The crowler! What will they think of next? It’s a can! It’s a growler! It’s made for filling with beer, and what’s better than that? I’m sure I don’t know. Anyway, crowlers have been out for a few years now, though I’ve never seen one before today. Basically, they’re a 32-ounce can that can be filled and sealed at a brewpub like a regular can, though they’re not quite the same thing. Here’s what the label of my crowler of Willoughby Hazy Days Hopped American Wheat says about crowlers:

While the crowler you are holding is a can, it does not have the shelf life of other canned beers because it is filled from our taps, not a canning line. So please drink fresh, preferably within one week.  

See? Like I said, pretty neat. We don’t have crowlers in Georgia, because we have stupid beer laws that restrict brewpubs from pretty much selling growlers at all. Still, growler shops abound here, though none of them has a crowler system that I am aware of. Thanks due though to my good buddy Dave Coulter for giving me a crowler of this, my first beer from the Willoughby brewery of Willoughby, Ohio. Dave, you da man!

From the brewery website:

Hazy Days is our American Wheat beer, made with only 2-row barley and wheat malt.  It’s a nice refreshing summer beer, and to give it a more refreshing quality, we dose it with some aroma hops.

Willoughby Hazy Days Hopped American Wheat has an alcohol content of 5.3% by volume with 20 IBUs. Mine was canned on 10/24/2016; my good buddy Dave got it to me within a few days and I drank it on Halloween a week later. On a style note, American wheat going back to the 90s used to mean a cristalweizen or hefeweizen that was not fermented with the traditional Bavarian yeast and so did not throw off the classic notes. Today, it is similar but is also generally well hopped to boot.

Willoughby Hazy Days Hopped American Wheat pours to a hazy amber color with a thick creamy head and a luscious passion fruit and guava nose. Taking a sip, the beer has a light smooth cracker palate up front followed by oodles of hops: more of the passion fruit I got in the nose but bitter grapefruit rind too, a little resin, and a long dry bitter finish.

Excellent fresh beer, a wonderful hoppy American wheat and a perfect beer with which to while away an afternoon, or evening as it were.

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