-- As of Wednesday morning,

became the first brewery ever to legally sell beer exclusively brewed and bottled in Tuscaloosa.

That's as far as co-owner and brewmaster

Bo Hicks

can tell, anyways.

"I remember Barrett's Brew Pub being around when I was younger, but they never had packaged beer," Hicks said.

Hicks and his co-owner

Elliott Roberts

opened DCBC in Tuscaloosa back in summer 2012, when a bottled beer they brewed in their hometown was a mere dream. Today, it's no longer a matter of if or when.

Now you can purchase DCBC's own

Downtown North Porter

, their popular "full-bodied malt bomb with rich chocolate and vanilla flavors from beginning to end," according to the brewery's website. "While this Porter is hosting a multitude of malt profiles for roasty flavor, it is also joined by the addition of vanilla bean to give this big beer a velvety, sweet finish."

Hicks spent the past several days hand-bottling 144 22-ounce bomber bottles that will be available at

'Loosa Brews, Spirits

and

Corks & Tops

starting this week, something in which he and his colleagues take great pride at Druid City Brewing.

"It's something that we're really excited to bring," Hicks said. "To showcase something about Tuscaloosa that people can take home, give as gifts and show something that highlights that I think Tuscaloosa has to offer."

The brewery is located at 607 14th Street at Parkview Center in Tuscaloosa.

We asked Hicks a few more questions about the newly bottled beer.

Why was it time to bottle your beer?

We were getting to a point to where people kept asking us if we had packaged beer. We did not. We were only draft. It took a lot of hard work. The way we have to bottle is a very labor-intensive, time-consuming step. We really wanted something on the shelves so that people that might not go to bars and restaurants could see that there are people doing great work here in Tuscaloosa. It's something that our brother and sister breweries -- Black Warrior and Band of Brothers -- are going to offer. It's something that we really wanted to highlight our craft here in Tuscaloosa.

Why the Downtown North Porter?

It's been very well-received. People really like it. It's a big, robust imperial vanilla porter. It's really something that cellars well. You can keep it for a while, then flavor dynamics will change a bit. We thought it would be perfect in case people wanted to buy a couple, they can enjoy one soon and then save one for six months or a year. We thought it was the best offering to start with, something that ages really well.

When and where can we get it?

It's now available for purchase at Spirits both locations [in Tuscaloosa], 'Loosa Brews, Corks & Tops. It's a limited run, but not because we're trying to create scarcity. It's because took me the whole day to make all 12 cases we'll have available. We're also going to have a small run of two cases will go to Birmingham and Mobile to give a little taste there.

Do you plan to bottle more? When?

It's sort of an economy of scale problem. In our present facility, we don't have the footprint you need for a very large, automated bottling line. We have to fill up each bottle individually by hand because of space constraints. It's something that we're currently looking at addressing as we grow. We're presently looking at larger facilities. We hope that by beginning to next year that we can pull the trigger and be a little bit more of a player in packaging. We really believe we've got a good thing going in Tuscaloosa. We're really great friends with Cahaba, Good People and all the Birmingham breweries, but I want people to come here to enjoy the great things Tuscaloosa has to offer. It's my home. It's something that we believe in, both me and Elliott. It's one of the reasons we started the brewery was to highlight all of the awesome Tuscaloosa has to offer.

Learn more about the Downtown North Porter bottles in the video below:

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