Finally looked at the mail from the weekend and there was an ad for beer growlers. I immediately figured it had to be some sort of brand name except it wasn’t capitalized (not that I expect correct capitalization or anything you understand). I figured if it’s a common enough term to be used in a mass mailing I should at least follow up. And I’ll be damned. It is a real term. WTF. I know I’ve been living under a rock for a while now, but come on. This can’t be that new of a term can it? So prior to my subterranean existence, why hadn’t I ever heard of it. Is a regional thing? Help me out.
I don’t think it’s regional - at least, I’ve definitely seen it around the Midwest and in New England. My WAG is that you just haven’t gone to brewpubs or microbreweries that often, because those are the sorts of places offering a jug of beer to go.
I have heard of them, but not too many beers I know of come in them. But friends who brew often use them.
I have a growler sitting on my kitchen counter. (I’d take a picture and post it, but my counter is a bit cluttered at the moment.) I got it from a local restaurant’s frequent-customer program.
Basically, it’s a glass jug you fill with beer. When the beer is gone and the growler is empty, you take it back to get it re-filled. That’s all. 
I had to google it.
Because very few beers come in them. Some restaurants will sell them also.
They’re more popular among the homebrew crowd.
They only beer I can think off, off the top of my head, to come in a growler is Rogue’s Dead Guy Ale.
A growler used to be any container you filled with beer and brought back. I just read Jacob Riis’ How the Other Half Lives, his photo-essay and commentary on the poor in NYC at the end of the 19th century. He talks about “growlers” a lot, and when they show up in his photos they’re very clearly metal buckets.
I suspect the reason you haven’t heard it is because few people bring home beer from bars anymore, and I’ll bet nobody does it using uncovered buckets, and the term was never adapted for sealed containers bought in stores. So home brewers (and commercial brewers?) are probably the only ones to use the term.
Never heard of it before.
My first thought was morning-after flatulence, normally preceding the alcopoop.
Love 'em!! They recently became (more?) legal in PA and I am making up for lost time.
I’ve got 4 of them sitting around the garage from places that don’t exist anymore. Most microbreweries and brewpubs sell them.
If you stopped drinking mass-produced yak piss and switched to real beer you’d know that. 
There’s like four places, at least, in my dinky little town where you can buy a growler. You all need better beer habits.
They’ve become quite popular around here among the non-brewing crowd who frequent brewpubs. Get a growler of the good stuff, take it home, reach the bottom, and bring it back with an Oliver Twist quote.
Once the delicious contents have been consumed, growler jars are great for loose change. I have one on my desk from Moab Brewery with a nice Scorpion Pale Ale logo on it.
“There was a little man and he had a little can
And he used to rush the growler.
He went to the saloon on a Sunday afternoon
And you ought to hear the bartender holler:
No more booze! No more booze! No more booze on Sunday!
No more booze! No more booze! You’ll have to get your can filled Monday.”
Moved MPSIMS --> Cafe Society.
I’m running out of room in my apartment for all of mine. Stupid California labeling laws.
Aside from home brewers, it’s a way to bring home stuff that’s not usually bottled. You can get Racer 5 in stores no problem, but you’ll only find Crazy Ivan on tap at the Bear Republic brewpub. So when you’re swinging through Healdsburg, you can stop by and grab a growler of it to bring home. This way, you get four pints’ worth at a fair price, and you can pace yourself if you’re at a brewpub that has a lot to offer.
Galvanized “pail” growler with lid:
http://beernexus.com/beergrowlerandcanhistory.html
In Riis’ book, the growlers didn’t have lids. I’d hate to think what the beer may have picked up from New York City slum air, even in the short distance from bar to house.
This isn’t the world’s greatest photo, but this is what my growler looks like. After jjimm’s post, I felt that I had to.
