The Chicago And Cleveland Grocery Chain With A Local Craft Brew On Tap Every Day

We demand a lot from our grocery stores these days. Whether it's home delivery, organic everything, or coffee bars inside the grocery stores, we've come a long way from simply expecting produce to be fresh and Charmin to be soft. But one independent, Cleveland-based chain keeps upping its customer experience when it comes to sipping beer and wine. 

Whereas in most grocery stores, you might find a small tasting table in the wine department handing out tiny pours of a sponsored, mass-produced product, Heinen's, a fourth-generation family-owned supermarket, pours beer on tap right in the store (and now wine; more on that later). What's more, it's not some conglomerate brand being poured. Instead, dedicated servers will pull a heady glass or growler of a rotating roster of local lagers, IPAs, and brown ales. There's a craft beer station located inside all Heinen's locations. What's more, the offerings are different from store to store.

Heinen's isn't the only grocery store chain with a beer or wine bar inside. Whole Foods launched in-store bars in some stores beginning in 2012. Like Heinen's, the program features local brews — many on tap — and growlers where it's legal. In 2018, Publix, a Southern grocery staple, launched Pours at a few of its 1,390 stores. The hi-tech, in-store bars feature wine, local beers on tap, coffees, and kombucha. But Heinen's has managed to provide its draft beer program in all 23 of its family-owned stores.

In 1929, Cleveland resident Joe Heinen opened a butcher shop, planning to expand into other goods. He opened Cleveland's first supermarket in 1933. In 1994, Heinen's grandsons Tom and Jeff took over, expanding the family chain into Illinois and focusing on the customer experience. These days, their kids (the fourth generation of Heinens) are involved in the store's management. Sometime before 2014, then-director of wine and beer operations, Carlo Riggio, supervised the chain's draft beer program. It allows customers to fill glasses, growlers, or crowlers (there is a difference) with a variety of local craft brews. The selections vary from store to store and might feature offerings from local joints like Butcher and the Brewer and Boss Dog Brewing, or perhaps something a little farther afield, like Easton, Pennsylvania's Weyerbacher Brewing Company. A staff member walks you through each selection.

The chain's on-site sampling doesn't stop with beer. At the historic Ameritrust Rotunda location, opened in 2015 in a converted bank in downtown Cleveland, Heinen's claims the biggest wine and beer selection in the downtown area. The Rotunda also helped introduce the chain's Sip Swirl Savor wines-by-the-glass tasting system when it opened. At the Rotunda, there are 40 different wines on tap for you to try, using Napa Technology's self-serve wine dispensers. The system is now available in several stores.  Fans of the chain also praise the customer service, including breaking six-packs into single can or bottle purchases.