As the demand for craft beers over traditional domestic beers has grown, Mike Jury, merchandising and IT consultant at Bruno’s supermarket, had an idea to help continue the trend’s growth in Tuscaloosa.

In January, Bruno’s opened up a growler station where their pharmacy used to be located. At this station, customers can choose from a variety of beers on tap and bring them home in 64 oz. glass jugs known as growlers, which get their name from the sound they make whencarbon dioxide escapes through the lid.

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“The idea first came from a store that was doing it in Memphis,” Jury said. “Our wholesaler showed it to us, and we just kind of took the idea and ran with it.”

While Cashsavers, the model store in Memphis, features between 15 and 20 brews to choose from, Bruno’s offers more than three times that many options, nearly all of which are local and craft beers.

“It’s been a continuing rolling-out process for us since January,” Jury said. “We started with around 24 different beers and now already offer more than 60.”

The station is still a work in progress, and plans are in the works to include a drive-thru window, which Jury claims is the first of its kind in the city and one of the first in the state.

Jury said he hoped the station would be a good way to promote business among college students. Since the station opened, Bruno’s has sold more than 600 of these growlers. Wes Rickey, a senior majoring in classics, was among those first 600 customers.

“I just thought it was a great deal,” Rickey said. “You get quality beer that you can’t get anywhere else in town except bars, and you get it for a really good price.”

The growler itself costs five dollars to purchase and can be brought back at anytime and refilled for between $10 and $20, depending on the beer.

“You can split it with a friend and only end up paying five or six bucks for 32 ounces of beer,” Rickey said. “Most bars will charge you that much for a pint.”

While the station does offer a few well-known domestic beers like Bud Light, Blue Moon and Shock Top, the vast majority of its options are brewed either in Tuscaloosa or around the state. Multiple offerings from breweries like Druid City, Black Warrior, Back Forty and Avondale can all be found at the station.

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Joe Fuller, brewmaster at Black Warrior and owner of the Black Warrior Brewery and taproom downtown, said he sees great potential in this venture and thinks the effects are more than just increased sales.

“The biggest thing for us was to give more people an opportunity to try our beer. Maybe you don’t want to come hang out at the taproom,” Fuller said. “Maybe you’re grilling a steak that night and want a good brown ale to go with it. Now you can do that.”

Bruno’s is not licensed to sell beer for consumption within the store, and most taprooms are not licensed to allow customers to bring beer home with them. This creates a unique partnership between these local businesses.

“One of the great things for us is that we’ve seen people come in for the growler station, then realize they need to pick up some groceries while they are here and realize the variety we have here,” Jury said.

Bruno’s was not the first business to offer a take-home service like this in town. Corks and Tops also allows customers to take home beers on tap, though its selection is significantly smaller and come in plastic jugs rather than glass ones.

Dillon Scags, brew expert at Bruno’s, said he believes many customers will prefer Bruno’s take-home section to the one at Corks and Tops.

“We get a lot of customers coming in and saying that they tried to buy the same beer at Corks and Tops that we have here, only they were charging 30 or 40 percent more,” Scags said.

Though there might be a price difference between the two stores, Corks and Tops does offer jugs in 16 and 32 oz. sizes in addition to the 64 oz. option offered at Bruno’s. While Corks and Tops is constantly expanding its bottled section, Bruno’s has a number of ideas to expand its growler section, including a beer club as well as the potential to increase the number of beers on tap up to 100 or more.

“We don’t ever want to promote drinking, but if you are going to drink, we hope you’ll come buy it here,” Jury said.

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