The recession has caused a nationwide dip in beer sales, but with ThriftyBeer.com, drinkers don't have to sacrifice their beer-drinking habits.

The Web site, whose Arizona listings launched this month, tells drinkers how to find the cheapest beer prices across the state.

The site lists the top 10 cheapest places to buy beer in more than 35 Arizona cities, including the entire Valley, Flagstaff and Tucson.

It uses a formula that figures out the cheapest beer by ounce and store, and the creators estimate the site can save users about $10 on larger quantities.

Fullerton, Calif., college students David Echanique and Brandon McKenney run the site, which was inspired by the friends' early drinking days.

“Back when we were closer to 21, we were doing the 21 thing,” said Echanique, 25. “Brandon was always like, ‘Man, we're spending a lot of money on beer. There's got to be a way to save some money.' He came up with the idea, and we ran with it.”

The site is updated daily and recognizes all major chains, which sometimes beat independent stores by $3 to $4 on cases, so Valley choices tend to include stores such as Bashas', Albertsons and CVS/pharmacy.

The site's chain-heavy tendency comes from the fact that there are too many independent stores to list, but Echanique said he's willing to work with any business that wants to work with him.

“Our goal is to give the public the cheapest, and the independent will never have the cheapest,” Echanique said.

The creators are in the works of offering new choices to users, in the form of displaying different types of beer to search by, as well as other varieties of liquors.

Though the site is new in Arizona, it launched in California in May and started listing prices for Las Vegas in June as well.

After developing the site for two years, the men are now working to expand into other states, with Florida, Washington and Texas up next.

“Prices are constantly changing, so you can save some good money by using our site,” Echanique said. “I just wanted to remind everyone not only to drink responsibly but also buy responsibly.”