REVIEW: Hydro Flask 64oz Growler

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A rugged vacuum insulated growler, the Hydro Flask 64oz Growler is a great way to bring your favorite craft beer or kombucha camping.

This not a paid post, however, we did receive this piece of gear for free for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely our own.

The Details:

What it comes with:
64 oz insulated growler
Insulated screw cap

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Specs:
Liquid Capacity: 64 fl. oz.
Dimensions: 4.7 x 10.1 inches
Water Bottle Material: 18/8 Pro-Grade Stainless Steel
Cap Type: Screw Cap
Weight (Empty): 1lb 15oz
BPA-Free and Phthalate-Free
Lifetime warranty

Our Thoughts:

First Impressions:

 

We have wanted to pick up an insulated growler for a very long time. Since moving to Bend, Oregon we’ve discovered that we can fill up a growler virtually everywhere. At the many craft breweries in town, at many bars, and even at the gas station. There’s also plenty of places to fill up on kombucha as well!

So this Hydro Flask is going to solve a major problem for us: how to bring all these amazing beverages with us when we go camping. Up until now, we’ve been buying cans (which, while recyclable, are still not as low-impact as we would like).

Additionally, breweries only offer a few of their styles in cans. In fact, many of their seasonal varieties are only available on location on draft. Plus, cans require some type of cooler setup to stay cold.

An insulated growler solves all that. Cold fresh beer goes in, cold fresh beer comes out, and there’s zero trash to pack out.

How it works:

 

Hydro Flask 64oz growler was the first stainless steel insulated growler on the market, so they’ve had some time to dial in their product’s performance.

Their vacuum insulated double walled TempShield technology is used across all of Hydro Flask’s product line. As far as we can gather, there isn’t anything truly “revolutionary” about the technology (it’s fairly similar to the type insulation used by other insulated bottle companies). However, it does allow them to create slim, lightweight insulated bottles without reducing performance.

But does it actually work? Hydro Flask advertised their growler keeps beer cold for 24 hours. We think they’re being modest. In our experience, our beer was still cold on day 3 and we suspect it could go for even longer than that. But it all depends on the conditions.

If you leave your Hydro Flask growler sitting out in the sun and then fill it, the beer will be warm in a matter of hours. That is because the warm metal inside transfers heat to the cold beer, evening out to lukewarm beer. So before we get our growler filled, we load it up with sacrificial ice and water for a few hours to drop the internal temperature as much as possible. Right before we go to the brewery, we dump out all the ice and water.

The other way to extend your beer’s freshness to limit the number of times you open it. While you can open and reseal your growler a few times while on a trip, each time you do so you’re warming it and losing freshness. For maximum freshness, we recommend opening it only once and committing to enjoying it all in one sitting.

So what did we think of the Hydro Flask 64oz Growler?

Strong side:
‣ Keeps beer cold and fresh for at least 24 hours. Possibly much longer if you take a few precautions to minimize heat transfer.

 

‣ Durable. We have not been kind to our growler. It has been dropped. It has been tossed. It has been accidentally kicked over (thankfully all while empty!). But not a single dent on it and just a few smudges that can be easily wiped off the durable powder coat.

‣ If you’re concerned at all that the insulated screw cap won’t hold in the carbonation – don’t. This thing creates a seal like you wouldn’t believe.

‣ Slim design takes up less space. Not only is bottle itself slimmer than many insulated growlers, but the minimal ring handle makes it even easier to store.

 

Weak side:
‣ Yes, the screw top holds in carbonation really well. But it can be nearly impossible to open sometimes. As carbonation is released inside, it expands and puts a lot of pressure on the threads. If you have weak wrists, this one is going to be a challenge.

 

‣ Hydro Flask claims that the ring handle allows for easy one-hand pouring, but we’re calling B.S. Unless you have forearms the size of PopEye, nobody is pouring a full Hydro Flask growler with just one hand. It’s a two handed operation.

‣ Not dishwasher safe. While cleaning out this thing with a bottle brush isn’t the worst thing in the world, it would be nice we could just pop in the dishwasher after a camping trip.

Things to Consider:

Do you live in a town with over 175 places to fill up a growler within a 5-mile radius?

Do you have the grip strength of Alex Honnold and want to show it off by being the only person who can easily open this growler at the campsite?

Do you want to drink Bud Lite but don’t want your beer snob friends to think less of you?

Does the Law of Conservation of Energy seem like a fun challenge to you?

Did you know that cans are the new bottles, and insulated growlers are the new cans?

Do you think $65 is expensive for a growler? You should see what they’re selling coolers for these days!

If you answered “yes” to any of the above, the Hydro Flask growler might be the growler for you.

You can check out the Hydro Flask 64oz Growler on REI or on Amazon, or see their full product lineup here.

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9 Comments

  1. Scottie McT says:

    You guys may want to look at this company for an alternative, Drink Tanks. The growler itself, is on par with this one, but the thing that makes it extra-special imo is the accessory you can buy with it, specifically the keg cap. Really helps extend the life of the beer you pick up along the way on your travels. Please let me know if you do a review of it, would love to get some feedback from other beer & camping hobbyist 🙂 I personally love mine.
    https://www.drinktanks.com/shop/shop-growlers/
    https://www.drinktanks.com/product/keg-cap-kit/
    PS. I believe that there’s a kick starter that they have for a keg-cap that also is self regulating the pressure which would be awesome to see it come to production.

    1. We just picked up a Drink Tank growler last week! We should have a review on it coming shortly. It’ll be nice to be able to compare & contrast.

  2. Poured my beer into the insulated growler and and open another beer on the side at the same time to test the carbonation over a short period of time. After 30 minutes, both of the beers’ carbonation were nearly the same which was disappointing. An hour later the growler containing the beer was completely flat. Maybe I received a faulty unit but if not, then I don’t recommend this product if you intend to use this to mainly store beer. Anyone else having any similar problems?

    1. Sorry to hear that. Perhaps you have a defective seal. Definitely, contact the company because that has not been our experience at all.

    2. Mariangel Palacios says:

      Mine doesn’t even keep my liquids cold for more than 4 hrs… I am very disappointed in mine

  3. I feel like keeping beer cold would be difficult with this growler, once it warms up…it’s too insulated to get cold in the fridge. This would only be useful for same day or next day drinking (maybe). Did you find this to be true?

    I often fill my glass growlers and have them 3-5 days later, but in the fridge the whole time to keep the beer as cold as out of the tap.

    1. We agree. For cold beer, depending on the ambient outside temperature, you are realistically looking at 12 hour window. If you fill it up and put the whole thing in the fridge, it will stay cold. But you’ll have a hard time re-chilling the beer if it has already warmed up. The other key is once you open the growler, you should commit to drinking it all in that sitting. There is no opening and resealing it for tomorrow.

  4. Mariangel Palacios says:

    My Growler Sucks, it doesn’t even keep my Water cold, I pour Ice in it and it melts in less than 5 hours, I’ve, my drinks do not keep cold… I am very disappointed in mine… And I paid for the Big 64 oz one…

    1. We often pre-chill our growler, filling it with ice and water, before bringing it to get filled. We have them dump out the ice and immediately fill it and seal it. That seems to help keep it cool for longer as the beer doesn’t have to chill the room temperature growler interior.