The first ever official growler sold by the Illawarra Brewing Company. At least I think it is.

Like many good beer fans in the Illawarra, I’ve long been hoping for the Illawarra Brewing Company to become the first place in Wollongong to offer growler fills. Well, it’s taken a while but that day finally came today.

And I reckon I was the first person to buy a growler fill from them (though not the first growler fill ever – the team at the brewery gave it a few test runs earlier in the week).
I became the first to buy a fill because I am stupid. See, this afternoon, the IBC made the announcement that growler fills were go on Facebook and Twitter from 2.30pm. I misread that as 2pm and so I arrived at the brewhouse, empty growler in hand, a full half-hour early. So early that the kegs were still being connected to the filling machine.

So I stood around for 30 minutes, tried not to get in anyone’s way and accepted the beers the guys offered while I waited. When the machine was ready I got my fill of Abbey Brune – a Belgian dubbel that clocks in at around 6.5 per cent. It was a seasonal release about a year ago and the guys had find a keg of it and decided to use it for the growlers.

I’m sure that, this time around, the alcohol is more upfront. That’s because I definitely remember being impressed over how well the brewers hid all the alcohol. Perhaps with the ageing of the beer, the alcohol has come more to the fore. That alcohol accentuates the fruitcake/dried fruit flavours of the beer, making it a nice drink for the cooler months.

And I’m certain it’ll be far from the last growler fill I get from the IBC. I’m already thinking about what I might get next.

The details: The fills are on Friday afternoons from 2.30pm to 5.30pm Fridays only at this stage. The place to go is not the brewery bar but the brewhouse at unit 4/83-85 Montague St, North Wollongong. You can bring your own growler or the guys will sell you one with your first fill. Check out the Illawarra Brewing Company’s Facebook page or follow them on Twitter to see when they’re offering a new beer for growler fills.