Liquor Barn

Liquor BarnLiquor Barn
Liquor BarnLiquor Barn
Store

3040 Richmond Rd
Lexington, Kentucky, 40509-1507
United States

(859) 269-4170 | map
liquorbarn.com
PLACE STATS
Average:
4.06
Reviews:
16
Ratings:
28
pDev:
9.36%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
 
Rated: 3.54 by khargro2 from Tennessee

Mar 17, 2016
 
Rated: 3.94 by Doublechar0517 from Kentucky

May 18, 2015
 
Rated: 3.65 by Buschyfor3 from Kentucky

Jan 02, 2015
 
Rated: 4.25 by rden4654 from Ohio

Dec 14, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by 2syllables from Tennessee

Nov 20, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by PassMeAZima from Kentucky

Jul 26, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by TheBeerAlmanac from Kentucky

Jul 22, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by gutbuster from Kentucky

Jun 11, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by mrfrancis from Kentucky

May 19, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by BuckTuckian from Kentucky

Feb 14, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by jman005 from Kentucky

Nov 25, 2013
 
Rated: 3.75 by crbnfbr from Kentucky

Oct 22, 2013
Photo of Groomsy
Reviewed by Groomsy from Kentucky

3.88/5  rDev -4.4%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5
One of three Liquor Barns in Lexington. Some friends and I stopped at this one directly after getting fitted for groomsmen's tuxes at Fayette Mall.

Not much going on with atmosphere. The place sort of resembles a warehouse/grocery store on both the inside and outside. The setup is fairly nice, especially what I caught of the cigar room. Aisles are wide and spacious with items arranged neatly and closely.

This Liquor Barn has a VERY large assortment of some fine bourbons, whiskeys, wines, and other liquors. They also sell a lot of party accessories for those who are interested, as well as some food such as breads, cheeses, etc.

Anyway, about the beer... great selection, although I have some quibbles that I'll address shortly. The regional and local breweries (BBC and Lexington Brewing Co.) are both there, but there is a gigantic wealth of craft and import stuff to choose from. Here are some of the craft names I remember off the top of my head:

Dogfish Head, Stone, Brooklyn, Breckinridge, Great Divide, Goose Island, Sierra Nevada, Rogue, North Coast, Flying Dog, Samuel Adams, Schlafly, Bell's, Abita, Anchor, Boulder, Christian Moerlein, Magic Hat, Left Hand, Avery, Three Floyds, Thirsty Dog, New Holland, O'Fallons, Pyramid, Redhook, Widmer, Bison, Great Lakes, Southern Tier, and a ton of others I can't remember...

They also have a large selection of imported stuff, including, but not limited to:

Bass, Wychwood, Samuel Smith, Fuller's, Hofbrau, Spaten, Duvel, Chimay, Delerium Nocturnum, Paulaner, Hoegaarden, Franziskaner, Ayinger, Pilsner Urquell, Guinness, Warsteiner, and numerous others...

There are two separate parts of beer storage here: There are the room-temperature shelves in the main part of the store, which hold the majority of the craft stuff and liquors, and then there is the cooler which also holds some craft stuff as well as kegs and large packs. The room temperature portion also has an extensive shelf of singles to mix for a custom pack as well as having a number of rarities and bombers to choose from.

Now, my quibbles: You'll find quite a bit of outdated beer here, especially some of the more expensive craft beers. Just as an example, I found a 5L keg and six packs of Bell's Winter Ale... from last year. There are quite a few outdated products in the singles section as well; should you decide to go that route, check your dates, or buy singles from the cooler.

This Liquor Barn also offers beers on tap for growlers: Choices during my visit included Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous, Boulder Sweaty Betty, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Bell's Oberon, Sheltowee Java Dawg, and several others.

Staff were largely uninvolved, but nice and laid-back in what contact we had with them. Prices were fairly reasonable: A bomber of Stone Double Bastard was $8, though I have no clue what vintage it is.

Not a bad place to stop. I would put several others above it, but if this is your only choice, it's worth stopping at.

Highlights of the visit: Sierra Nevada Ovila, Southern Tier Unearthly/Iniquity, Goose Island Demolition, Brooklyn Local 2, and a bunch of other bombers that were out of my reach...
Sep 17, 2011
Photo of BrewerB
Reviewed by BrewerB from North Carolina

3.6/5  rDev -11.3%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4
Think cheap ass grocery store or discount warehouse chain. That's the vibe. Not much going on here, not a place you want to hang around in. Get in, grab your beers, and get going. Not that I expect much from a place called Liquor Barn but they could have made it more inviting.

Decent quality of craft beers, some harder to find local gems mix their way in with the big boys. I certainly found plenty of solid options to quench my thirst.

Cashier rung me up in a fair manner. Aside from that, didn't have much interaction on a service level. Again...what do you expect from a place called Liquor Barn?

Plenty to choose from. Though I've certainly been in stores containing far more selection, they had ample brews to occupy my time during my short stay here in Lexington.
Mar 18, 2011
Photo of bobhits
Reviewed by bobhits from Kentucky

3.4/5  rDev -16.3%
Richmond Road Liquor barn. Ah...such an interesting place. There are 3 large stores here in lexington. This is the first and now the baby of the 3. They get beer last and often miss out of specials, but they also hold onto beers long after the others run out.

They have a huge supply of craft and an equally large supply of imports. They won't have the rare releases often but they will hold onto many beers long after others. This results in many aged gems on their shelves.

I have met many wine guys at this store but truth be told they don't seem to have enough beer guys on staff.
Oct 02, 2010
Photo of leftmindedrighty
Reviewed by leftmindedrighty from New Jersey

3.85/5  rDev -5.2%
This was my first stop when I got into Louisville. I was actually stopping in Kentucky for Bourbon and Whiskey, but obviously I had beer on the brain too.

I proceeded to grab a cart (c'mon, I'm not naive to think I could carry it all) and proceeded to troll the aisles. Nice selection of Goose Island, New Holland, Avery, Rogue, Stone (found bottles of their Cali-Belgique), Sclafly, and some local Kentucky brews. I picked up bottles of Kentucky Ale, and also Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, which I thought was pretty cool. I steered clear of the Bluegrass beers, but they were there as well.

And if you're into Bourbon and Whiskey, they had an awesome selection. I picked up some single barrel Bourbons, and a bottle of Rye Whiskey.

I would love if this store was local, but sadly only for the liquors. Most of the beer is available closer to home, but I still found some nice finds like Sclafly's Barrel Aged offerings and Cali-Belgique.
May 05, 2009
Photo of Yetiman420
Reviewed by Yetiman420 from Ohio

3.7/5  rDev -8.9%
I made back to back stops at the Liquor Barns at 3040 Richmond Road and 1846 Plaudit Place. Plaudit Place seems brand spanking new and gets my nod for having a larger and comprehensive selection of beers available in Kentucky.

Richmond Road was in older, more established neighborhood and did not appear to cater to the same wine and cheese customer base as Plaudit Road. This is ok in my book as you can sometimes find better beers still on the shelves in "lesser" neighborhoods.

They had a lot of the same very good beers as Plaudit Place, but the selection and some of the upper echelon beers for the state (Stone, DFH, etc) did not seem as apparent.
Apr 28, 2009
Photo of BEERchitect
Reviewed by BEERchitect from Kentucky

4.2/5  rDev +3.4%
Here's what I picked up on my last visit (April 27, 2010):

Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti
Great Divide Old Ruffian
Great Divide Fresh Hop Ale
Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary (Ken & Fritz Ale)
Three Floyds Dreadnaught, Robert the Bruce, Black Sun Stout

Located on Richmond Road, inside Man 'O War Boulevard, this is the oldest of the three Liquor Barns in Lexington. Despite their mis-represented namesake, the Liquor Barn chain is the premier retailer of craft beers in Central Kentucky. Although this, as well as the Hamburg location, have the more unhelpful staff, the Beaumont location has the most helpful and eager staff.

This location is the smallest of the three local retailers and resembles an old Wal-mart store from the exterior. But once inside, it's a warehouse that boasts everthing that an alcohol loving adult could want. You can find an assortment of liquers, wines, whiskys, and beer along with gormet cheeses, breads, olives, cigars, coffee, party supplies, bar supplies, glassware, hot sauces...the list goes on.

But enough of that, you are obviously interested in the beers. The selection ranges from the yellow stuff to truely collector beers including: Bluegrass Brewing, Alltech (Lexington Brewing), Abita, Anchor, Anderson Valley, Arcadia, Atwater Block, Avery, Bar Harbor, Bard's Tale, Barley Island, Bell's, Berghoff, Bison Organic, Boulder, Breckenridge, Brooklyn, Cave Creek Chili, Christian Moerlein, Dixie, Dogfish Head, Flying Dog, Founders, Harpoon, He'Brew, Goose Island, Great Lakes, Great Divide, Clipper City, Jolly Pumpkin, Left Hand, Shiner, Schlafly, Steelhead, Stone, Thirsty Dog, Three Floyds, Tommyknocker, Mactarnahan's, Mad River, Magic Hat, Mississippi Mud, New Holland, North Coast, O'Fallon's, Ommegang, Pete's, Point, Pyramid, Red Hook, Rhinelander, Rockie's, Rogue, Sierra Nevada, St. Ambroise, Stegmaier, Widmer, Wild Goose, Blue Moon, Sam Adams, Leinenkugels, Anheuser-Busch, Coors, and Miller, and more...

European Imports include: Baltika, Fuller's, O'Hanlon, J.W. Lees, Chimay, Rochefort, Maredous, Rodenbach, Carolous, Aventinus, Lindemann, Chouffe, Delerium, Harvistoun, St. Peters, Spaten, Ayinger, Schneider, Franziskaner, Hoegaarden, Stella, Leffe, Duvel, Lindemans, Maredsous, Sleeman, Molson, Urquell, Carlsberg, Mooreland, Daleside, Samuel Smith, Young's, Aecht, Augustiner, Becks, Bitburger, Einbecker, EKU, Erdinger, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbrau, echter, Paulaner, Pinkus, Schneider, Tucher, Warsteiner, Weihenstephaner, Grolsch, Heineken, Beamish, guiness, Murphy's Smithwick's, Moretti, San Miguel, Okocim, Baltika, Belhaven, Froach, Lion, Carib, and more (what? ... I'm not typing all of them in for you.) of the common imports that are found elsewhere.

Despite being located on an access road that runs along Richmond Road, this is the most centralized Liquor Barn location to downtown, but not far from the I-64/75. The lighting is all fluorescent so I'd recommend grabing the beers that are not located on the edge of the shelves, rather reaching behind for the second six-pack of beers in line.

Although the list of offerings is long, the staff does a good job of keeping old beers off of the shelves, ensuring that the beers are usually fresh and in-date. Don't forget to check out the large walk-in cooler that will sometimes have vintage or aged beers that may not be avaialble on the shelves.

This Liquor Barn does not have growler fill options as the other two locations do.

Parking is a breeze. There's a dedicated parking lot on site as with most big-box retailers.

To get a better variety of beers, you will have to make the 1-hour trek to Cincinnati OH, or Clarksville IN.
Jul 14, 2005
Photo of Southernbrew
Reviewed by Southernbrew from Georgia

4.2/5  rDev +3.4%
Walking in you can see this is a place to go if you need some party products. The beer selection is great. DFH, Stone, bells, bear republic, rogue (including the imperial pilsner). Tons of bombers, including Vertical Epic. The staff was friendly and I was shown some new things they had gotten in. The biggest plus about this place is that you are allowed to break up six packs. This alone made this one of the best places I stopped in on the way to Chicago. I would recommend anyone passing through stop in.
Aug 22, 2004
Photo of merlin48
Reviewed by merlin48 from Kentucky

3.9/5  rDev -3.9%
One of primary sources for imports and microbrews, this mega store offers meats, cheeses, and a wide assortment of gourmet food items, and, of course, liquors. The beer selection is always outstanding, with hundreds of different microbrews(arranged by brewery) and imports(arranged by country). They also have a large, walk-in cooler with dozens of imports and micros chilled to the bone. Excellent Belgian selection, with most of the familiar names. Dozens of micros, but some breweries from neighboring states always seem to be missing(Three Floyd's). Stone, Rogue, Avery, Bell's, Great Divide, Spanish Peaks, Bear Republic, and many others, are always in stock. One gripe I have, is that the selection doesn't seem to roatate very often, and new additions and new breweries are not seen that often. Service is practically nonexistent, especially if the store is busy. That's actually part of the store's appeal, and helps keep down prices. You bag and box what you buy here, on your own, which I prefer to do anyway. Overall, this store has the largest selection in central Kentucky, and many quality imports and micros always on the shelves. Kegs and macros are also available. This place is always an adventure, and has dozens of bottles that I've not yet tried. Definitely, the place to find micros and imports in Lexington.
Aug 09, 2004
Photo of inebrius
Reviewed by inebrius from Michigan

4.35/5  rDev +7.1%
This joint was cool! Quality meats and cheeses greet you upon entering. Pastas, pickled foods and spice pull you in. Beer makes you stay.

I never expected to find this type of choice and selection in Kentucky. I purchased a gueuze and a tripel and various foodstuffs happily. One stop shopping when in the Bluegrass State.

Give the Basque sheep's milk cheese a try. Pair it with any tripel within sight or add some fig jelly across it and try to resist. From an olive station to dry biscuits to an entire wharehouse shelf full of craft brews. If you're in KY and want some good beer and food, check this place out!
Jul 31, 2004
Photo of kmpitz2
Reviewed by kmpitz2 from Tennessee

4.65/5  rDev +14.5%
What can a beer lover ask for that Liquor Barn can't deliver. This is the smaller of the two stores in town, but the beer section occupies more space than the one across town. There are always beers here that aren't at the other store and vice versa. Since moving down to Lexington 3 years ago, I have been able to increase my beer totals very nicely with the help of this store. I found that if there are beers you want that are not on their shelves, they will order it for you if it is available in Kentucky, which makes this a great store. Not only do they have a great beer section, but their cheese and specialty foods selection (especially good chocolate) is wonderful. If you are coming through Lexington, stop by the Richmond Road store and you will not be sorry you did.
Jul 25, 2004
Photo of Mitchster
Reviewed by Mitchster from Michigan

4.5/5  rDev +10.8%
I am indebted to BeerAdvocate.com for helping me find this place. On a trip from Michigan to Florida and back, I searched the Beerfly for all beer stops in between and read about this place. It's 10 minutes off I-75 and easy to find. Upon stepping inside, this place reminded me of Old World Market X 4. The place is huge with a ton of great specialty foods, coffees, teas, liquors, cigars and everything else tasteful. The beer selection was outstanding, with over 600 beers available. Almost all of them are available as singles, and the pricing is very competitive. They do not hose you by jacking up the price on singles, and despite being at room temperature, they all were relatively fresh and I only saw dust on a few selections. Macrobrews are available in a walk in cooler. The beers were easy to find, sorted by region, and they had a ton of brews that were unavailable in my state (Michigan). I filled my shopping cart with about 150 singles and headed to the front. The staff was very friendly and courteous, checking each price individually to catch any price mishaps. The checker also informed me of some scratched labels so I could replace them (bottle collector). The only downfall is that they throw away all their 6'er holders, and they only had oversized wine boxes so I had to store them loose in my trunk. All said and done, I spent $230 on singles, and I had a great time shopping. If you're going through Lexington, make sure to stop by.
Mar 25, 2004
Photo of AtLagerHeads
Reviewed by AtLagerHeads from Ohio

4.35/5  rDev +7.1%
The big box format at work for beers. With all this space they just had to fill it with great selection and quality, right? For sure, this is a great stop for great beer. Good helpfulness and singles are encouraged. A very good beer stop in KY. I'm anxious to go back with a larger vehicle for carriage.
Oct 13, 2003
Photo of clvand0
Reviewed by clvand0 from Kentucky

4.85/5  rDev +19.5%
This is my main stop for all of my beers - whether easy or hard to find. They have had 95% of beers that I've gone looking for. There are two locations here in Lexington and I've found that if one of them doesn't have something I'm looking for, I just go to the one on the other side of town and I can find it there. The prices are very good - better than anywhere else I've looked. They even carry hard to find beers such as Rochefort 8 & 10 as well as Westvleteren, all types of Rogue, Stone, Sam Smith, Young's, etc. You name it and they have it. It's probably not cold - most likely on the open air shelf, but they'll have it - and the prices will be better than most places. Another good thing is that if a beer doesn't scan or scans, but the price is unknown, it is rang up $1.15. I got a six pack of Rochefort there once for around $8.00 when it should have cost around $8 per bottle. Also, you can get ANY beer you want as a single - just take it out of the six/12 pack - no questions asked.
Jul 30, 2003
Photo of SheepNutz
Reviewed by SheepNutz from Kentucky

4.35/5  rDev +7.1%
The Liquor Barn in Lexington has to have the largest selection of beer in all of Kentucky. I was very pleased to see many of the English and Belgian ales that I was looking for. There are also many microbrews to be found, including Sierra Nevada, Stone, and Rogue. The prices were very reasonable also. One thing I really loved about The Liquor Barn is the glassware selection. I picked up 5 nice pint glasses from various breweries. The only thing I didn't like about The Liquor Barn was that they were out of Young's Double Chocolate Stout, but that just gives me an excuse to go back!
Apr 29, 2003
Photo of Brent
Reviewed by Brent from Kentucky

4.15/5  rDev +2.2%
A full service "party source" store, it includes a large deli and imported specialty foods section, miles of wines and liquor. Only a relatively small percentage of the store is dedicated to import and micro brews, but, given the large size of the store, we're talking an area about the size of your average liquor store. The quality of the selection has improved dramatically over the last couple of years. An impressive selection of imports from Belgium, Germany and England, along with offerings from elsewhere around the globe. American micros are well represented also, last time I was there I picked up Kalamazoo, Rogue, Bear Republic and Stone. If you are in the area, it is absolutely worth your while to drop in - I have to drive two hours each way - still worth it.

Last time I was there I decided to splurge and pick up a couple of Belgian ales I hadn't yet tried. A little pricy at $9 for a 12 oz. bottle, but what the heck. At the checkout, the bottles wouldn't scan. The guy running the register scratched his head, and then punched in $1.25 for each bottle.
Apr 03, 2003
Photo of aaronh
Reviewed by aaronh from Pennsylvania

4.8/5  rDev +18.2%
On my recent trip to Lexington, I was looking for a few particular beers. My uncle lead me to The Liquor Barn, stating that if they didn't have it, it was probably not available in Kentucky. I was shocked when I entered this store. It's the size of a small Wal-Mart, and it's all about beer, wine, liquor, and related items. They even have a huge selection of Cheeses, cigars, and party supplies and snacks.

On entire aisle is devoted to import and micro-brewed beers. The prices are terrific, with Chimay selling for less than $4 per 11.2 ounce bottle, Sam Smith's dirt cheap, and Old Rasputin at about $7 for a four-pack. The selection was incredible. I can't wait till my next trip to visit my relatives in the spring. I plan on taking some of the beer cash reserves and spending some time in the liquor barn.

* Upgraded the service to a 5, becuase they have been very helpful in locating beers before my visit to the area.
Feb 16, 2003
Liquor Barn in Lexington, KY
Place rating: 4.06 out of 5 with 28 ratings