Hy-Vee Wine & Spirits - Council Bluffs #2

Store

1745 Madison Ave
Council Bluffs, Iowa, 51503-5249
United States

(712) 322-9260 | map
hy-vee.com
PLACE STATS
Average:
4.08
Reviews:
10
Ratings:
13
pDev:
7.35%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by bulldogg915:
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Rated by bulldogg915 from Wyoming

4.5/5  rDev +10.3%

Oct 27, 2014
More User Ratings:
Photo of DoctorZombies
Reviewed by DoctorZombies from Florida

4.34/5  rDev +6.4%
vibe: 3.75 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4.5
Beer/wine/liquor store attached to the grocery store. Huge selection of Iowa, Nebraska and regional handcraft. National handcraft (Parabola 2019) as well as tons of international beers, English, Belgian and German brews. A “go to” especially if driving through the area like I was...
Aug 01, 2019
 
Rated: 4.23 by TheHopsman from Nebraska

Feb 25, 2016
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Reviewed by wapcap from Nebraska

4.29/5  rDev +5.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.25 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4.5
A pretty good selection in this HyVee. Bells, Two Brothers, Prairie Artisan, Evil Twin, Surly to name a few and ones not available in Nebraska. They had all the regulars like Odells, New Belgium, New Holland, etc. Definitely has about the best selection around other than Beer Corner USA. Prices were reasonable. They do take a deposit for cans and bottles, not sure where to redeem that at.
Mar 16, 2015
 
Rated: 4.33 by schimschim from Minnesota

Jan 22, 2015
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Reviewed by Azeotrope from Nebraska

4.28/5  rDev +4.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 4
It's still Iowa but they've got a far better selection than Nebraska. I've asked people around Omaha, where's the best beer store around here and everyone says Beertopia, which is not true! This hy-vee at Mall of the Bluffs is the best by far, they just get better distribution. There seem to be bad reviews on here and all I can say is go back in and try to talk to their beer guy. Beertopia is great, but Mevraska distributors are failing so step across the river!
Jul 24, 2014
Photo of falloutsnow
Reviewed by falloutsnow from Illinois

3.45/5  rDev -15.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 2 | selection: 4
Beer is almost entirely in a shelf-fridge unit, the entirety of one side of the building. Design is typical supermarket type stuff, efficient, but highly depersonalized and generic.

Don't expect any service while at this Hy-vee. In fact, when checking out, the old(-er) lady behind the counter essentially treated me like garbage while I was buying ~$20 worth of beer. I guess purchasing ~$20 of beer means I'm some sort of low-class stain or an alcoholic to her. I'm just trying to suggest that you won't be dealing with the most understanding of people while here: I don't think anyone except the person who orders has a clue.

Selection is good, with several breweries not available in Omaha, NE (Bell's, Capital, etc.) and selection choices that seem to rival or beat out what the folks at Beertopia can get (or keep in stock). A few rare imports, too. It would be wise for beer enthusiasts to visit this store once a month.

Quality of beer seems to be good. Most items are refrigerated, which will help maintain freshness. I notice some summer seasonals still around, but the store is climate-controlled and without windows, so it's likely they'll still be somewhat fresh. Turnaround is likely to be low, so freshness could be an issue with some beers, but I haven't encountered anything noticeable yet.

Beer prices are on par with the rest of the region, nothing special in either direction.
Sep 18, 2011
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Reviewed by lambic3120 from Nebraska

3.8/5  rDev -6.9%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4
This store needs more love on BA. This store needs more direction in real life. Good selection of beer, plenty of stuff you can't get in Nebraska... Peace Tree, Fort Collins Brewery, Bells, O'Fallon... plus a few more Iowa and Minnesota breweries. More types from breweries we can get in NE like Raging Bitch from Flying Dog or Regal Pilsner from Breckenridge... to name a few. Not much in the way of Belgian ales. Too many British ales, IMO. Fair amount of German stuff, could be better too. Plenty of BMC in the back. But, overall, good selection of American craft beer. Mix-six section is big but a little too price...

Freshness seems to be okay. Seasonal beers seem to rotate okay.

Service is friendly but there isn't anybody there that can really sell beer which I assume hurts the ordering. Wouldn't it be great if this Hy-Vee had a selection on par with Beer Crazy in Des Moines or Cyclone in Ames or (why not wish) Johns in Iowa City!

Still, as it sits right now, this is a very good store and one every metro beer drinker should be stopping at every couple weeks. Great potential.
Mar 22, 2011
Photo of Rayek
Reviewed by Rayek from Colorado

3.9/5  rDev -4.4%
I stopped by here on my way back to Denver from IL thanks to advice from BA's. I wasn't disappointed.

This store is accessible from both its own exterior door and a pass through from the grocery store. Although this is my first Hy-Vee, it sounds like this is a pretty standard setup.

Beer is stored in coolers that span two walls of the store. Almost everything is cold, which is a huge plus in my book. Although I'm spoiled by the many great stores in and around Denver, I found the selection here to be quite good. I found several imports I hadn't seen before, plus quite a few micros that haven't found their way into the Mountain timezone. Prices seemed a touch high, but I only had one other Iowa store to compare against.

Staff consisted of one young kid manning the register who didn't really know about the beer. He was friendly, but it would have been nice if someone were there who was knowledgeable about the product.

In general, I'm happy I stopped here. Nice selection, good quality, just don't ask too many questions.
Jul 20, 2009
Photo of Dansting
Reviewed by Dansting from Kansas

4.35/5  rDev +6.6%
That's to my BA pals for the advice. Stopped here on my way back from Watertown, SD to Kansas City, and figured I'd make a stop. At first, I was mildly disappointed, as the only Three Floyd's beer I saw was a few bombers of Gumballhead. They also had some Capital and Schell beers. I kept looking, and saw that the back cooler was a walk-in, and then I hit the jackpot. They had beers from DFH, more Three Floyd's, Fort Collins, Bell's, and Shipyard. I was pleasantly surprised.

The service there was fine. The checkout lady was nice, but I didn't ask for help so I'm not sure how knowledgable they were.

Prices were about what I expected.

Thanks fellow BA members for the tip! I really appreciate it.
Mar 03, 2007
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Reviewed by hoffman from Nebraska

4/5  rDev -2%
As far as the Hy-Vee wine and spirits go this place is a gem. As far as liqour stores in the Omaha area go...this one might be the best for really great beers. I went over to pick up some 3F's beers and was pleasently greeted with DFH products as well....I really love DFH lately so I was pretty jacked up about that. There are many other varieties of beer the list of Belgians is apparently growing all the time. To be able to get the 3F's and DFH within a 30 minute drive of home is pretty exciting. I talked to the manager of the department and he mentioned that they were looking to bring some higher alc. beers in but they were wrestling with state laws. A direct quote was "as long as you keep buying it, I will keep ordering it in" that is good to here. Service was great...but I was dealing with the manager...I can't comment on the rest of the staff. Overall a good experience, if you are in Omaha/CB and looking for good beer...this is your destination.
Jun 30, 2006
Photo of RedHaze
Reviewed by RedHaze from Nebraska

3.85/5  rDev -5.6%
This place has the best selection of craft beer that I've seen so far in the council Bluffs area. The liquor is on the west end of the building and all of the selections of beer seem to pretty fresh.

Overall the staff is not very knwoledgable about beer, but if you happen to be there when their beer "guys" are there they know their beer pretty well and are helpful. They have a decent selection of imports, with Fullers, Youngs, a few Belgians and especially the Weihenstephaner. The micros include a few Three Floyds, Sprecher, Left Hand, a few Rogues, Schell's and some others that I can't get in Omaha. I stopped in a few days ago and was informed by their beer guys that they would be getting Rochefort, Orval, Traquair House and something else Ican't remember in a couple of weeks.

This has become the place I go to more than a lot of other places in Omaha especially with their prices being much more reasonable. Can't wait for the new selections.
Mar 04, 2006
Photo of neonbrown82
Reviewed by neonbrown82 from Nebraska

3.7/5  rDev -9.3%
This new Hy-vee has one of the better selections in the Council Bluffs area, though it is not saying much. The wine & spirits section is located in the west wing of the store with the craft beer lining the far west wall. Everything in the store is obviously fresh and clean. Given this Hy-Vee was only recently rebuilt, we will have to see how well managed the stock is over time. Looks good so far.

The service perhaps isn't too knowledgable, but certainly friendly. Selection is good for CB. The only place west of Des Moines that I know of that has Three Floyds. On top of that, there is a decent selection of Rogue bombers and the typical Colorado fares. The import selection is decent, but nothing too particularly impressive. I was hoping that some New Belgium and/or Empyrean would have sneaked across the Nebraska border into Iowa, but unfortunately that is not the case here.

The one fault is that prices seemed a bit higher than usual at this place. The Three Floyd's Pride & Joy I ended up taking home cost a whole dollar more than what I'm used to paying in Iowa City. Other than that, there is nothing to complain about; afterall, it's not the Hy-Vee's fault that the Omaha/Council Bluffs area distributers have a fairly weak selection for a metro area of its size. This place is still much quicker for me than having to go to Cubby's or farther for good beer (you can't even find SNPA in Glenwood, for christ's sake!).
Dec 23, 2005
Hy-Vee Wine & Spirits - Council Bluffs #2 in Council Bluffs, IA
Place rating: 4.08 out of 5 with 13 ratings