Cuvée Coffee Can Have Crowlers, Court Concludes

Cuvée crowlers being sealed.

Longtime roasting company Cuvée Coffee has scored a major victory for many of its peers in the beer and grocery industries after a Texas judge ruled that crowlers — which are effectively 32-ounce growlers in can form — can be sold by retailers even if they are not breweries or brewpubs.

We’ve been following this story since the middle of last year when the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) first notified Cuvée that it could no longer sell crowlers from its flagship Austin shop, where crowlers of craft beer from guest breweries was being sold for take-out alongside the shop’s other core coffee offerings. In September, the TABC followed up by seizing Cuvée’s crowler canning equipment, which Cuvée owner Mike McKim told Daily Coffee News represented an investment of several thousand dollars.

Here’s McKim late last week announcing the court’s decision to Cuvée supporters in Fort Worth:

TABC vs. Cuvee…and the winner is… pic.twitter.com/dpikxF7eDk

— Mike McKim (@MikeMckim) November 22, 2016

Following the decision, McKim told Austin360 that he wasn’t sure whether the equipment would be returned to Cuvée, and a TABC representative told the news source that the board is reviewing the ruling before it will decide whether to appeal.