Lisai’s taps into new market with draught craft beer to go

By Cynthia Prairie
©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC
Lisai’s Chester Market has just become one of the few groceries — two as far as can be determined — in Vermont to sell growlers  — those 64- and 32-ounce bottles of specialty beers tapped from a keg at the time of sale.

Matt Redfield fills one customer’s 32-ounce jug. Photo by Shawn Cunningham.

After spending the winter rearranging and consolidating groceries, redesigning the wine room, building a bar and adding taps, Lisai’s this past weekend began selling four beers and one cider from gleaming stainless taps. The store intends to have a rotating offering of craft beers.

The four inaugural beers, all from Vermont breweries, are unavailable in bottles or cans and can only be purchased on tap. They are Zero Gravity’s Conehead India Pale Ale; Queen City Brewery’s Southend Lager, Drop-In Brewing Co.’s Belgian-style Sunshine and Hoppiness Golden Ale and 14th Star Brewing’s Gallantry, which is an American Pale Ale.

The cider is Shacksbury Cider out of Shoreham. Zero Gravity and Queen City are out of Burlington, Drop-In is from Middlebury and 14th Star is out of St. Albans.

Matt Redfield built the bar and he and John Yake — both of whom can usually be found behind the meat counter — will also be manning the beer station to serve customers.

The beer is poured into dark brown jugs of two sizes, labeled and capped. The initial cost of the 64-ounce jug is $13 and for the 32-ounce one is $7. There’s a $2 deposit on each bottle, which reduces the cost of refills by $2. When buying a refill, customers will have to return the rinsed bottle to Lisai’s, where they’ll pick up fresh brew in a clean bottle. But be aware that state law prohibits using one seller’s jugs at other places.

Redfield says the beer is best consumed within 24 hours of purchase however “it will be fresh if refrigerated and not opened.”

And Yake says customers have already begun suggesting new beers to have on tap, including a darker brew.