No trip to the Outer Banks is complete without cruising through Brew Thru, the Outer Banks’ original drive thru convenience store. Whether you’re looking for a refreshing cold beverage of Coke, Pepsi and other soft drinks on the go, stocking up your cooler with refreshments to enjoy at the beach or piling up on beer and wine for a party, Brew Thru is a fun and unique experience all vacationers need to see for themselves. 

Brew Thru is your quick and easy stop for stocking up on over 120 varieties of beer, including kegs, as well as family snacks and drinks for the beach. Kegs are available  in 1/2 and 1/4. Many beers are availabe in kegs on hand, and you can place a special order for additional variety of brands. On hand keg brands include Budweiser, Busch, Coors, Fat Tire, Killians, Keystone, Michelob, Miller, Natural Light, PBR and Yeungling. Special orders include Bass Ale, Blue Moon, Dos Equis, Fosters, Guiness, Harp, Heineken, Kona, Magic Hat, New Castle, Sam Adams, Smithwicks, Stella Artois and St. Georges. A variety of wines also are available.

Brew-Thru souvenir t-shirts are an absolute must have! Since 1977, at the time of this publication, Brew Thru has sold over 4.5 million t-shirts. Apparal, collectibles and hats are available and the station attendant can give you a catalog to browse.

The friendly station attendants serve you as you place an order from your car.

Please consider tipping for their service.

Featured Profile

Drive-Through Beer & Gear

Brew Thru is Your One-Stop Shop at the Beach

In 1977, Dana and Becky Lawrentz were chatting with friends over brews in their hometown, Akron, Ohio, discussing how a gas station convenience store in the area had built a makeshift drive-through. Everyone agreed it would be great if you could actually drive through a convenience store and pick up everything you needed without getting out of the car. But what would you call a place like that?

Well, you’d call it a Brew Thru.

The Lawrentzes moved to the Outer Banks and built the first Brew Thru with the help of a partner. The idea was that people could come buy everything they would need for their trip to the beach—beer, wine, soft drinks, snacks, ice—without getting out of the car. That same year, a t-shirt salesman visiting the store, talked them into adding t-shirts to their product line— and 45 years later there are now more than five million Brew Thru t-shirts out in the wild.

The Lawrentzes’ daughter Brandy and her husband Philip Foreman, who both grew up on the Outer Banks, purchased the business from them in 2002. There are now five Brew Thrus located in Corolla, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, and two in Nags Head. They’ve also opened the Brew Thru Shop in Kill Devil Hills to allow patrons to shop at their leisure for additional Brew Thru apparel and gifts that can’t be found at all drive-through locations.

Owner, Phillip Foreman, far left, with his Brew Thru crew.

Realizing the palate for beer and wine drinkers has broadened over the years, Brew Thru now offers over 100 different brands of beer, which includes imports, micro-beers and many beers brewed right in North Carolina. Every year, Brew Thru holds a retreat for store managers and vendors in which everyone gets together to sample products and decide on the top beer and wine picks of the year. “We want to offer what’s hot in the market right now, and it’s much easier to sell products that we enjoy ourselves!” Foreman says.

Because of the vast selection of items at Brew Thru, they have created the Summer-y (a play on “summary”), a showcase of the Brew Thru souvenirs, beer, wine, cigars and more, which helps shoppers see all that is available for their Brew Thru experience. The staff’s favorites, also known as Big D’s Picks, are denoted by a thumbs up in the Summer-y.

Brew Thru is very thankful to be part of such a wonder­ful community and loves to give back. Since the Fore­mans purchased the company, they have donated more than $300,000 to various local and national nonprofits like the OBX Get Pinked! Campaign, the Outer Banks Relief Foundation, the Dare Education Foundation, March of Dimes and more.

“It’s a team effort at Brew Thru”. “We employ some of the friendliest people on the beach and always put our customers first. “We have been welcoming visitors to the Outer Banks since 1977, says Foreman. “It’s all about treating our customers the way that we want to be treated.”