Whole Foods Market - Bowery

The Bowery Beer Room is just so damn easy. A pair of 6 foot shelves filled with Belgian/German/American bombers, two big dairy cold shelf units stocked with sixers/mix packs/singles, a few well priced floor displays, & of course, the 6 tap growler station. Pricing fluctuates wildly, so the overall value isn't set across the board. Keep reading.

$7-11 gets you one of six local beers on tap. Sixpoint occupies one semi-permanent slot with the Whole Foods collabo: "Eight Days O' Wheat", while more often then not, grabbing one more tap "just because". You'll see a random assortment of Brooklyn, Chelsea, Blue Point, Kelso, Ommegang, & Captain Lawrence, filling out the remaining selections. Always local. I haven't seen any other NY labels, but if they're going upstate for Ommegang, how about Middle Ages, Ithaca, or even Defiant(which is just a short field trip outside the city limits)? Still, it's the cheapest I've seen for fill-ups around here. The insulated fried chicken bags are a classy touch to gravitate stares away from your brew as you're walking down into the subway.

Don't get all caught up in the draft selection though. Come late one night, & you're itching for a bomber of something tasty, & all your favorite beer stores have since gone to bed, these guys are open. Prices are about average for Manhattan, expensive compared to what you'd expect to pay for your favorite bottle shop just a few blocks down the street. Pricing examples: $3.99 for a single of Ayinger Doppelbock, $9.99 for sixers of Sly-Fox, $4.99 for a bomber from Smutty's Big Beer series(not bad), $26.50 for a 750 of Fonteinen Kriek.

What is well priced in addition to the growlers, are the floor displays. Frequently, I see sixers of Smutty & Sierra Nevada(PA & Celebration) for $7.99. Twelve packs of Dale's Pale Ale for $14.99 also looked tasty.

Honestly, this is now the first stop I make whenever visiting grandma down in the LES. I don't pick up her medication, I frequently forget her copy of El Diario, & I'll even occasionally brush by her at the door just so I can pop my growlers in the fridge first. I still love you grandma.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice beer selections, but also have beers strung throughout the store... that makes it a bit confusing as I noticed beer in at least 10 places.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The vibe has always been low pressure and friendly, and I've been there 5 or 6 times this year. The separate beer "store" at the Whole Foods in the Bowery is very impressive with its own registers in the middle that has always allowed me to pay quickly.

Really high quality stuff with small batch, popular craft and macro brands. They have a huge cold section for those wanting to drink immediately and tons of varieties to choose from. Good range that should cover everyone's needs.

Service has always been good, with 2 people there to help and offer advice. Some seem to know a lot about beer and recommend some good stuff if you ask about a style or brand. They even discussed turnover and storage so I got a good feel for how they move product, and it all seems to turn over at a good pace.

Huge selection, has to be one of the biggest selections in Manhattan with a 360 selection around you if you are in the middle of the store. The counter has the bomber specials and new arrivals, and the back wall has the 6 packs, both cold and room temp. They have shelves of singles for mix-a-six with a lot of different beers, and then a whole section of international beers broken down by country (Germany, Japan, Belgium, US, etc.) and style like sours. The growler fill station had 6 beers on-tap, with half IPA's but some unique ones like Oxbow / Coppertail Grizzaca and Evil Twin Table Beer available in 32 or 64 oz. fills. It's nice to see a big selection of Evil Twin and Westbrook beers always on hand, as well as the more established craft middle players like SixPoint, Dogfish Head, Stone, etc.

Value: The prices are reasonable if you know your beer prices, especially for NYC. They always have specials running at this store and the bomber deals are good with some being great like the $6.99 per bottle Evil Twin Even More Denmark that I got last month. If you know your prices then you should do just fine here, and the growler prices are on the low side which is always a plus in NYC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would say this is a must stop - (even though it's not my favorite NYC spot) just to experience a whole foods with essentially a whole separate beer store complete with its own entrance and growler fills.

Overall design is nothing special, but fairly well organized and laid out. at least half the beers are in coolers. Is an area the you can buy singles of 12oz bottles and 6 growler fills available. Was happy to get a growler of a kuhnhenn stout. Fairly wide selection with a good turn around. A good first stop, went back a for few more stops (to pick up some Maine beer co).

A it's a grocery store so nothing great...

Q mostly fresh but there was some out of date stuff and two of the bottles I got were infected.

S there was one guy there and he was a dick...

S there was a lot of beer but nothing special. Just regular distribution stuff.

V a little high but normal,for the city

Stopped in Whole Foods while waiting on friends for dinner at a local restaurant.

Nice, clean store. I live in the beer and retail wasteland of America, so Whole Foods always impress me. Was initially dissappointed with selection as I ran across two small beer areas in the main store. However, there is a much larger beer room just behind the express checkout area.

Beer room is very organized and clean. Arranged according to country. Mostly warm bottles but there is a smaller cooler area. Couple of taps for growler fills available. Also noticed some homebrew supplies. Selection seemed better than what I saw in WF on Greenwich St.

Service was average.

I would rather take New Beer over Whole Foods any day, to be honest. I guess I'd rather support people trying to support their families than a corporate giant. And that's what Whole Foods is people. A corporate giant. Anyways. Tons of beer to be had here. If you go to New Beer and this place, you are most likely to find whatever you are looking for. Growler system is nice, but I have found the variety lacking at times and have not purchased that many from them. The service has been lacking at times here and good at others. But when it's been lame, it's really been lame.

Nice place to buy beer, spacious. Neighborhood isn't the best, and this WF is a bit off the beaten track. Right across Houston St from DBGB.

I've found the quality of the bottled beers to be as good as it can be; however, I've run across a few bottles of Brits which were beyond their BB4 date. They have coolers but most beers are stored at room temperature. Windows are shaded.

Service is friendly and helpful, although a few of the guys haven't been sufficiently enlightened about beer.

I'd say the best beer selection I've come across in Manhattan, south of 86th St. Selection not quite as extensive as some beer shops in northern NJ but it will more than do. Not as good as Happy Deli either, although HD is OOB. The stock is broken out by nation...US, Belgian, German, UK, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, etc....this helps. My only real criticism is they heavily favor recognizable brand names, with only a small dose of novel stuff. About as good as it gets in Manhattan.

No food.

$5 for a bottle of standard Sam Smith, I consider that a bit pricey. Orkneys are running $6 or $7 a bottle, but Dark Island is available for $5...which is nice. Old Peculiar and Riggwelter for $5 a pint. This is the kind of place you go to for stocking up on solid beers, but figure $6/pint and $12 or $13 for a six. Can't wait for inflation to hit.

This is a Whole Foods so the staff was what I would expect - hipsters - but helpful though not the quickest moving folks when you needed something. Staff seems knowledgeable about the beers.

They have a very good selection of bottles, many available as singles in addition to having a growler filling bar (though no drinking is allowed on premises).

It can be quite busy and hectic depending on the time of day that you go there - I prefer to visit on a weekday evening instead of on a weekend afternoon.

Prices seem to be average.