Upper West Side Duane Reade Fills Prescriptions, Serves Beer
Leslie Albrecht, DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER WEST SIDE — Prescriptions aren't the only thing you can get refilled at the new Duane Reade on West 72nd and Broadway.
You can also replenish your beer supply at the pharmacy's Brew York City, a service counter that pours out "growlers" of beer, 64-ounce screw-top glass jugs.
The two-story Duane Reade, which also features an in-house beauty advisor, stocks craft beers including Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale, Ithaca Apricot Wheat and Sixpoint Sweet Action.
More images of Brew York City at DNAinfo.com >
Though Brew York City is set up like a bar, with an employee manning taps behind a counter, it doesn't serve beer by the glass. Customers can bring in their own growler or buy one.
The suds-peddling station, positioned across from the chips aisle, got more than one double take from shoppers on Tuesday afternoon.
Clinton Bright, a 29-year-old Williamsburg resident who works in the neighborhood, said he wasn't sure whether to believe a friend who told him about the drugstore's the growler filling service, so he stopped in to see it with his own eyes.
"It's a pharmacy, so this is interesting," Bright said. "You can buy beer here, but this is even better."
Bright said he planned to fill his growler with hard-to-find craft brews that usually cost $6 or $7 per glass in a bar. Growlers at Brew York City run $7.99, which makes them a good deal, he said.
Brew York City has its own Twitter feed — which doesn't mention that the growler bar is inside a Duane Reade — so thirsty followers can keep track of free sample offers and menu changes.
Photo credit: Two women shopping in the Duane Reade at 72nd St. and Broadway.
(Leslie Albrecht/DNAinfo)
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