Canal's Discount Liquor Mart
108 Marketplace Blvd
Hamilton, New Jersey, 08691-2103
United States
(609) 581-1955 | map
originalcanals.com
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Reviewed by FBarber from Illinois
3.31/5 rDev -11.3%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.75 | service: 3.25 | selection: 3
3.31/5 rDev -11.3%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.75 | service: 3.25 | selection: 3
UPDATED REVIEW AS OF 01/02/2020
The beer selection here, which wasn't great last time I was here in 2016, is somehow worse now. Craft beer and imports take up essentially one side of one aisle with the other side being all of the large format macro offerings. A long row of coolers covers the back wall, but is at least 3/4s of that is macro and wine/seltzer/cider. If you're looking for craft or imports, you're better off hitting up another location like the Canals in Lawrenceville which isn't too far away.
Mar 20, 2016The beer selection here, which wasn't great last time I was here in 2016, is somehow worse now. Craft beer and imports take up essentially one side of one aisle with the other side being all of the large format macro offerings. A long row of coolers covers the back wall, but is at least 3/4s of that is macro and wine/seltzer/cider. If you're looking for craft or imports, you're better off hitting up another location like the Canals in Lawrenceville which isn't too far away.
Reviewed by MacMalt from New Jersey
4.04/5 rDev +8.3%
vibe: 3.75 | quality: 4 | service: 3.75 | selection: 4.5
4.04/5 rDev +8.3%
vibe: 3.75 | quality: 4 | service: 3.75 | selection: 4.5
A typical "big box" liquor store with a huge selection of wine and craft beer. It is like walking into an airplane hangar but the service and check-out staff are helpful and they have a good selection of draft beer for growlers, as well as bottled craft beer.
Oct 29, 2015
Reviewed by tkdchampxi from New Jersey
3.64/5 rDev -2.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4
3.64/5 rDev -2.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4
Warehouse style liquor store.
Above average selection is the only thing going for this place.
Prices are inflated.
SERVICE: It's hard to find help looking for items, and sometimes the good stuff is in the back.
Dec 19, 2014Above average selection is the only thing going for this place.
Prices are inflated.
SERVICE: It's hard to find help looking for items, and sometimes the good stuff is in the back.
Reviewed by Gavage from Nevada
3.86/5 rDev +3.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4
3.86/5 rDev +3.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4
As with the other Canal's in NJ, you walk in and immediately get the warehouse liquor, beer, and wine store feeling. The beer is located in the back of the store as there are about 10 glass front refridgerators stocked with beer, hard lemonade, and wine coolers. Most of the better beers are stored in the last aisle.
You can easily find any beer from Victory, Troegs, Stone, Bear Replublic, DFH, Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, and Southern Tier. They also seem to rotate in some harder to find beers every now and again. There is a nice Belgian beer and European section too. As with any store, checking dates is important for some of the more standard beers.
Service is OK here, as I have asked questions on beer availability and generally I get a reasonable answer. Checkout is quick, but occasionally a new beer will not be added into the scanning system and needs to be searched on the computer.
One of the better beer stores in the immediate area. Just beware this place gets very crowded since a Shop Rite is next door.
Jul 06, 2012You can easily find any beer from Victory, Troegs, Stone, Bear Replublic, DFH, Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams, and Southern Tier. They also seem to rotate in some harder to find beers every now and again. There is a nice Belgian beer and European section too. As with any store, checking dates is important for some of the more standard beers.
Service is OK here, as I have asked questions on beer availability and generally I get a reasonable answer. Checkout is quick, but occasionally a new beer will not be added into the scanning system and needs to be searched on the computer.
One of the better beer stores in the immediate area. Just beware this place gets very crowded since a Shop Rite is next door.
Reviewed by MicroChris from New Jersey
3.85/5 rDev +3.2%
3.85/5 rDev +3.2%
Joe Canal's is a chain store so you wouldn't expect them to have as many selections as they do on MicroBrews that are not macro in anyway.
They have a dedicated section to the micros and have many selections changing daily that seem to be always fresh when I go.
There staff seems to be hot or miss on the micros with some employees knowing every question I ask and others having to get help or just shrugging you off. However nobody has have been rude to me there and pretty much a pleasant exprience.
It is easy to be there 20 or 30 minutes and not realize it with so many bottles to read or check out. Worth the trip or stop if your in the area or close by. Cheers!
Mar 25, 2010They have a dedicated section to the micros and have many selections changing daily that seem to be always fresh when I go.
There staff seems to be hot or miss on the micros with some employees knowing every question I ask and others having to get help or just shrugging you off. However nobody has have been rude to me there and pretty much a pleasant exprience.
It is easy to be there 20 or 30 minutes and not realize it with so many bottles to read or check out. Worth the trip or stop if your in the area or close by. Cheers!
Reviewed by BlazmoIntoWowee from Pennsylvania
3.7/5 rDev -0.8%
3.7/5 rDev -0.8%
Checked this place out after a visit to the Grounds for Sculpture (awesome site, BTW) since it was the highest rated in the area on Beerfly. I was not disappointed.
For someone coming from Pennsylvania, the quality and variety was very good. There were the brands I expected to see (Stone, Rogue, DFH, Stoudts, Yards) and some that threw me for a loop (Bruery, Avery, Captain Lawrence). Even with the breweries I had expected, there were several styles I don't usually see or haven't seen in PA. (Rogue makes beers for the Japanese market??)
Compared to what I usually pay for singles in PA (at the few places that sell them), the price was very reasonable; only one of my bombers cost more than $10 and that was The Bruery's 2 Turtle Doves (Cost me $12, compared to the $18 price tag it carried at Hawthorne's in Philly).
Service was fine, but I wasn't looking for anything in particular and didn't ask any questions. Everybody smiled at me and that's gotta count for something, right?
Bottom line is: I will definitely visit Canals the next time I am in the area. Now, to just drink this bounteous haul!
Jan 18, 2010For someone coming from Pennsylvania, the quality and variety was very good. There were the brands I expected to see (Stone, Rogue, DFH, Stoudts, Yards) and some that threw me for a loop (Bruery, Avery, Captain Lawrence). Even with the breweries I had expected, there were several styles I don't usually see or haven't seen in PA. (Rogue makes beers for the Japanese market??)
Compared to what I usually pay for singles in PA (at the few places that sell them), the price was very reasonable; only one of my bombers cost more than $10 and that was The Bruery's 2 Turtle Doves (Cost me $12, compared to the $18 price tag it carried at Hawthorne's in Philly).
Service was fine, but I wasn't looking for anything in particular and didn't ask any questions. Everybody smiled at me and that's gotta count for something, right?
Bottom line is: I will definitely visit Canals the next time I am in the area. Now, to just drink this bounteous haul!
Reviewed by WalrusJockey from New Jersey
3.85/5 rDev +3.2%
3.85/5 rDev +3.2%
This Canals location was recommended to me by Gavage, who let me know that it was the place to look for some fresh Stoudt's Pils. Thanks for the advice, I grabbed their only case!
Quality was decent. The area around the store is very 'big box'-y, but the store itself wasn't, espcially. The majority of the floor space was to liquor, but the beer section was a fairly decent size. Besides the cooler section, there is also an entire aisle of singles and warm beer. Also, the real beer to macro beer ratio was on of the better ratios I've seen outside of specialty shops.
Service was competent. I asked if they had a case of Stoudt's Pils up front, after finding the six packs, but no cases in the case aisle. They looked it right up, told me they had it, and got it for me quickly. No muss, no fuss. Nothing shocking, but nothing to complain about here.
Selection...in the area where I live right now, (Lakewood area, for the Jersey people) the beer selection is, overall, pretty bad. This place didn't have much in the line of "surprising," there is only one distributor for two huge counties, so after a short time you know the brands you might see and the brands you won't. What they DID have, was the freshest beer I've been able to find within an hour radius, which, to my mind, is a great thing.
Value was decent. Can't say the prices were a bargain, but they weren't especially higher than anyplace else.
Notes- if you find yourself in the area, I would swing by Canals. It is worth taking the trip, if you are sick of the stale, out of date Central Jersey beer; every single bottle I checked was fresh, with months and months to go.
Apr 08, 2009Quality was decent. The area around the store is very 'big box'-y, but the store itself wasn't, espcially. The majority of the floor space was to liquor, but the beer section was a fairly decent size. Besides the cooler section, there is also an entire aisle of singles and warm beer. Also, the real beer to macro beer ratio was on of the better ratios I've seen outside of specialty shops.
Service was competent. I asked if they had a case of Stoudt's Pils up front, after finding the six packs, but no cases in the case aisle. They looked it right up, told me they had it, and got it for me quickly. No muss, no fuss. Nothing shocking, but nothing to complain about here.
Selection...in the area where I live right now, (Lakewood area, for the Jersey people) the beer selection is, overall, pretty bad. This place didn't have much in the line of "surprising," there is only one distributor for two huge counties, so after a short time you know the brands you might see and the brands you won't. What they DID have, was the freshest beer I've been able to find within an hour radius, which, to my mind, is a great thing.
Value was decent. Can't say the prices were a bargain, but they weren't especially higher than anyplace else.
Notes- if you find yourself in the area, I would swing by Canals. It is worth taking the trip, if you are sick of the stale, out of date Central Jersey beer; every single bottle I checked was fresh, with months and months to go.
Reviewed by beerthulhu from New Jersey
3.35/5 rDev -10.2%
3.35/5 rDev -10.2%
Quality/Quantity
The usual suspects here, Dogfishhead, Stone, Smuttynose. Not to much in the line of Belgians or trappist ales that ive seen or even German beers. Most are American micr-brews. A long shelf looks impressive at first but mostly stacked with multiples of same style with not a lot of variety Brewer wise and limited to mostly six packs. Maybe 30-40 different bombers with much less selection of singles (12oz). Refrigerated samples are much the same as warm samples. Noticed several times that beer advertised in paper is not found when visited several times. Hopefully Canals can learn from this, but most of their money is from liquor and macro so really can't blame them but they do seem to be expanding and growing still. A good place for the moderate micro drinker but the adventurous and extreme beer drinker may be disappointed.
Service
Once again not much here. Most are busy running cash registers or in back stocking. I can't attest to their knowledge as I really don't need advice or help.
Value
a bit pricey.
May 10, 2008The usual suspects here, Dogfishhead, Stone, Smuttynose. Not to much in the line of Belgians or trappist ales that ive seen or even German beers. Most are American micr-brews. A long shelf looks impressive at first but mostly stacked with multiples of same style with not a lot of variety Brewer wise and limited to mostly six packs. Maybe 30-40 different bombers with much less selection of singles (12oz). Refrigerated samples are much the same as warm samples. Noticed several times that beer advertised in paper is not found when visited several times. Hopefully Canals can learn from this, but most of their money is from liquor and macro so really can't blame them but they do seem to be expanding and growing still. A good place for the moderate micro drinker but the adventurous and extreme beer drinker may be disappointed.
Service
Once again not much here. Most are busy running cash registers or in back stocking. I can't attest to their knowledge as I really don't need advice or help.
Value
a bit pricey.
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