Heidelberg Travel Forum

Where is the liquor store where people brought their own bottles went to these big glass vats and filled them up. Is this common in Germany?

Doesn't exist in Germany.
One does not need a special licence to sell alcoholic beverages in Germany. You can buy them (nearly) everywhere.

I think you are talking of a wine shop, which is different from an off-license (liquor store). There are some wine shops throughout the country (I can think of 1 in Trier near the Dom and the newsagent where I used to live in NRW had 2 or 3 wine containers in their shop) that have large glass containers filled with different sorts of wine. You can buy or bring your bottle in and fill it up.

I was looking in the section "Things to Do in Heidelburg" Under 9 "Walks"
^th item down writes about and has a picture of a "Liquor Store". I have seen olive oil sold like this, but hadn't heard of liquor!
We will be visiting Heidelburg at the end of April, only for a few hours, around lunch.

Could it be

http://www.husaren-destillerie.de/index.htm

PJ

Unlikely. Huseren Destillerie is in Heidelberg-Handschuhsheim. Very unlikely that a tourist will go there.

I would rather expect this shop to be somewhere on the Hauptstrasse or close to it. Probably "Johannes Berner" at Hauptstrasse 159.

Back to OP:
Common in the sense of "volume" certainly not. But in bigger towns and cities you'll find speciality shops selling tea, coffee, liquors etc. "open". Sometimes more a marketing thing than a technical or practical necessity. And bringing your own bottles - one needs a population mix like in Heidelberg (many students and academics) for this business model. And there are few such places in Germany.

I think you are right with Johannes Berner; see:

http://www.stgt.com/firmen/images/weiser.gif

PJ

I was in Heidelberg last Saturday and passed the store on Hauptstrasse 159. You can bring your own bottle or buy one there. It's not really common in Germany, but occasionally you come across stores that sell straight from the vat. In fall, when the new wine is fresh, this is done more often.
But be careful, we once got the last liter from a Calvados barrel and it was much!! stronger than usual. The store owner told me that the last liters are always stronger.

the one in the Haupstrasse 159 is GRUEN & FINK Likoere, etc.

http://www.likoere-hd.de/


Here, you can also fill your own bottles, because they produce their own liquors (this is not common in Germany, but more of a marketing gimmik). But you can also buy their pre-filled bottles.

There is such a store here in Düsseldorf am Rathausplatz. It is full of glass bottles filled with spirits with a hose and valve that allows you to fill your own bottles. It is kind of a gimmick, because a lot of the spirits in them is just taken from a normal bottle. For example, they have 10 kinds of Grappa and some Scotch which can be bought around the corner in normal 0,5 or 1 litre bottles. I suspect they just buy the spirits in bulk and then just pour the bottles into their glass containers and increase the price. That being said, they do have some wine and schnapps which seem to be exclusive to them.