Avon’s Tri-It Taproom brings self-serve beer and wine to Connecticut for the first time

The Tri-It Taproom in Avon is a new type of beer and wine experience: One complete wall of the taproom is lined with 44 taps, all of them self-serve. And there are no bartenders.

“I love to see people’s faces when they come around the corner,” said owner and manager Michelle Norris. “Most of then have never come to a self-serve before. They see it and say ‘Oh my gosh, this is perfect.’ ”

In June 2021, Connecticut became the 46th state to legalize self-pour technology, passing with bipartisan support in the state legislature. The technology allows customers at taprooms to draw their own beverages, paying by the ounce.

Tri-It, at 300 W. Main St., is the first venue in the state to use the technology. Various companies manufacture self-pour systems. Tri-It’s is from Illinois-based PourMyBeer.

Norris, a native of Akin, South Carolina, was familiar with self-serve before moving up to New England to open Tri-It.

“The self-serve in my hometown was my hangout,” she said.

Norris doesn’t think the lack of bartenders will put people off.

“We want to create an atmosphere and provide an experience,” she said. TVs show sports and music plays on a jukebox (accessible by the TouchTunes app). Families can gather in the fireplace corner, drink sodas, eat snacks and play games.

“I’ve heard little kids say they want to come back,” Norris said. The taproom opened June 25.

Drinking customers must show both an ID and a debit or credit card with a name that matches the ID. Patrons are issued a card that turns on the taps. Beers cost about 54 to 91 cents an ounce. Twenty-ounce flights, 16-ounce glasses and wine glasses can be used.

Imbibing is monitored by the machine. When a card gets to 32 ounces of beer or 10 ounces on wine, the card stops working. It can be reloaded by an attendant.

“We would have to have a conversation with you,” Norris said. “After that we would keep an eye on you.”

Tri-It’s lineup has beers, seltzers and ciders from Connecticut craft breweries that self-distribute.

“People ask me, how receptive are the breweries? But they’re breaking down the door. They want to be on this wall,” Norris said. “It’s a place to try new beers. If you like a beer by 5 Churches or another brewery, next time they can go down the road and visit them.”

On a recent day, the lineup included seltzers, sours, pilsners, lagers, kölsches, märzens, ales, IPAs, wheats, porters and stouts from Back East, Witchdoctor, Alvarium, Tox, Thimble Island, Spoke & Spy, Yankee Cider, Maple View, East Rock, Epicure, 5 Churches, Shebeen, Paddle Creek, Taylor Brook, Firefly Hollow, Hop Culture, East Hartford, Counter Weight, Norbrook Farm, Little Red Barn, Beer’d, Great Falls, Aspetuck, City Steam, Connecticut Valley, Relic, Nod Hill, WeHa, Bad Sons, Legitimus, Lost Tourist, OEC and Thomas Hooker. Wine is from Brignole and Jonathan Edwards.

Tri-It serves bar bites and small plates including “Surf and Turf,” a cup of goldfish and animal crackers. Other munchies are big pretzels, kettle corn, buffalo or garlic hummus with pita wedges, a charcuterie and a “palline,” a plate with dumplings and Italian meat and cheeses. Prices range from $4.50 to $25 (for the charcuterie). There are also non-alcoholic sodas and waters.

Restrictions

Tri-It is the state’s first self-pour because of a stipulation in the new law: All self-pour facilities must be on-site. Businesses with catering licenses aren’t considered on-site.

Mike Gallop — owner of Twins BBQ, a Brookfield-based food truck — hoped to become the state’s first self-pour entrepreneur.

“I had the first self-pour unit in the state. I got it in March 2021. I was very excited when the law got passed,” Gallop said.

He was ready to go, but found out after the law passed that he could not proceed with his plan, because his license was catering.

“I don’t think a lot of people were aware of the stipulation about on-site,” he said. “We can continue to use our truck, but we can’t have anybody self-pour.”

State Sen. Kevin Witkos, who championed last year’s legislation, said self-pour took several years to pass because some legislators “were afraid there would be an uptick in DWIs.” Witkos said the law will be revisited in the future to fine-tune it.

“Right now, the self pour doesn’t allow anything over 6% ABV. Taprooms want to promote the local brews but some of the beers are over 6%,” he said. “Why shouldn’t we allow over 6%?”

He added that when large parties come to restaurants, with one person paying, everyone in the party has to show the ID-credit card combo. He wants to change that.

“Why should they have to do that?” he said.

Norris agrees. “It feels weird to have to ask that. You may be on a date and you’re paying and your date may have decided to pack light and just carry her ID and not her credit card. We’d have to turn her away.”

Witkos added that he did not know if expanding the law to include catering licenses would be addressed.

Coming soon

Another self-pour company, Chillproof, has signed a lease on a location at 28 Spring St. in downtown Stamford. Chillproof’s taproom, to be called Hop & Vine, is scheduled to open in December or January, according to Sakarin Seedasome and Matthew Ventura, two of the co-owners of Chillproof.

The 5,500-square-feet, two-story taproom will have two floors and a total of 75 taps serving locally made beers as well as wine, and will serve food in a gastropub atmosphere, Ventura and Seedasome said. After they work out the kinks, they said, they hope to expand to other cities.

Tri-It is open Wednesday to Friday 3 to 9 p.m. and weekends noon to 9 p.m. tri-it-taproom.com.

Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com