[leadin]With triple-insulated stainless steel and a built-in infuser for tea or fruit, Eco Vessel’s BOSS Growler will aid you in both the procurement, and treatment, of a hangover.[/leadin]
Stainless-steel growlers are common these days. So when someone comes up with a new twist like this, it catches our attention.
Okay, it’s fun to review a growler (read: drink beer) whether or not it’s unique. But it helps when the growler can also be used to brew tea.
And of course it’s from Boulder, Colo. Where else would you invent a single container to carry micro-brew home, and then recover with a healthfully “infused” tea from the same growler before yoga class?
Namaste, bro.
Eco Vessel BOSS Growler Review
Eco Vessel’s BOSS growler is a vacuum-insulated, 64-oz. stainless steel growler with a removable infuser cage at the mouth of the growler. You can fill the strainer-like insert with tea leaves (or fruit) to steep into hot (or cold) water.
At $54.95, the BOSS can be a multi-use companion while you’re camping, at the cabin, or even hanging at your home base for a competitive price. It will keep your beer cold and your tea hot. It just might become the most useful thing in your kitchen.
Eco Vessel’s triple-insulation technology purports to keep cold liquids cold for up to 36 hours, and hot liquids hot for up to eight hours. It has an interchangeable top, offering a wider-mouthed option for easy pouring and a narrow option for easier swigging.
The BOSS’s removable infuser cage sits atop the mouth of the container and can hold tea, fruit, ice, or whatever you want to steep in 64 ounces of water.
Keeps Beer Carbonated, Cold
No surprise here – the growler does a stand-up job containing beer. The only hiccup I had was when the bartender at my brewpub of choice (The Angry Minnow, in Hayward, Wisconsin) pointed out it was missing the standard US government warning alerting pregnant women and operators of machinery to the downsides of consuming alcohol. They let it go, but told me I’d need to print the warning off and stick it onto the growler for future use.
Beer storage isn’t the easiest thing to get right, with carbonation and cold temperatures at stake, but the BOSS did swimmingly as it sat by the fire, rolled across the ground, and even wound up in the water of a lake briefly. The next day, whatever beer remained was still cold, even after the growler sat out in room temperature overnight.
Infuser Works Effectively For Tea
A day later, I loaded up the infuser (which I’d removed for the beer) with loose-leaf rooibos chai tea; the infuser hanging from the mouth of the growler, I poured boiling water over and in, and I let it steep for a few minutes before I poured my first cup from the batch.
Throughout the day, I revisited the growler full of tea, which with one pour was sitting below the bottom of the infuser and didn’t lead to unwanted steeping. It stayed hot, cooling only to the point where I didn’t have to nurse it too long before drinking over the course of about five hours.
The one downside was that the lid – re-affixed after every pour to retain the heat – got really hot over the course of the day, to the point where I needed a towel to unscrew it.
Finally, this infuser could be used to infuse dry hops into any other beer for those who would like to experiment at home. This is a pretty niche use, but fun for those who have hops growing at home.
Great Growler, Good Value
Eco Vessel makes a good growler in the BOSS that is very unique and extra useful. You can get creative with the infuser – think keeping a beverage extra-cold with ice – and it retained temperature as promised. And at $54.95, it’s right in line with a lot of other stainless steel vessels that don’t carry the added bonus of the infuser.
If they fix the heat-conducting lid and slap on a warning label, this just might be the last growler you’ll ever need.
