Covington, GA – The CORK boutique and gifts hopes to expand the love and appreciation of small boutique wineries and sometimes even smaller craft breweries to residents east of Atlanta.

In November, the CORK opened the county’s first beer growler shop as part of an expansion project, called the CORK growler and cigar shoppe.

A beer growler typically is a glass jug that is filled with draft beer from kegs and then sealed, allowing customers to take home the beer to enjoy. Customers purchase the jug of beer and can clean it after consuming it and bring it back for a refill as much as they would like.

“When we started planning for the CORK a couple of years ago, we always wanted to add a growler shop in the plans, but we just didn’t have the space,” said Lisa Phillips, owner of the CORK, which opened in October 2013 on Church Street on the Square in Downtown Covington. “Now we were able to about double our space, allowing us to add the CORK growler and cigar shoppe and a private tasting room to our boutique.”

The original family owned and operated business specializes in boutique wines, gifts and gourmet foods. The additional space also allowed the CORK to rearrange its section of craft beer, which are small-production micro-breweries, many of which are local or regional, therefore expanding its gourmet food and retail sections and adding a cheese cooler that sells mostly local Georgia cheeses like Sweet Grass Dairy in Thomasville and Udderly Cool Dairy in West Georgia.

In the growler room, the CORK has 16 craft beer taps, including one line for hard cider and one line for a nonalcoholic drink like root beer or cream soda. When the growler shop opened in November, the CORK featured all Georgia beers, including a cider from Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge and a root beer from Red Hare Brewing, a craft brewery in Marietta. It continues to have a high volume of local Georgia beers in the lineup.

“The craft beer market in Georgia has really expanded, even just over the last year, and a lot of the breweries are putting out some great high quality and interesting beer,” said co-owner Jack Phillips. “We try to offer a variety of beer types and alcohol volumes on our taps and change them out often, especially when seasonal releases come out – and we love when customers tell us some of their favorites they have found all over the world.”

Also in the expansion, a walk-in humidor featuring a wide variety of high quality cigars were stocked. The cigar shoppe also features pipes, pipe tobacco and accessories like humidors, lighters and cleaners.

“When we opened the CORK, we started off with a few hundred cigars. We’ve always wanted to be able to add multiple types of cigars from top-rated companies, and now we have the space to do so,” Jack Phillips said.

The private tasting room also allows the CORK to continue holding wine and beer tasting events each month without having to close its retail space to other customers. It also makes it easier to offer more private parties to customers. More information about private events and monthly tasting events is available by contacting the CORK at 470-444-1313 or [email protected] .

“We are grateful that residents in Covington and surrounding towns are open to enjoying unique wines, many from small wineries across the world, as well as beers and cigars, which we offer in most price ranges, without driving to Atlanta to find something enjoyable,” Lisa Phillips said. “We are excited that Downtown Covington is becoming more of a destination point and that several other small businesses have opened over the last year, making the town more pleasing for residents looking for something special for themselves or as a gift. We are glad to be a part of Downtown Covington.”

The CORK’s hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays. More information about specific products available at the CORK is available on its website, www.thecorkboutiqueandgifts.com or its Facebook and Instagram social media pages.