Olde Crabapple Bottle Shop

This is a great little shop near my home. One of the guys I've worked with is incredibly knowledgable and a great resource for discovering new beers. They have a great selection of domestics and imports, cases, 6 packs and build your own 6s. Worth a visit.

A very good selection of beers, especially for a store that stocks loads of wines and other spirits. Good selection of singles, including small bottles as well as bombers. Particularly good selection of local brews. Friendly staff.

Decent bottle shop, the wife working the register was nice. The husband that owns the store was very rude. Had no real knowledge of craft beer. They have lots of beer listed on their website, that they have not had in stock for months. Overall a bad experience will not be going back.

 

This store is a fair drive from Atlanta, but well worth the trip up GA 400 or Highway 9. They have an excellent selection of beers, especially craft brews, and their personnel are very helpful and clearly well-trained. In fact, they gave me a souvenir beer glass since this was my first visit. I found a few beers that I have never seen before - which is harder and harder for me to do since I have had so many! Prices are reasonable, neither cheap nor outrageous. I certainly will return to this establishment if I get a chance!

Saw this places name come up a couple times recently, so I decided to give it a visit.

As I walked in and looked around, I briefly thought I might have been at the wrong place - all I saw was row after row of liquor and wine. But then I noticed the back left corner - they have an aisle with beer on each side, and a small singles shelf. One side of the aisle is regular shelving, while the other is a line of refrigerators. The refrigerators are about half macro and half craft - mostly local/regional. The shelving, however, is loaded with craft stuff - packs and bombers.

There's a definite American-leaning with their selection. If you're looking for Belgians or other Euro styles, it's a bit slim-pickins. They've got your standards (Rochefort, Orval, Chimay, Lindemans) with a couple slightly deeper selections (Gouden Carolus, etc.) - maybe a dozen, tops. Other than that, it's pretty much American all the way.

In general, they've done what they can to get a fairly wide selection, and it's one of the better ones you'll find in suburban Atlanta - but it doesn't hold a candle to Hop City, Greens or even Tower. Giving this place a 5 for selection is pure homerism.

The store itself is quite nice, and the gentleman I met today (who I assume is the owner or manager) was quite friendly and eager to chat. It appears he makes an attempt to learn at least a little bit about all the beer he stocks.

It's a great store to be sure, but doesn't live up to the A+ it currently has on this site as I type this review. If you live around the corner from it, it's a diamond in the rough. But otherwise, it's not a place you'd really go out of your way for.

Regardless, I hope it does well. You can never have too many good craft beer joints, and I'd definitely visit it with regularity if I lived nearby - but it's not a place you'll search out, like a Greens or Hop City.

I have been on a search for a good beer store in the metro area for about three years. Thanks to beer advocate I was sent to Olde Crabapple Bottle Shop. I could not be more pleased with the experience I had.

First, I was blown away by the selection. In the fridge section i saw all of the usual suspects along with a few rare selections. I had already concluded that the selection I found at Sherlocks was accounted for and surpassed by this new store. After I had glanced through the fridge selection I had the pleasure of turning around to a gigantic shelf stacked with different six packs and bombers. Unlike Sherlocks, this shelf represented more than just the beers already in the fridge. There was MUCH much more. I found Flying Dog's Raging Bitch which I thought was not available this far south. This first point alone was enough to earn the rating that i have given this store but there is more.

My second point has to do with the service. As I was looking through the selection I was approached by Tom who explained to me all of the new arrivals as well as his favorites. He also made sure that I saw that some of the beers were available for individual purchase, which would let me sample a wider variety for a lower price. Though not all of the beers on the shelf were available individually there was still an extensive selection. Tom's knowledgeable and friendly service in the store was also enough to make this store #1 in my book, but again there is more.

Most beer stores say that they will order whatever brew you want if they are able to. My experience with this has usually been offputting. I get the impression the some stores don't want to deal with the hassle (for instance, last time i left Sherlocks I watched the cashier crumble up and throw away the piece of paper that she used to take down my request for Victory's Hop Wallop). At Olde Crabapple I only mentioned Hop Wallop in passing and as I was leaving Tom asked for my phone number so he could call me about the Hop Wallop. As I was driving home I got a call from him telling me that it would be in the store the next day.

I really hope that my review directs people toward Olde Crabapple. If you live in the metro area and have been living with the poor selection and service at many of the other stores, it is worth the drive. Especially since the only stores that may compare to Olde Crabapple are in Midtown or Downtown Atlanta. The service, selection, and atmosphere are impeccable. A store like this deserves to be supported.

Now offering mixed sixers with some pretty sweet items to choose from.

Very good selection on the warm shelves, not bad in the cooler. They seem to have a knack for stocking the stuff that is not easy to find elsewhere in the area.

It's always fun to browse the shelves. Service is always great. Prices are what you'd expect for that part of town but not bad at all. Definately worth a stop.

No one, however, has said the Pointy Birds poem to me there and that makes my foot hurt. And so it goes and so it was...

I was alerted to the existence of Olde Crabapple Bottle Shop by another BeerAdvocate.com user. I headed over to check the place out as soon as I could, and I was very impressed.

The gentleman working behind the counter today greeted me warmly when he saw me making a beeline for the beer department (in the back left quarter of the store), and he instantly recognized me as a "beer guy" based on the four-packs of limited-release craft brew I snatched as soon as I saw them. This was the opener to a great conversation about the store's history (apparently, it's been there since the mid-80s, but the current owners have only been there a little over a year) and their beer selection.

That selection is already the best in the north Atlanta suburbs, beating out Jax in Forsyth County largely due to their understanding of turnover and Total Wine due to their mom-and-pop feel and receptiveness to feedback (see below). What that means is that they have a very nice selection of craft beers, but they generally don't have a huge stock of most of them. If they did, much of it would undoubtedly pass its prime on the shelves, as a lot of Jax's stock has.

It may be important -- at least for those who have known of the place in years past -- to note that by any reasonable standard, this is a very clean, well-organized, locally-owned establishment. I get the feeling it may not always have been that nice a place, but I assure you that it is now.

The guy I spoke with seemed very excited about the fact that craft beers represent "the fastest-growing segment" of sales at his store, and he backed that up by demonstrating great product knowledge and a sincere interest in learning more about good beer. Perhaps most promisingly, he told me that they welcome suggestions as they expand their beer selection, and he appeared poised to make good on that as I described some brands and beers that are thus far not available on the store's shelves.

The most important pieces of praise I can give this place are that (1) they have the best (albeit not the largest) craft beer selection of any store in the north metro suburbs (from Sandy Springs on), and (2) they are clearly very interested in customers' feedback and suggestions with regard to that selection.

While I won't stop going to Green's, Hop City, and/or Toco Giant when I'm in town, the existence of the Olde Crabapple Bottle Shop means I no longer have to rely on those stores for most of my regular beer purchases (or some limited releases). That means fewer 45-minute drives from John's Creek to the middle of Atlanta, which is a very good thing.

I am obviously very excited to have been apprised of the existence of the Olde Crabapple Bottle Shop. I plan to spread the word...and I bet you will too, after you stop by there.

Highly recommended -- especially to anyone north of the Perimeter.

This place is great! I stop by on the way home from school (evening classes) all the time! They have a great selection of cold bombers (Samuel Smith, Rouges, Newcastles, Hobgoblin, and many Belgians).

Many different chilled sixers, DFH 90 min is like $10/4pk last I was there. They have been expanding their selection of unchilled as well... putting at least a case of everything out on the floor. If I was a bigger Belgians fan... this place would be heaven for me.

Nice sized place too... not too cluttered, but no huge open spaces that make you think "why don't they put some real beer here instead of a 10 foot inflatable Corona bottle and football helmet?"

I am never approached when shopping, but the few times I've asked for help they've been happy to.