Here's How Many Beers You Get From A Growler

It can seem sometimes that there are as many beer sizes out there as there are types of beer. You've got the regular 12-ounce can, the tallboy can that's beloved by craft brewers, and you can even get beer in cans bigger than a tallboy. But if you're particularly enthusiastic about one beer at a brewery, you can request a growler fill. This begs the question, though: How many beers are actually in that growler? To find out if it's worth your money or if you're better off buying individual beers, you've got to do a little math.

The standard can of beer sits at 12 ounces (about 355 milliliters). By comparison, a full-size growler can hold 64 ounces of your favorite sudsy brew. This means that you get 5 ⅓ regular cans of beer out of one growler. So if you can grab a growler for less than the price of five regular cans, then that's the best option for your wallet, made even better by the fact that you can refill that big bottle later. What about pints, though? A pint glass holds 16 ounces, so you'll get exactly four pints out of a growler fill. You just have to make sure you drink all that beer before it goes bad in the growler.

The beer world just loves to have a panoply of sizes and formats available to its consumers. The stubby bottle is different from a regular bottle, except for the fact that it's the same size. However, when it comes to ordering a growler at a brewery, it's wise to make sure that you're actually getting the proper size. Some vendors offer different sizes of those recognizable dark glass jugs, so keep an eye out for what options are on offer.

If you're not feeling a full-sized growler for whatever reason, you might be able to grab a half-growler (otherwise known as a howler) instead. These are, as the name implies, half the size of a normal growler, sitting at 32 ounces — the equivalent of 2 ⅔ standard cans (or two pints) of beer. And if this volume seems appropriate for you but there's no bottle of that size available, it might be that the establishment sells crowlers, the can equivalent of half-growlers. Either way, just make sure to do the quick mental math to see if you're better off grabbing one of these larger formats. Usually, they're priced to be marginally cheaper than individual cans, but it's still a good practice to have in mind.