Spirits Unlimited

Spirits UnlimitedSpirits Unlimited
Spirits UnlimitedSpirits Unlimited
Store

56 Newman Springs Rd E
Red Bank, New Jersey, 07701-1517
United States

(732) 747-4053 | map
spiritsunlimited.com
PLACE STATS
Average:
4.17
Reviews:
24
Ratings:
28
pDev:
13.91%
View: Place Reviews
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Photo of surds
Reviewed by surds from New Jersey

4.6/5  rDev +10.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 5
The best beer selection in Monmouth county by far. great craft beer selection, including many local names, and a huge selection of imports. Staff is friendly, and the prices are in line. Not a place to go for an experience, but a place to go to if you are looking for something you cant find elsewhere. they likely have it.
May 16, 2016
Photo of MacMalt
Reviewed by MacMalt from New Jersey

4.12/5  rDev -1.2%
vibe: 3.75 | quality: 4.25 | service: 4 | selection: 4.25
This "big box" liquor store has a very good selection of craft beer, as well as wine and liquors. It is a large, airy store and it also offers draft beer in growlers. The staff is helpful. The parking is ample.
Oct 29, 2015
 
Rated: 4.11 by Brushkanna from New Jersey

Mar 11, 2015
Photo of DaliQualiti
Reviewed by DaliQualiti from New Jersey

4.25/5  rDev +1.9%
One of the better selections for beer I've found in Monmouth County, for sure. Easy to navigate. Very organized. The staff is usually friendly but the help is hit or miss. I would totally recommend stopping in and scoping out the wide variety. Spirits Red Bank is definitely worth a go.
Nov 18, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by skriv from New Jersey

May 06, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by NYR_Rob from Pennsylvania

Jan 20, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by RobDB from New Jersey

Oct 27, 2013
Photo of miked668
Reviewed by miked668 from South Carolina

1.9/5  rDev -54.4%
After spending about an hour carefuly chosing which beer to enjoy over Christmas vacation I went to go check out. At the counter was a man listening to an i-pod, he started ringing up my bottles. After a couple he asked to see i.d. from myself and my girlfriend. Both she and I are over 21 and South Carolina residents. He told us that they didn't take out of state i.d.'s and started pulling the bottles off the counter right in front of me. There was about $200 worth of merchandise that I selected to serve with Christmas dinner with my family and a few select 22oz bottles to bring back to South Carolina. Also, my sister, an instate resident, was behind us with bottles of liquor and beer for dinner and to send as presents that she was not able to purchase because she was with us. I brew beer for a living, visiting my home state at Christmas time and was denied purchase of great micro-brewed beer that I have every right to possess. The sole reason is that I now live out of state. Spirits Unlimited greatly dissappointed me at one of the best times of the year. I would not recommend this establishment to any out of state beer lovers, because after not observing any signs stating their policy you will be turned down at the counter by an apathetic worker who is caring more about listening to music than making a few hundred dollars sale. Thanks,
miked668
Dec 26, 2008
Photo of AltBock
Reviewed by AltBock from Ohio

3.7/5  rDev -11.3%
Do you know what a grocery store looks like? Good, now replace the food with wine, liquor, and beer. It looks excatly like they took a building that once housed a grocery store and made it into a liquor store. There is no dead space in here where there should be some kind of alcoholic beverage. Everything has a place. The first 8 to 10 aisles is where they keep the hard stuff and the wine. The last 3 and the refridgerator aisle is entirely devoted to beer. The first aisle is where they keep all the single 22 oz and 750 ml American micros, Belgians, and other imports. All the other aisles have six packs. The open fridge has repeats of the six packs that are on the floor and a few imports that were in the first aisle. The entire back of the store (in the beer area) has nothing but ciders. If you can find it, there's an hollowed out barrel in front of the fridge aisle that has vintage beer. There isn't many of them, but at least they carry them. Their make your own six pack selection is a joke. Out of all the beer they had, they only had about 4 different beers and all of them had their labels starting to peel off them. There was that and none of those beers are ones you want to make a six pack out of. That was the only problem I had with them.

The service here is average for such a big store like this one, almost nonexistant. It's so big, I don't think they have the manpower to activitely control the store with a decent size staff. This store is so big that they have to have some kind of beer manager here. I failed to see him or her or anybody else in the beer aisles that could help.

Their American selection consists of Victory, Troegs, Brooklyn, Sly Fox, Blue Point, River Horse, Lancaster, Weyerbacher, Cisco, Arcadia, Heavy Seas, Smuttynose, Oskar Blues, Stone, Bear Republic, Tractor Brewing, Cricket Hill, and few others that are available in NJ. Not the most extensive Belgian and import selection, but it was still a nice one with all the Trappist beers available in the US, Uerige, Samichlaus, Sincbrychoff, and plenty more that I forgot about. In that vintage barrel they had had a bottle of 06 Rude Elf, 06 Sly Fox Christmas, and a few more Christmas beers.

If you like going to grocery stores that aren't filled with food, but instead filled with booze, then you'll want to stop here. It's also worth a stop if you want to check up on their small vintage selection. Just don't stop here if you want to do a "build your own six pack." That would be a waste of time.
May 18, 2008
Photo of gkatsoris
Reviewed by gkatsoris

4.1/5  rDev -1.7%
Qual: HUGE!!!! Clean!!!! And ORGANIZED!!! This place was like a supermarket inside. And everything was super organized; according to style, size and brewery.

Ser: The people working there were setting up displays and didn't really bother w/ me. The man behind the counter was a little "thuggy" which was kind of a turn off, but to each his own I guess.

Sel: Pretty impressive. Rows and isles and islands of an impressive selection. Also they had just about everything cold as well.

Val: Pretty competitive in relation to other Jersey distributer's, especially for being in such a "pricey area".
Nov 29, 2007
Photo of mcnizzle
Reviewed by mcnizzle from New Jersey

4.5/5  rDev +7.9%
I wanted to find a really good beer store around me in NJ, and after checking out reviews on BA, I thought I'd make the 25 minute trip last night.

FYI - No knock on Spirits, but when you put the address into google maps of mapquest, it doesn't bring you exactly where it is. It's a little further down on the road, but it is on Newman Springs Road.

My first impression was "Wow, this place is huge." Apparently it used to be a Food Town to give you an approximate size. My girlfriend loves wine so she had plenty to choose from as soon as we got in, and it was cheaper than where we usually get our wine.

Anyway, onto the beer. The beer was at the back end of the store, and it was a huge selection. There was a refrigerated wall of 6 packs about 60 feet long, so there was plenty to choose from. In addition to that, there were plenty more beers spread throughout the store (not refrigerated). I saw some dust on some of the beers, but not many. Also, there were probably a couple hundred singles available, which was great to look through. This is also the first place that I've seen Sam Adams Utopia, but I can't justify spending over $100 on a beer. So overall, it was a great selection of beers.

I would have liked a little section for glassware, books, etc... but I didn't see that.

Service was alright. We were there for about a half hour and was asked once if we needed help finding anything from a kid who probably wasn't old enough to buy beer. And the person who checked us out could have been a little friendlier, but did the job just fine. We weren't asked about whether we wanted to get a Spirits card though, which I would have liked. Prices were a little better than most places around me, so that was good.

Overall, if you're going there for the beer, it's a great place with a huge selection. You can definitely find something you can drink, so I recommend the trip if you're not too far. I know I'll be making the trip again soon.
Nov 09, 2007
Photo of Billolick
Reviewed by Billolick from New York

4.15/5  rDev -0.5%
Just a few miles off of the Garden State Parkway, on your way down to the Jersey shore, this is a large, wine, booze and beer stop. The beer is located to your far right as you enter. Huge selection on the shelves, stacked up in cases, and also in a long, large open cooler area. They have the goods, locals, regional and national micros, worthy Belgian choices, typical germans and brit choices. Well worth a visit if in the area. I was happy to find a bottle Stone 11th anniv. and 3 differant selections in bomber bottles from San Diego's Green Flash brewery. They also had a bunch of growlers from climax (unrefrigerated however) Fantomes, Stone, Avery, Omme, Left Hand, Southern tier, tons of others. No help to be found on the floor, but the lady behind the counter was helpful and friendly, and friendly goes a long way in todays world...go, you will find plenty of tasty and worthy beer here.
Sep 13, 2007
Photo of Ego
Reviewed by Ego from New Jersey

3.2/5  rDev -23.3%
One of my accounts is in Red Bank so I pass this place 2-3 times a month. From the outside you would think it is your average Jersey shore "crap beer" establishment. Well.. it is BUT they happen to also stock some really great beers.

Highlights:
-Good to Great selection.. but here's the deal, they must sell the good stuff at a slow clip because months after special releases (stone etc) you can usually find them here, it's like a personal beer cellar. I found Perkuno's Hammer there maybe 6 months ago (2 cases).. and other similar "finds".
-good/.clean layout. All the beers are easy to find and are generally shelved in a logical manner by style/country. and there are some shelf talkers.

Detractors:
Service? Typical "have you found what you are looking for?"... on occasion. Doesn't seem to be any real interest in those interested in good beer. They don't treat you like dirt or anything, no one has ever been discourteous but there is a general apathy pervading the store.

Verdict?
don't go for the service, go for the beers. If you are in the area it is worth checking out but don't go nuts trying to get here.
Aug 07, 2007
Photo of mattpetti
Reviewed by mattpetti from New Jersey

4/5  rDev -4.1%
Visited on 3/12/07

You walk into the store and it looks like an old grocery store with wine laid out in bins that looks like they could have been used for apples and oranges before. The beer section is in the back part of the store which is reasonably organized and a long "fridge" section that has almost all the american macros and most other items cold. The usual suspects were there (wolavers, dfh, victory, flying dog, sam smith...etc) with an average selection of belgians, but nothing ultimately too rare. It did seem that there was an under representation of german beers though. They did have some Traquair jacobite which made my heart sing. They also had some three floyds left over from before the pulled out of jersey (robert the bruce and brian boru). What i was suprised to see was the assortment of mediterranean, other lesser known countries such as lithuania that they had. Though it seemed that they do not sell alot of these beers though. As soon as i was noticed wandering in the beer section someone asked me if i needed any help which is always a plus and he made himself noticable throughout the entire time i was there to make sure i was ok. The girl an guy at the register were nice as well. All in all this an excellent store if you are in the area. Not trecworthy yet, but still a great store.
Mar 12, 2007
Photo of 86sportster883
Reviewed by 86sportster883 from Maryland

4.5/5  rDev +7.9%
Spirits Unlimited is really THE place to shop for beer if you live in the NJ towns of Red Bank, Shrewsbury, Little Silver, Eatontown and Lincroft. It has such a vast selection of beers that its hard for a beer enthusiast not to feel like a kid in a candy store. The prices are reasonable, but I rarely walk out of the place without dropping $50 or more. Of course you don't have to spend this much on beer, but on this particular trip, I found it hard to pass up a six of 60 minute IPA ($8.59), a bottle of De Dolle Oerbier Special Reserva 2004 ($5.29), two 2004 bottles of Orval ($4.19 ea), a 2006 Allagash Interlude ($17.99) and a few others.

The store is located just past the Volvo dealer and the bowling alley as you're heading toward Rte 35 on Newman Springs Rd. Parking is plentiful and the store is large. They have a good selection of wine and spirits and their prices are competitive with other area stores. On this trip, I picked up a bottle of Johnny Walker Green for my brother-in-law, which they had on sale for the great price of $42.99. But the real reason I shop here is for the beer. I'd say that 25% of the store is occupied by beer. They have everything from US macros, micros, Canadian, Mexican, Belgian, English, German, Scottish, Irish, and almost anything in-between. I've always found the staff to be helpful when needed and efficient at the registers.
Dec 22, 2006
Photo of akorsak
Reviewed by akorsak from Pennsylvania

3.66/5  rDev -12.2%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4
Quality: Spirits Unlimited is a huge liquor store with a greater focus on wine and liquor, but there is a nice beer selection with good singles offerings.

Service: Service was nonexistent for those of us intently studying the singles, but people were around providing assistance with kegs and larger orders.

Selection: A diverse array of beers, from Heavyweight to Unibroue to Stone. In addition to the obligatory macros, there were cases of Long Trail, Sly Fox and Bar Harbor. Hell, they even had a magnum of Oaked Bastard (at $66, I passed).

This place is well off the beaten path, but if you are summering in the area, it is well woth a visit.
Aug 28, 2006
Photo of doppelmeup
Reviewed by doppelmeup from North Carolina

4.8/5  rDev +15.1%
I stopped by this store while visiting from NC.

I called the store last Friday to see if they had any Stone RIS,and hats off to Bob, who put aside some some bottles for me since we can't get this in NC. Thanks, Bob!!

The store was a wonderland! Along with the Stone RIS, I got some Victory Storm King Stout (That's two top ten beers in case you are counting!) along with a bottle of Samichlaus Doppelbock. I've never seen any of these beers in NC, so I was like a kid in a candy store. The only thing holding me back was that I have to carry all this beer back on the plane with me, so I couldn't get too much. If only I'd driven instead of flown, then I could have packed my van.

Lots of beer in coolers as well.

Prices were good, and I'd highly recommend this store.
May 09, 2006
Photo of Nutleybeer
Reviewed by Nutleybeer from New Jersey

4.65/5  rDev +11.5%
This place remains the class of liquor stores in the area. They carry an enormous selection of beers from all over. They sell many the local breweries; River Horse, Rammstein (which was just since the past year or so), Flying Fish, as well as PA breweries like Stoudts, Wyerbacher, Troegs, Lancaster, Yards, etc.
I would love to see Climax though, and how about Cricket Hill? Although, who does carry Climax?
Either way, this place is awesome. This is one of the first stores I remember carrying Rogue, and now you see it everywhere. Same thing with Flying Dog.
They have a vast selection of refrigerated beer, but also plenty warm as well. Their wall of foreign beers is vast, filled with German, Belgian, English and styles from all over.
It is a large site, tons of wines and other alcohol.
I have had good conversations with some of the knowledgable staff. Can't say they all do, but the few I have spoken to, knew their stuff. They turned me onto Ommegang's Three Philosophers as a good alternative to Troeg's Mad Elf (when it could never be found).
Apr 23, 2006
Photo of slander
Reviewed by slander from New York

4.2/5  rDev +0.7%
The Westside Highway was a complete mess for absolutely no reason. 80 blocks+ of stop & hardly go traffic. No carnage, no twisted metal, no nothing, and then it just opened up south of 96th Street and I made some decent time downtown. Still, I was (like) 3 minutes late, which never ever happens, and like I tell my hostages, er, I mean, passengers, "I can speed and make up the time if I'm late, you can't give me my time back". Phil thinks he has a 5 minute grace period, I don't know what that's about. Anyway, he was only slightly late, less late than usual, so as it was too early to be served at a brewpub along the way, we had time on our hands...
Spirits Unlimited is like a big old supermarket gone liquorland, beer to the far end. Up front, an area with shelves of Belgians, English & Germans, and various big bottle micros. Imports aren't too crazy, but hmmmn, Jolly Pumpkin Maracaibo Especial, Allagash Interlude, Three Floyds Gumballhead, yeah, I'm going to need a basket. Moving into the big aisle, cold sixes and singles, and out on the floor, mountains of micro cases NJ/NY/PA regional (Heavyweight, Riverhorse, Flying Fish, Ramstein, Victory, Sly Fox, Weyerbacher, Stoudts, Lancaster, Stegmaier, Troegs, Yards, Wiedenmayer, Dock Street, Brooklyn, Southampton, Lake Placid, Saranac, Ommegang, Ramapo Valley), New England (Allagash, Shipyard, Rock Art, Magic Hat, Smuttynose, Harpoon, Atlantic, Redhook, Sam Adams, Long Trail, Otter Creek, Wolavers), and beyond (DogFishHead, Avery, Flying Dog, Speakeasy, North Coast, Acme, Rogue, Anchor, Sierra Nevada).
More than usual snacks and crap, service? Whatever. Good selection though and real good for random single big bottles.
Says Big Jonny W, "Cool place, a grocery store sized place. Big, Like the Liquor Barn in Redding", and from the back seat yu hear Phil, "Ooooh, the Liquor Barn".
Apr 03, 2006
Photo of thetachibro
Reviewed by thetachibro from New Jersey

4/5  rDev -4.1%
not a bad place...i stopped here once again on my way home from work...they have a nice selection of singles from many american micro's...the belgian singles were ok nothing to write home about...service was very nice and helpful...you can also find some nice glasses here...also if you want you can fill out a form for a spirits unlimited discount card...when you have this you get a discount(6%) on certain beers every month..when i stopped by Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout was on the list..So that wasn't too bad....But overall a nice place with a decent selection
Dec 19, 2005
Photo of Chadbrew
Reviewed by Chadbrew from Delaware

4.35/5  rDev +4.3%
Thanks to Beerfly for helping me find this place while I was up visiting the in-laws this weekend.
This place is huge, fortunately it is also organized pretty well. On shelving in a corner they have alot of singles, mostly Belgians as well as other imports. I was hoping to buy Westy's but it would appear they were out so I bought a bunch of Rochefort 6, 8, and 12. A few more singles and I moved over to the very large selection of import and micro sixers (I didn't see anything about mix and match sixers, bummer). They also had a nice display of seasonal (summer) beers so I loaded up on these.
Lots of beer. I also saw some glass and beer gift packs and some glasses by themselves.
The service was very friendly and courteous. The prices seemed pretty reasonable.
Jun 20, 2005
Photo of horndecker
Reviewed by horndecker from New Jersey

4.2/5  rDev +0.7%
I'm glad I went out of my way to give this place a try. It's big and cavernous and alot of space is of course devoted to wines and macros, but there's a nice selection of micros and imports. At the time of my visit I am heavily into Belgians and barleywines, so I am focusing on them, and can't say for sure if they had any great treasures from statesdie micros. But they have all the usual Belgians, Germans and Brits, and also a few finds - Westvleteren 8 being the most significant. Prices were very good and the service was fab.
Mar 19, 2005
Photo of Citadel82
Reviewed by Citadel82 from New Jersey

4.85/5  rDev +16.3%
This place is a treasure. They have a vast selection of beer, cider and mead. Service is excellent and they are in tune with the local micro and brew-pub scene. They have a good turnover of beers and frequently have a selection of signature glasses at reasonable prices. You can get a Kwak glass with stand for 4.99 for example.

They keep a good stock of belgians as well as foreign and domestic artisanal beers. Every trip seems to be an adventure as there is always something new on the shelves. I am grateful that I am only a 20 minute drive from this fine establishment.
Jan 09, 2005
Photo of JMH_
Reviewed by JMH_ from New Jersey

4.85/5  rDev +16.3%
this place is friggin' huge. granted, only about 1/3 of it is dedicated to beer, but that is still a generous enough area for a damn fine selection of beer that has surpassed anything i have seen at the jersey shore and has become my new favourite store in the area. domestic brands include: magic hat, rogue, otter creek/wolaver's, sierra nevada, brooklyn, victory, heavyweight, anchor, troegs, dogfishhead, smuttynose, weyerbacher, flying fish...this list goes on and on. there's a nice 1/2 aisle of warm single imports as well, from all walks of life and all over the world. westy 8 & 12 were readily available along with the trappistes rochefort line and the st bernardus series, to name just a few of i'd say a couple hundred. tons of warm 6 packs, both micro and import, and the make your own winter 6 pack was a nice added bonus. everything, for the most part, seemed quite fresh and new as well. kudos to the worker who knew that westy 12 was a damn fine brew, but who also knew it was well worth the $6 price tag (he corrected the woman working the register i was at, who thought the tag was a misprint and was gonna give me the bottle for 60 cents, so damn him at the same time...i would've bought up the entire stock at 60 cents a bottle). a great, great store overall.
Nov 19, 2003
Photo of NeroFiddled
Reviewed by NeroFiddled from Pennsylvania

4.5/5  rDev +7.9%
I've made a handful of trips now to the Spirits Unlimited location in Redbank (I'm not sure about their other stores) and I must say that the beer selection is getting better! There's a solid 12' of imports including England, Germany, Belgium and Russia. Then past the 2 solid aisles of domestic and foreign cases there's a whole wall of chilled beers! Everytime I stop in I think that I'll only be able to pick up a bottle or two that I haven't had before, but I always go home with a full case at every visit. And the prices are reasonable. I only buy single bottles, but I walked out of there today with a case of mixed beers for $48. That averages just $2 a bottle - but I bought at least one beer that was $5.59 and seven that were $2.49 - 3.99. Most were in the $1.20 to 1.40 range (domestics). Even for the seasoned veteran, there's probably some gleaming nugget to be found. And their wine selection is great. My wife took home $200 worth of Merlots, Cabs, Shiraz and more. My only problem is that they have alot of beers for sale by the six-pack that aren't available as singles (there really is a good selection!). If you're anywhere near the area it's probably worth stopping in. AND... it's only about a mile from the Basil T's brewpub which offers great, food, service, and brews! It's well worth a visit to hit both!
Jun 01, 2003
Photo of Beastdog75
Reviewed by Beastdog75 from New Jersey

4.5/5  rDev +7.9%
This place is huge. Sure, a lot of it is taken up by the "grape stuff", but their selection of beer is mighty impressive. A refridgerator case full of beer takes up almost an entire side of the store. The selection is great: Belgians, other European imports, Unibroue, Sam Smiths, American micros, and some off-the-wall brews. The warm beer selection is good as well, but half the stuff there you can find in the cold section. There is a "try a new beer" section which has their newest beers. A guy that worked there even asked me if I needed any help.

Definately a great place to check out, and your wallet will probably be a little lighter when you leave.
Oct 23, 2002
Photo of RonfromJersey
Reviewed by RonfromJersey from New Jersey

3.85/5  rDev -7.7%
A very good selection of eastern micros, with some midwest or western surprises. Imports from British, Irish, German and Czeck imports are similar, the usual suspects and some more unusual. Whenever I shop here, I usually find something that's not at my more common haunts. Stock turnover appears to better than average. I saw some late 2001 beers, but the store is not the microbrewing musuem too many stores are.
Sep 21, 2002
Photo of beerluvr
Reviewed by beerluvr from Canada (ON)

4.68/5  rDev +12.2%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5
Located in a former supermarket, you'll find a HUGE selection of warm and cold selections, with a nice mix of the usual German/Belgian/British beers, with a few hard-to-find gems also. But the main focus seems to be on American micros & the like, they have a whole 2 aisles devoted to beer...so there's room for most all beers availiable in the NJ/NY area. A nice "Make your own Six-Pack" section for those who can't make up their mind...like me!
Apr 04, 2002
Spirits Unlimited in Red Bank, NJ
Place rating: 4.17 out of 5 with 28 ratings