Growler Fills in Belgium?
 

As the title states. I'm a beer nut and happen to be in Belgium here soon. I do occasionally travel with a hydroflask but never really bothered when heading internationally. I plan to visit a few breweries while there, so I guess my questions would be

1- can you have a brewery fill a growler for you in Belgium? Seems to be legal looking online, some dated information from sources like beeradvocate, but leads to my second question:

2- if so is it common practice? I don't know if they will look at me funny if I try to, seems like growler fills are more of an American thing but have not been traveling much in Europe since growlers kind of became a thing here in the States so never really noticed

Thanks for input!

I'm Belgian and I've never even heard of a growler before, so no it's not common in Belgium. But you could always ask of course.

I live in Belgium and I've never heard of them. But why would you not just buy a bottle or a can?

A growler is a full US gallon - about 3.75 liters. :)

If you don't manage to drink all of it in one evening, will it not become stale (less bubly)? So what's the purpose of sich a big container?

For some reason, my mind just flashed on the book, The Ugly American ​​​​​​. ;)

You can find one and two liter growlers in Europe. The point of them is that often small breweries only package their product to be sold on tap, so the only way to take it home is to use such a bottle.

I think OP was simply using "growler fill" as a way of asking for having a pour from a tap in his own container of choice, not necessarily in a gallon quantity.

OP, if you go to a brewery or to a specialised beer bar or shop they might just understand what you want to do and give you a fill. At a normal bar, forget it.

(for trivia, I bought a growler at the Menabrea brewery in Biella around 2001, we'll before it was cool)

I would only open such a large bottle if I expected to consume it in a couple of hours. It's obviously meant for several people.

We get growlers from local breweries and I find that it can last 3-5 days if I'm not opening it constantly. As noted, sometimes it's the only way to enjoy a beer at home when the brewery is small and/or doesn't can/bottle its product. I usually give my boss a growler of homebrew for the holidays, too....

Hey, if I can buy wine from a barrel in Venice (that came back to my hotel in a reused 2L plastic water bottle), I don't see why growlers shouldn't be available in Belgium ;-)

I don't know of any breweries in Belgium that sell their beer only on tap. All of them (AFAIK) sell bottles.

Correct, traveling with a few beer enthusiasts so figured maybe bring one along if we find something we like to bring back to hotel with us, but if most breweries will have bottles I won't bother

So I guess it is more of a US thing. I leave the county 3 or 4 times a year to various places but never really paid attention nor have much free time. Good for social gatherings, and a lot of the smaller breweries here don't bottle beers, as bottling/canning lines can be quite an expensive investment so filling the jug for patrons is quite the norm.

Description for those wondering.....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growler_(jug)

Thanks for input

Exactly! It would ruin the beer quality, opened beers need to be consumed asap! This is why 'pints' (0.50 liter glasses) are not the norm in Belgium. Instead you will either find 0.25 or 0.33 liter glasses. Otherwise the beer will get warm or 'flat'.