Australia’s #1 Craft Beer Club” as voted by Beer & Brewer Magazine for their huge range of 24 taps of mostly craft beer. Fridays between 10am and 10pm members can grab $15 growler fills of selected craft beers on tap!
Bucket Boys – Ground Floor, 300 Illawarra Road, Marrickville.
Bucket Boys blur the lines between brewery, bottle shop, and bar. This collaborative effort has seen exponential growth since its doors opened in 2016 and quickly established itself as one of marrickvilles major attractions. Sporting 11 taps upstairs in the bar and 4 downstairs at the growler station in the bottle shop as well as rotating over 1000 beers in their online store and fridges!
Beer Cartel – Unit 9, 87 Reserve Road, Artarmon.
Beer Cartel is another one of Sydney’s impressively stocked craft beer bottleshops, with over 1,000 beers from Australia & overseas. As well as a great range of bottled craft beer they do growlers (and squealers), a tasting room and a monthly beer club, plus fantastic beer gifts and beer glasses. Their growler station currently has 4 taps and a constantly rotating range
Club Rivers – The Malt Barrel – 32 Littleton Street Riverwood
The Malt Barrel bar sits as the center piece of the newly renovated club. With a selection of 6 taps, the team at the Malt Barrel continually seek to tap some of the countries best and most sort after releases. With deals for club members making them one of the cheapest venues to fill your growler.
The Oak Barrel – 152 Elizabeth Street, Sydney.
The Oak Barrel is one of Australia’s oldest bottle shops. Independent since 1956, the Oak Barrel has stayed ahead of the curb with its outstanding range of small producer and natural wine, single malt whisky, craft beer and spirits. While the Oak Barrel only have 1 tap for growler fills they make the most of them by always having an interesting choice. Members discounts available for growler fills too.
You can also fill your growler at one of many of Sydneys craft breweries:
- The Grifter Brewing Company – 1/391-397 Enmore Road, Marrickville.
- Sauce Brewing Co. – 1a Mitchell St, Marrickville.
- Young Henrys – 76 Wilford Street, Newtown.
- Willie the Boatman – suite 202/ 75 Mary St, Saint Peters.
- Rocks Brewing Company – 160 Bourke Rd, Alexandria.
- Nomad Brewing Co. – 5 Sydenham Road, Brookvale.
- Staves Brewery – 4-8 Grose Street, Glebe.
- Endeavour Tap Rooms Sydney – 39-43 Argyle Street, Sydney.
- Yulli’s Brews – 75A Burrows Road, Alexandria.
- Frenchies Bistro and Brewery – 6/61 Mentmore avenue, The Cannery, Rosebery.
- Wildflower Brewing & Blending – 11-13 Brompton St, Marrickville.
- Stockade Brew Co – 25 Cadogan St, Marrickville.
- One Drop Brewing Co. – 5 Erith St, Botany.
- Sunday Road Brewing – 147 Bath Rd, Kirrawee.
- Sydney Brewery – 28 Albion Stret, Surry Hills.
- Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel – 19 Kent Street, The Rocks.
- Wayward Brewing Company – Unit 1-3 Gehrig Lane, Camperdown.
- Modus Operandi Brewing Co. – 14 Harkeith Street, Mona Vale.
- Batch Brewing Company – 44 Sydenham Rd, Marrickville.
- Dad & Dave’s Brewing – 2/1 Chard Road, Brookvale.
- Hairyman Brewery – Unit 10, 12-14 Northumberland Road, Caringbah.
- Shark Island Brewing Company – Unit 8/29-33 Waratah St, Kirrawee.
- Ekim Brewing Co. – 11/1 Marina Cl, Mount Kuring-Ga.
- Basement Brewhouse – Bankstown Sports – 8 Greenfield Parade, Bankstown.
- Riverside Brewing Company – 2 North Rocks Road, North Parramatta.
- Akasha Brewing Company – 10A Spencer Street, Five Dock.
- Casey’s Beer – 4/53 -55 Regentville Rd, Jamisontown.
- Rusty Penny Brewing Co – 5/4 Dean Place, Penrith.
By Adrian Marcatili – Adrian is a long time craft beer enthusiast and the Sydney Ambassador for We Love Craft Beer Australia.