These
two Montana articles (above and below) dated only a day apart, in particular illustrate the confusion in the 1930's as states wrote their new alcoholic beverage laws. Also of interest is the reference below of workers in Butte having once used their miner-style metal lunch pails as growlers, on the way home from work. It also notes that the current "growlers" were more commonly "jars" - since the more modern lunch buckets weren't applicable for liquids. Ads from a chain of Ohio restaurants that specialized in growler sales during WWII. Note the growler size has grown to a full gallon of beer. Stone's sold an "exclusive" brand called "Royal Canadian Beer" (brewed locally in Ohio by the New Philadelphia Brewing Co., of New Philadelphia) and sold it over the bar in huge one-quart glasses for 15¢- so the 69¢ gallon growler wasn't as good a deal as it first appears.
click for ads from Marinoff Beer from the Northwest Brewing Co. of Washington Hop Gold Beer and Globe Beer in jugs ![]() In one interesting case (below - click on ads ) HAMM'S GENUINE KEG BEER was bottled by a local Utah bottler, the Blue Eagle Beer Company. While independent bottlers were common in the pre-Prohibition era, most brewers after Repeal bottled their own beer. | After the legalization of 3.2% beer in April, 1933 and full Repeal of Prohibition the following December, the individual states began to write new alcoholic beverage laws and the return of notorious "growler" was one of the items of concern (along with the "return of the saloon", drinking ages, licensing, etc.) To the left, one can see that the states weren't united in the legalizing "draught beer to go". The three leading brewing states - Pennsylvania, New York and Wisconsin- all legalized the growler within the first few years of Repeal. Altho', note that among the states that initially banned the growler was also Pennsylvania. As noted in the articles, Montana and Indiana, too, initially banned the growler only to legalize it later in the 1930's. The growler would be featured in many advertising campaigns for beer, brewers having always stressed the "old fashioned" aspect of their brands. (Right)A coaster using the logo of Philadelphia's Gretz Brewing Company (see also their "Half and Half" labels).
(Above) ad from the "West End Brewing Co. (today known as the F. X. Matt Brewing Co. - brewers of Saranac) of Utica, NY advertising their then flagship "Utica Club" brand.
With the invention of the beer can just a few years after Repeal in 1935, many brewers would connect the pre-Prohibition "can of beer" with the new package and use the growler in it's advertising for their new canned beers. For examples, click- A news photo from 1946 (during the post-WWII grain restrictions) shows that up until then the "growler" had still been an option in this New York City bar.
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