Elephant Beer is blowing its trumpet about Court Street Liquors.

As a wall plaque testifies, the Hamilton shop's volume of sales on Elephant Beers - or "Big Foot" as it is sometimes referred to locally - was the highest per square mile - in the world during 1999 and 2000.

Storeowner Roderick Nesbitt said a representative from Danish brewery Carlsberg - the maker of Elephant - was caught off guard, on a visit to the Island, by the relatively small size of his establishment considering he out-sells much larger retail outlets world wide.

Mr. Nesbitt said that Elephant beer was his biggest seller in recent years - with an average volume of between 12,000 and 14,000 bottles a month. But he added that currently sales of Heineken beer is outstripping sales on Elephant beer.

Burrows, Lightbourn sales manager Derek Emery, the local agent for Elephant, said Mr. Nesbitt runs a top-rate operation and that his sales back that up: "Roderick runs his business fantastically, and he has achieved a great feat. He is the largest (in volume) beer outlet in Bermuda, and that is mostly through single bottle sales. I really don't think any other store matches his beer sales, and I welcome challenges on that."

Mr. Emery said that the store's sales of Elephant have "dipped slightly" over the last year, but that they are working to bring those numbers up. Burrows, Lightbourn is also the local agent for Heineken, which is currently Court Street Liquor's top seller.

Mr. Nesbitt, who has been running the operation, along with his wife Kathy, over the past seven years said: "We predominately sell beer. If I was on Front Street it might be different, but this is not a wine drinking area. And most of our sales are 'singles'."

Mr. Nesbitt praised his working relationship with wholesaler Burrows, Lightbourn: "It is an example of the wholesaler and retailer working together. Derek Emery comes out in the field and listens to our ideas, and makes a significant contribution to beer sales," he said.

But Mr. Nesbitt added that the shop can also take credit for its success: "We rotate our stock, we don't let it sit, and that means our product is fresh," he said.