Star Liquor Store

I'm happy to report that this place still lives up to the excellent reviews it has received through the years. Great selection of craft beer, with lots of local and regional breweries represented. The store is clean, well lighted, and well organized, offering a pleasant shopping experience. Good selection of wine and spirits, along with a modest selection of groceries and snacks, make this a great one-stop shopping destination. Friendly and helpful staff. Still worth a stop!

 

Stopped in last week as we were driving from the Keweenaw over to Duluth for a short weekend. Figured, why not, and as I approached the door, I had that feeling like "This could be a good stop".

And it turned out to be just that. They have your pretty regular line up that any decent liquor store would have, but in the cooler lied a few four packs of Cran-Bic and NG Barley Wine...and of course some Belgian Red. Nice scores as far as I'm concerned. I'm not looking for much when cruising the north country of Wisco.

Owner was nice, we spoke briefly about the explosion of single malt scotch and craft beer, at least he is aware of the trends, as oppose to some of these other store owners. I will be making this a regular stop whenever I head over to that part of Wisconsin.

I paid Star a visit over the long holiday weekend. It's a nice-sized place, complete with a self-serve walk in cooler and several mix-a-six stations. Beer is located on the north end of the store -- just veer right when you see the front-facing cheese cooler upon entry (you might have to hang a left and walk around that cooler -- it's quite the tempting diversion : )

There's about a dozen single-stacked floor stackers in the dry (warm) section, and these are grouped in-between the larger freestanding display racks for Wisconsin brands which included New Glarus, Shipwrecked, Gray's, Sprecher, and a gi-normous Leinie's Lodge. Plenty of import stacks of the 2/12 format, and there were several of these showcased in freestanding racks as well. Altogether my impression is that the selection of imports is stronger than the selection of Craft beer from places other than Wisconsin ; )

Since Stone and Dogfish Head have left the state I didn't see any remainders (which is a good sign), nor did I see FFF (limited Wisconsin distro) or Surly (only availlable in MN. . . ), but I saw plenty of offerings from New Belgium and Big Sky, Sierra Nevada and Boston Brewing, and a sundry few I'm having trouble remembering. Not much in the way of Bell's or New Holland (which surprised me) and not much in the way of Michigan beers at all.

The selection of Wisconsin brews is where it's at, and in addition to the above-mentioned stackers and display racks there was plenty of "Wall I P.A." and other Northwoods brands. Likewise, Hinterland has really spread out across the state and there was a good showing in the cold-box, here. I wasn't surprised to see the Rhinelander "Shorties", but just couldn't bite on 'em, either. The ubiquitous Huber Bock was there, along with some Capital (twelve-pack cans of their Craft ales) and a smattering of Point, but there was no O'so to be found, nor Lake Louie, Black Husky, III Dachshunds, or even Angry Minnow! Truth be told, some Wisconsin brands can be difficult to find even in Wisconsin, so I ended up with a couple singles from Hinterland and a six from Keweenau.

Naturally, being across the street from South Shore there is a fine selection of their brands here, and though I was tempted to grab a few I knew that I'd be enjoying the brewpub's fare later that evening. Besides, South Shore's brands have been getting much better distribution in western Wisconsin of late, and I'll pick some up on the trip back.

In years past folks with an interest in Micro/Craft beer tended to have an interest in homebrewing, and Mead was often a part of that equation. While this is much less the case nowadays, it's worth mentioning that the selection of offerings from the nearby White Winter Winery is second to none, and seeing as how the bottle prices at the winery are the same, Star makes for an excellent one-stop shopping visit for several northern Wisconsin products. Likewise, I haven't even begun to scratch the surface on the variety of Wisconsin wine that's available here, but you get the gist.

Overall Star Liquor in Ashland is a stop that I'd recommend to everyone but the pickiest of beergeeks, but for that matter you're better off giving this place a shine if you want a selection of "rare" offerings -- Star is a decent small town retailer, plain and simple. And while the variety shouldn't be compared to offerings in larger cities, many of the offerings you'll find in Duluth, Milwaukee, or even the Twin Cities can be found at Star, so when you're in Ashland area check it out!

I hit up this small town Liquor Store in Ashland, WI while on vacation in Spring 2011. For a small town of 10,000 this was a really good store in Northern Wisconsin. Went in on a Monday morning to pick up some local beers. There was help if I needed it, but being a beer snob there was no need for help haha. Decent variety of singles, six-packs, macro-brews, and mix & match. Found a number of products I've never seen before in a 70,000+ city. Walked out with a mix and match 6 pack, and several craft singles from local breweries and Samuel Smith's. Service was very friendly!

Star liquors is the place to buy beer if you're in the Ashland area. The store seems to be well kept and they have a decent selection of spirits. A wall of coolers hold the beer one side is all macros and the other side carries a decent selection of micros.

There's usually only one person working the counter and I get the feeling they don't know a great deal about beer but I never had any questions while in there.

They carry the standard Bells line of offerings, 3 or 4 New Glarus sixers and the two 750s. South Shore is directly across the street so their line is carried in full. There's a Belgian here and there but nothing special. Some other offerings were Big Sky, Lakefront, and Sprecher.

All together it's a decent little store with some nice choices in Northern Wisconsin. If you're in the area give it a look.

What a gem in the Great Up North!

I found this place while on a cig run for a friend from South Shore Brewery, which happens to be located directly across the street.

Ashland's Star Liquor offers an impressive array of beers. In Madison, I would give their selection a 4.5 but way up in Ashland this was 10 times what I had hoped for. Considering the location, this place is a 5.

Their selection includes the full line of several area brewers such as New Glarus, Summit, Superior, South Shore, Point, Berghoff, etc… at very good prices. They seemed to have just about all the Samuel Smiths, loads of German beers, and plenty of domestic craft brews from Great Divide, Rogue, Sam Adams, and many others.

As far as I could tell, the staff consisted of one guy from the Deep South who works all the time. He was a friendly guy but seemed disappointed that I was only buying a bunch of local stuff. He tried in vain to talk me into a bunch of European imports that he had “just gotten in.” I think that he thought I was from the general area and might not have been too familiar with imports that were otherwise absent in area bars and stores. He also was chewing on a big piece of homemade beef jerky each time I was in there and that scored brownie points with me.

Overall, I was thrilled with Ashland’s Star Liquors and stocked up on a bunch of beers that I can’t find even in Madison. This place is well worth the trip if you’re in the Hayward, Bayfield, Ashland area.