In the world of beer, a "growler" is:

	Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette photos Scott Smith, owner and operator of the East End Brewing Co., fills up a customer's "growler." Click photo for larger image. Related article Brewer makes a special barleywine ale to say thanks

A. A grouchy bartender.

B. A dented, leaking keg.

C. The loner at the bar you do not want to buy a pint.

D. A jug of draft beer to go.

If you say D, then perhaps you also have the answer for how such a container got that name.

Legend goes that it dates back more than a century to when beer was transported from the local brewery or public house to one's private house in lidded metal pails in which the sloshing suds would "growl." Or, your father would if you spilled any, since children oft were put into service "rushing" or "working the growler" of brew home, and even to workers on lunch break. Others say the workers gave the vessel its name because they wanted it when their stomachs growled.

Whatever the case, the growler almost got canned and bottled to non-existence, but it has been revived in the past 15 years by the surging craft beer movement.

These days, it's common to be able to buy a growler of draft from most brew pubs and microbreweries and some better beer bars. In and around Pittsburgh, where the state buy-beer-by-the-case law has helped pump up people's taste for draft, growlers are quite popular.

East End Brewing Co., the year-old one-man show in Homewood, makes only draft brews, which it once sold only at area bars. But recently it started "growler hours" from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturdays and 5 to 7 p.m. Thursdays so folks can drink East End at home. You have to buy one of its own labeled glass jugs -- it's licensed to sell only its own beer -- for $3; a half-gallon fill or refill is $10 more.

	Growlers don't really growl, but they do contain some of the freshest available beer. Click photo for larger image.

On www.eastendbrewing.com, owner Scott Smith answers "What is a growler?" with, "Why, it's the very best friend of a good beer drinker like yourself! It's one whole half-gallon of the freshest brew you ever laid your lips on."

He says one will keep for a week or two "if you treat it nicely (cold and in the dark)," but says if you open it, you should finish all four pints because it'll go flat. Otherwise, the reusable jugs are a perfect fit with his credo of sustainability.

"No," he adds, "they don't actually make a growling noise."

On a recent Thursday, growler hour sounds like a gathering of friends, as customers file in and Mr. Smith warmly greets them and shakes their hands.

"Do you have the Witte tonight?" asks Jad Mahsoob, a software developer from nearby Edgewood who's brought a friend and his empty jug. Mr. Smith and his volunteer helpers fill it with the gold wheat beer, dunk the jug in water and wipe it off with a cloth before handing it back.

Mr. Smith says selling growlers allows him to connect with customers and gives them that "connection to the source."

But he's also been selling growlers from the Map Room in Edgewood and is now starting to offer them at more bars, including the Pittsburgh Bottleshop Cafe in Collier and Bado's in Mt. Lebanon.

Bado's owner Frank Badolato says, "I've already had people asking if they can put other beer in it. ... We're probably going to get some of our own [growlers] with our name and logo" -- as he's long considered doing -- and expand the takeaway offerings.

Growlers can be simple, like East End's printed glass jugs with screw caps, or fancy imported jobs with locking ceramic flip lids and aluminum handles -- even hand-pumped "taps." Some places will fill other establishments' growlers and some will fill only their own.

North Country Brewing Co. in Slippery Rock, Butler County, offers a one-gallon clear jug, plus a 2-liter amber flip-top with handle, as well as one-liter cobalt blue and 2-liter amber flippers without handles, though, as co-owner Bob McCafferty reports, "A friend of ours will make a hemp handle for your bottled growlers for $5 if you want to accessorize."

Lots of people do: "We've seen [growlers] come back with stickers, bandannas, custom paint jobs, etc. Like carrying your favorite to-go coffee mug or drinking from your favorite stein -- it seems to become quite personal."

The big screen-printed jug costs $15 full and refills are $8; the others, with the brewpub's logo etched in them, are more dear -- $35 for two 1-liters or one 2-liter -- but refills also are $8.

"They are crazy popular," adds Mr. McCafferty, "and we actually run out too often."

Greensburg's Red Star Brewery had such a busy holiday season that it sold out of its popular handled growlers, which cost $28.95 to $34.95 filled, depending on the beer, or $19 empty (and they'll fill them with handcrafted soda, too). They expect a shipment of 1,000 growlers soon.

In Titusville, Crawford County, the Four Sons Brewery fills half-gallon growlers -- their own ($3) or others' -- for just $7, says owner Thom Sauber. "They're our six-pack to go," he says, noting that in the hinterlands, bottled craft beer is harder to find. The brewpub sells hundreds of growlers a week, sometimes six at a time to real hop heads who come in with their coolers to "growler up" for the week. Four Sons sells 3 1/2-gallon kegs, too, but customers seem to prefer getting smaller containers and more variety.

Lawrenceville's Church Brew Works continues to expand its bottling operation and production, having just taken delivery on a new filler and labeler. But growlers remain "very popular" there too, says president Sean Casey. Regulars line the bar Fridays for their weekend rations of beer ($9; the Church jug is $3), even the house root beer. Mr. Casey notes that their rarer specialty beers sell particularly well this way.

You also can buy growlers at John Harvard's Brew House in Wilkins (whose brewers offer discounted "growlers of the week" for $9.95) and Rock Bottom Brewery in Homestead, whose brewer, Matt Carroll, points out that their growlers' price ($7.95 for a full one and $6.95 for refills) makes them "such an easy sell."

Some bars offer you a wide range of takeaway drafts, including D's SixPax & Dogz in Regent Square, Fat Head's in South Side and the Sharp Edge outlets in Friendship and Crafton.

Sharp Edge owner Jeff Walewski says they'll fill one of their own $5 jugs with whatever brand customers like, adjusting the price accordingly.

The North Side's Penn Brewery used to fill growlers but no longer does so. Owner Tom Pastorius says, "First and foremost, you can't get a good oxygen-free fill when you pour beer from the tap into a ... growler." Oxygen means oxidation, so, "If someone doesn't drink it all the same day it was filled it doesn't taste right" -- not nearly as good as a state-of-the-art bottled Penn beer (this brewery, too, has a new filler as part of a recent half-million-dollar bottling line upgrade).

He warns that takeout draft, and thus the draft drinker, also suffers if growlers aren't properly cleaned and sanitized before refilling -- a point well taken.

East End's Mr. Smith recommends rinsing growlers with very hot water -- no soap -- and allowing them to completely dry in between uses.

If you live in his neighborhood and want a growler, you may be able to wash your hands of the whole trip to the brewer. Growler fan and bicycling advocate Nick Thompson is this weekend, despite the weather, starting to offer free delivery of East End Brewing growlers in and around his Point Breeze neighborhood -- by bike. He can pull up to a dozen of them on a trailer and if his free, just-for-fun service gets popular, may even buy a bigger, better trailer.

He says he was looking for an excuse to keep pedaling and aims to make a point about bike utility. But, he also admits, "I'm assuming people will say, 'Hey, join me for a beer.'"

E-mail him at beer@ipropel.org. But don't ask if he'll deliver to the South Hills. This writer already did, and the answer is no.