Beer Glorious Beer

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Rickles

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#257390 30-Sep-2019 16:01

I recently spotted a shop purporting to be a boutique brewery and a "fillery".

I all to well remember the days of taking a flagon to the pub for filling, and the local wine merchant doing same for Sherry from a huge barrel, but those practices seemed to have died out in the 70's.

Presumably a fillery is the modern take on this?

Anyone had experience of using a fillery, particularly the type of bottles used (called PET, Growlers and Vichy among other names), longevity etc?

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#2327189 30-Sep-2019 16:22

There are at least three craft beer fillery's down here in Christchurch i can think of, with another opening this week. That doesn't include the breweries you can fill up at or some pubs that do fills.

Most operate under the "as long as its clean we don't care" rule, so any basic plastic bottle with a screw top lid will do fine. A lot of brew shows sell brand new screw top plastic bottles for homebrew which work well for filling.

If you want something a bit more up-scale, then the double walled insulated steal "growler" style vessels are popular and work very well for keeping things cool. From a quick google this seems like a not bad deal on one. Usually around $45-55 in a store, and I've seen some "artisan", "craft and/or "ultimate" of those go upwards of $150. Just ensure that you clean your vessel soon after finishing, as they can be a pain to clean without a thin wire brush.

Another more DIY option is to re-use a large glass beer bottle. You can order from Aliexpress some swing-top bottle attachments that you can attach to bottles you may already have if they are of a large size. There were some 888ml bottles going around for a while which were good for this. Be warned however, those swing-top attachment conversions do put the neck of the bottle under a lot of pressure, so can shatter if not strong enough.

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WyleECoyoteNZ

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#2327193 30-Sep-2019 16:32

Yep.

Went to the Funk Estate fillery on Saturday in Wellington.

Fillery or tap room is a site where you can have a taster (75ml maybe, someone can correct me if wrong) and then fill your vessel. A fillery on it's own is not somewhere where you can sit down and have a pint or 2. I think the legal terminology might be off license

Some of the craft breweries are both a fillery and a bar, so you could sit and have a pint or 2 then takeway a rigger\growler\flagon to consume at home.

Personally, 1 have 2 1.89 litre glass riggers\growler's, one from Black Dog and one from Boneface. When I went to Funk Estate i used by Boneface one, they don't mind.

Mean Doses in Wellington was selling Aluminium riggers\mini kegs (2L) a little while back.

The Fork and Brewer Wellington will also sell you a 2.75 L rigger.

Most of the breweries\fillery's just use a longer hose on the end of a tap to fill your vessel, but Black Dog can do a pressurised fill, it sucks out the air and inserts the beer, appartently it's good for 3 months unopened.

It isn't a cheap drink though, as if you are drinking craft beers, they can generally start at around $15 a litre. The one I had from Funk Estate on the weekend was a 7% Afrogato Stout (coffee, vanilla & almond) and that was $16.50 a litre.

The other thing is once you've opened it, it really needs to be drunk within the day or next. The stout i had was opened on Saturday night, and finished on Sunday and hadn't gone flat.

WyleECoyoteNZ

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#2327196 30-Sep-2019 16:41

Here's a picture of the Black Dog growlers

For Black Dog, it's about $20 to buy one outright, then filling on top. With there pressurised filling when you take one in, they swap the one you bring in for a clean one

hsvhel

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#2327199 30-Sep-2019 16:48

My local super liquor has 3-4 filling tubes with various beers on rotation. Quite popular too

Rickles

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#2327208 30-Sep-2019 17:06

Thanks to all for answers and comments … the place I spotted was Mean Doses in Wellington. Their web site doesn't appear to have a price list!

WyleECoyoteNZ

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#2327216 30-Sep-2019 17:15

Rickles:

Thanks to all for answers and comments … the place I spotted was Mean Doses in Wellington. Their web site doesn't appear to have a price list!

Good beer at Mean Doses!

Been there many a time, didn't know he had a website, but he's fairly active on Facebook. I thing he does it all himself too, and the beer is brewed out the back of the fillery.

They do have the 1.25L and 2L PET plastic bottles if you don't want the initial outlay of a glass or steel vessel. Usually, a plastic bottle is $2, but you can rinse them and take them back to be refilled.

Tracer

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#2327246 30-Sep-2019 18:15

I remember my dad filling glass flagons in the 90s. Good way to reduce the waste of recycling small glass bottles all the time.

Lias

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#2327298 30-Sep-2019 20:38

I pop into Duncan's out here in Kapiti most weekends for a bottle or two.. mmmmmm beeralicious...

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jonherries

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#2327312 30-Sep-2019 21:13

Parrotdog in Lyall Bay has a fillery and pub (good food)m- I recommend Falcon

Double Vision Brewery has a fillery and bar in North Miramar - has a food truck Friday and Saturday night - I recommend the Expatriate

Jon

trig42

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#2327419 1-Oct-2019 09:01

Napier/Hawkes Bay has a few. The Super Liquor has a fillery, and they sell the growlers.

The Westshore Inn has a great range of Craft Beer on tap, and will fill takeaway containers too.

maoriboy

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#2327434 1-Oct-2019 09:18

The local Liquorlands in Palmerston North generally have a good selection of craft beers you can fill your growler with. Brew Union is also good for this and tend to have a wider range and quicker turnover of beers to try.
I've got a 64oz vessel from https://www.drinktanks.com/ and it's amazing. Will be purchasing a keg cap for it to keep the beer from going flat and for easy pours.

WyleECoyoteNZ

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#2327484 1-Oct-2019 10:20

jonherries:

Parrotdog in Lyall Bay has a fillery and pub (good food)m- I recommend Falcon

Double Vision Brewery has a fillery and bar in North Miramar - has a food truck Friday and Saturday night - I recommend the Expatriate

Jon

Haven't had the Expatriate, but have had the Naughty Hopper, and that is a nice drop

WyleECoyoteNZ

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#2327485 1-Oct-2019 10:21

Also in Wellington, Regional Wines by the Basin used to have a good tap selection too.

Rickles

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#2327503 1-Oct-2019 10:30

Now I am spoilt for choice! 🤗

WyleECoyoteNZ

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#2327627 1-Oct-2019 12:19

Rickles:

Now I am spoilt for choice! 🤗

We certainly are. A beginning of a list of places below:

Wellington Regional Wines and Spirits (Taps)

Moore Wilsons Lorne St (Taps)

Mean Doses Tory St (Fillery)

Funk Estate Vivian St (Fillery)

Heyday Cuba St (Fillery & Bar)

Black Dog Cuba St (Fillery & Bar)

Husk Ghuznee St (Fillery & Bar)

Fork & Brewer Bond St (Fillery & Bar)

Fortune Favours Hannah's Lane (Fillery & Bar)

Whistling Sisers Taranaki St (Fillery & Bar)

Sprig & Fern, various locations around the city (Fillery & Bar)

Third Eye Tuatara, I include this as they do some beers that can't be bought by the bottle (Fillery & Bar)

Going a little further out of the CBD:

Garage Projet in Aro Valley (Fillery)

Double Vision in Miramar (Fillery & Bar)

Waitoa Social Club in Hataitai (Fillery & Bar)

Parrot Dog in Lyall Bay (Fillery & Bar)

Baylands in Petone (Fillery)

Going further still out of the City:

Boneface & Panhead in Upper Hutt in 'Brewtown' (fillery & bar(s)). Both Panhead & Boneface are in the old Dunlop Tyres location in Upper Hutt. The Panhead bar on Tory st does not have an off license.

Kereru in Upper Hutt (fillery only)

Up the Kapiti Coast way, I know of Northend Brewery & Tuatara in Waikanae. Someone else mentioned Duncan's as well.

This is not a complete lsit, but it's a start. Also if you can find it Abandoned Brewing are doing some good beers too, but only by the can i believe. Te Aro brewing also brew in Upper Hutt, but last time I was out that way, they don't have an off license or fillery/bar.

EDIT: Added Parrot Dog, Whistling Sisters, Fortune favours & Baylands

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