Armanetti Beverage Mart

Armanetti Beverage MartArmanetti Beverage Mart
Armanetti Beverage MartArmanetti Beverage Mart
Store

800 S Eastwood Dr
Woodstock, Illinois, 60098-4637
United States

// CLOSED //
PLACE STATS
Average:
3.67
Reviews:
2
Ratings:
2
pDev:
7.36%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews.
Ratings by emerge077:
Photo of emerge077
Reviewed by emerge077 from Illinois

3.94/5  rDev +7.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4
(Old 800 S. Eastwood location, now closed)

Stopped here today while doing some holiday traveling. The wrought-iron and wooden beam sign out front is kitschy, almost like it belongs in the Dells, especially with the giant barrel that hangs under it. Parking lot all around the building, even a drive-thru/carport that must have been functional once upon a time. Inside it was florescent lighting and tile floors, dingy in a charming way, if that makes sense.

Beer is straight back, coolers on the right, shelves on the left. First two coolers were free-standing, and held odds and ends like a lonely Rochefort 10, Bare Tree, Rodenbach 750s and other random stuff. Craft sixers and bombers were up next, FFF, Founders, Goose Island, Two Brothers, Victory, plenty of options from each brewery. The shelves seemed to mostly be storage for the coolers, there were a few oddities but mostly all the same stuff, just warm. The inside temp actually felt a little cool in the beer area, which was a good thing. Didn't see much dust or anything, bottle dates seemed current for the most part. Found an Avery 15 that had sold out in the city, so that was nice. Prices seemed pretty typical for most everything.

The lady at the checkout was friendly and wished everyone in line a happy thanksgiving. No one was on the floor in the beer section, but they may have been occupied in the separate half of the store that's only wine. Overall this was a decent beer store, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Thanks to rhoadsrage for the tip!
Nov 28, 2008
More User Ratings:
Photo of Mandark
Reviewed by Mandark from Illinois

3.4/5  rDev -7.4%
Moving here from a big city I was worried about where I'd find good beer. Luckily, Armanetti's has expanded their selection of craft brews over the past few years. All the usual American brands--DFH, FFF, Goose Island, Founders, Bells, Great Divide, Anchor, Sierra--with an adequate variety of each, though finding something rare or that's sold out elsewhere is more a matter of accident than design. The selection of imports is minute, especially Belgian and German, though there are some good representations of each. The management is willing to take special orders and while the staff is not exactly knowledgeable in the beer area, they are friendly.

My big gripe, and this is why the quality rating is only 2.5, is with their storage and rotating of stock. I have bought three or four six packs, from different breweries, over the last two years that were skunked. After the first one I paid more attention to dates and dust but not all breweries date their stuff, and dust can be wiped off. That being said, the staff has had no problem with returns/exchanges, and has not adopted any attitude despite my return visits.

So, overall, this is a locally owned establishment with a nice staff and decent selection, but with questionable storage practices. That last may not be all their fault---Woodstock is fairly small and the market for the good stuff may not be big enough to support the selection. I don't know much about running a liquor store, so I can't speak to whether or not they should be returning beer to distributors or what. Ultimately, this is a great store for the relatively remote location, and if you can't hit a Binny's, this should more than do.
Jan 24, 2010
Armanetti Beverage Mart in Woodstock, IL
Place rating: 3.67 out of 5 with 2 ratings