Growling for more

Last December, Alan Kidd couldn’t tell you what a growler was. 

“There’s not beer in that,” he said to someone when he saw a jug at a party.

That was when Kidd’s wheels started turning. 

Now Kidd, owner of the Cowboys gas station on 280, is doing growlers his own way with the help of Cowboys Manager Mark Mosteller. They found someone who could build draft spouts right into the cooler wall, and now they carry 44 draft beers to-go in Cowboys growlers, which are glass or ceramic jugs used to transport draft beer.

“It’s drawn a boatload of people,” Kidd said. “It’s been a crazy-fun adventure, and it hasn’t stopped. There’s so many beers [to choose from] — I mean there are hundreds and thousands of beers.”    

 Cowboys has had visitors all the way from Tennessee and Oklahoma who wanted to see their wall, and even brewers from Atlanta and Pensacola have wanted to learn from Cowboys. 

“Alabama is truly blessed with some very good microbreweries... and we are trying to feature Alabama beers here,” Mosteller said. “At least half of our beers will always be Alabama.” 

Growlers weren’t always legal in Alabama, though. Chad Johnson, co-owner of City Vineyard, said he and his partner Gavin Ennis are the ones who fought for them. 

“We sell beer and wine to-go by the bottle or by the six-pack,” Johnson said. “We were trying to make it so you could buy it by draft.” 

So a couple years ago, Johnson and Ennis hired a lawyer and went through the proper channels to legalize growlers in the state. Now City Vineyard keeps eight beers on draft for customers to take home. 

Those eight are specialty brews you couldn’t normally buy in a bottle or can. Johnson said smaller breweries or seasonal flavors don’t always produce enough revenue to be bottled or canned.   

“So they do some cool brews in kegs,” Johnson said. “We wanted people to be able to take those home as opposed to just sit there, having a beer at our place and leaving. They can actually take them home now.”

One of the most popular beers in the country, according to Johnson, is called Mexican Cake. This imperial stout, made from cocoa nibs, vanilla bean, cinnamon and habanero, is one of those brews that is rarely bottled. City Vineyard also carries various IPAs, shandies and a beer called River Dog from South Carolina. 

“We fill up people on their way to the lake or the beach, and they want to take something that they can’t get there,” Johnson said. “Some of the beer stores that you see on the way to the lake, they focus on the domestics and the standard craft beers.”

Kidd also said he has seen people stopping in for growlers on the way to Lake Martin during the summer, but what he has really waited for is football season. He and Mosteller think football season will be the real test of the wall of draft beers. 

Even with 30 years at Cowboys, both Kidd and Mosteller said the addition of growlers in the store changes everything. Kidd said they are always learning and adding to what they have. Customers were flooding in for six hours straight on the Fourth of July alone to get their growlers.  “There’s more beer here than down U.S. 280,” Kidd said. “When I mean down 280 — On Tap, the beer place you go to drink beer, I think they have even come in here and gone, ‘Holy cow. How did this come about?’”

Where to fill up 

Cowboys 

5492 U.S. 280

981-0994

Monday-Sunday, 24 hours 

City Vineyard 

5479 U.S. 280, Suite 102

437-3360

Monday-Thursday, 12-9 p.m.

Friday, 12 p.m.-1 a.m.

Saturday, 10 a.m.-1 a.m.