Village Bottle Shoppe #2

More of a wine/liquor store than a beer store. There's some good stuff in the coolers and at room temperature aging away. Good selection for an Indiana store. Mostly national & regional brews with a good selection from People's (local). Decent amount of Belgian & German beer. The guy working the counter did ask if he could help. Nothing great, but I have yet to be blown away by any beer store in Indiana and I've been to a bunch all over the state.

Stopped by here on Monday night when we were in town to pick our son up from Purdue. After reading the reviews I was pretty stoked to visit this bottle shop but after visiting I left disappointed. They had a few hard to get monsters like Bpurbon County Stout, KBS, and Dogfish Head 120, and a few nice Indiana brewery offerings that we definitely can't acquire back in PA. The overall selection is very small. I'd say visit if you're in a pinch because you will find something worthwhile (which I did for the hotel), but don't expect a large selection. I'd say they're overrated based on the reviews but if it's the best Lafayette has to offer and people like them, they are serving they're constituents well and I'm all about supporting local businesses.

 

Most up-scale of all the Village Bottle Shops with a significantly larger selection and friendlier staff; they definitely do not cater to the college student crowd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Given that it's location is next to a college campus, it has quite a few locations and competitors but this is my favorite place to go for anything other than a 30-pack

Instead of kicking their craft beers off the shelves to make room for the new Smirnoff Ice/Jack Daniels Pre-Mixed Drinks/Random repetitive crap they added some additional shelving. They have a refrigerator section for all of their singles (100+ different singles cold plus more warm) and then both multi-packs of the singles and different brews at room temp.

Not to mention they have a huge variety of hard alcohols and a very knowledgeable staff for all of their products. It has everything you need, but there can always be more variety

My beer geekdom really started while I was in Lafayette; so, in a desperate attempt to find the all-around best bottle shop in town, I went as far as 30 miles outside of campus and visited dozens of stores. And this, my friends, is the absolute best.

The main thing I'll mention is the staff - friendly, knowledgeable (especially when it comes to beer), and just pleasant all around. I honestly attribute Dave, someone I almost always see working, with fostering a lot of my craft beer love. Great guy; but the best part is, he's not alone! I can't tell you how many times I've asked to break out a couple singles from a six-pack or inquired about an upcoming release, only to be greeted with honest friendliness. Everyone has a wonderful craft-enthusiast attitude, especially with limited releases. The last big one I was lucky enough to be a part of was the CBS release; a day before they got it in, they collected names, then had a drawing. It was fair, but they still weren't satisfied. Next year, they plan on hosting a tasting with a few bottles, then raffling off the rest. They realized that a lot of people didn't even get to try CBS with the lottery system, even though, once again, it was perfectly fair. Now THAT is craft beer love.

Selection is great; in the area, it can't be matched. Lots of choices of singles, sixers, and bombers, and even with little BeerAdvocate blurbs taped to the doors of their fridges to let people know what some of the more highly-rated beers are like.

Though this shop is usually slightly more expensive than the other stores in town, it's worth every penny for the great experience. And plus, it really is only slightly more expensive: like 5 cents more an ounce. Not bad at all.

This is the only shop in Lafayette worth going to, trust me - I've been to all the others! And from what I've seen so far, I can honestly say it's one of the best shops in all of Indiana.

Having no access to a car until my senior year I very rarely made trips out to this store. Honestly I think the VBS #1 has a better craft selection. This store is bigger and newer and fancier, but its beer selection is not as good in my opinion. They did have bottles that VBS #1 doesn't offer, such as smoke stack series, various FFF beers, etc. You will need a car to get to this store but if you can't find something at VBS #1 they will probably have it. I'm not sure what their service is like since I never really talked to any of the employees. They still had a good selection but not as good of a singles selection and they did not like you to break up 6 packs. Worth the trip if you're looking for something you can't find at the campus store.

This is the largest of the Village Bottle Shoppes and located off of 52, about seven minutes off of Purdue's campus. It is generally regarded as the "Wine store", featuring masses of wine from all over the country and the world. It's been said they have over $650,000 worth of wine at all times. So, half of the store is dedicated to such inventory. The other half is dedicated to liquor and craft beer. Recently they've added several large metal racks to display their craft lineup in its entirety. It was the first location in the area that I saw have The Bruery's Coton. They also get all of Three Floyd's offerings and they sell well, so when they have them they are fresh. They are also one of the few places to have Back Road Brewery. They also carry Goose Island at prices better than most. They have a pretty good selection of singles in their cooler and have about fifteen windows devoted to bombers, singles, and six packs. If you can find the beer in Indiana, they'll most likely have it.

Moved to Lafayette from Grand Rapids, MI and away from my beloved Siciliano's and found this excellent store after checking the BA reviews.

Awesome store, decent amount of cooler space for craft brews both Indiana local: People's, FFF. Midwest local: Founders, Bells, Goose Island, Hoppin Frog. National: HOTD, Brooklyn, Boulevard. Even international with some good Belgian and English beers.

Don't ask for too much service besides requesting speciality beers which they're happy to oblige me.

I also consider this a two-fer as my wife is a big wine fan and their selection is outstanding in that department as well.

Let me start off by saying I've been to all of the beer stores in West Lafayette at one time or another while at Purdue and this one is the best. This place had the selection that allowed me to venture off into what has developed into my beer geek nature. The quality of this place is actually cleaner than most of the other liquor stores in the area, which doesn't say much in a college town. This place has some nice wines and some liquor to choose from. It's best for beer though. The selection is the best in the area you can get many selections from Stone and other craft brewers that you really are gonna be hard pressed to find anywhere else in the area. For example, it's the only place I know of in the area that carries different varieties of Sprecher beer. This place has the rare ones. The staff is knowledgeable about the beers it has and can tell you when they have the rare ones coming in. If you can't find it here you need to go to a different region of the state.

I have personally had a "bad", i.e. something was actually wrong with it, beer from here and had no trouble returning it. Maybe the other reviewer talked to new guy or something...

Selection is buy far the very best in the area and the staff is always trying to bring in new stuff and special orders. They have "geeks" there and guys that just drink good beer and will tell you what they thought - nice to have differing opinions. They rotate stock often. They will break apart six-packs without fuss so you can try something without diving in headfirst. They use Beeradvocate and Ratebeer tags to describe beers further and have special releases all the time.

Bottom line, there are bigger and nicer stores that I've been to but not in this area. Clean, well-stocked, and friendly, knowledgeable service. I really don't know what else i could need from a beer store.

I found this store when I started taking my son to Purdue and I wanted a source for beers I couldn't get in Ohio. At first it seemed like a decent place, and I would spend a pile of money there a few times a year. I got things like Dogfish Head 120 there.

One time I bought an Indiana brew that was just bad - a batch of undrinkable, probably unhealthy, beer. I tried a couple out of the six but they were bad so I save them to return them to the store. The store had no interest in doing anything about the bad beer they sold me.

So now I don't go there and I have advised my son (now in grad school) and his friends (and you) to find their high quality beer elsewhere. This shop does not deserve our business.

The stop in the Lafyette/West Lafayette area for beer. Tons of micro/craft beers. Plenty of local beers in the joint as well. Sixers, singles and also a good selection of 22s to make a beer advocate a happy man or woman. Only problem I ever have had in this place is not having the time to look at each beer and read the labels on them all before choosing. This is the Liquor Store/Beer store that got me hooked on good beer years ago.(*great wine selection too) My personal 'go to' store in the area. A large segment of the store is dedicated to craft/micros. Probably not quite the selection big city folks may be used to, but very good indeed, even for for a college town.

Stopped by here after eating lunch at Lafayette Brewing Company on the to DLD this year. I was a little disappointed in this place after looking at the reviews. The selection really isn't that big. There's a respectable amount of beer here but there are tons of labels missing that really need to be there and too many macros. The quality of beer was still are good with a lot of the better labels present. They also had a bunch of old Vertical Epics but they were priced between $26 and $50 a bottle. The service was pretty bad. Only 1 clerk that wasn't able to answer our questions on pricing. Was also slammed with swill billy's and smokers and juggling the phone.

I have watched this store go from very good to a "don't miss stop for beer lovers store" in the state of Indiana in the past 10 yrs. Very impressive. they have gone from approximately 450 Micro,Craft and Import beers to some 600 selections in the past month with room to increase to about 700 selections in the near future. An entire door devoted to Indiana Beers featuring 3 Floyds out of Munster, IN and Backroad Brew Co. out of Laporte, In. {A Village Bottle Shoppe Exclusive in West Lafayette, IN}.

Great store located in W.L. that prides itself on the wine selection and saddly fails to advertise their great craft beer section. Sure the whole front area alot of wine... but the whole back wall is devoted to beer. The manager has good taste and keeps rotating new batches in and different breweries all the time. Lots of beer both warm and cold is available for good prices. Lots and lots of singles are available, but on several occasions I have asked an emploee to break up a sixer for me so I could get a sample bottle first and most of the time they hook it up. In my opinion this is THE place in this area to buy craft beer.

Since enrolling at Purdue, this particular Village Bottle Shoppe location has become my favorite beer store in the area. To begin with, though the beer space doesn't seem too amazing (most of the coolers are reserved for the Big 3s, but, hey, this is a college town, baby), they've got some great brews in there, particularly Stone, Allagash, some Lagunitas, Flying Dog, and some keen internationals. Most are available as singles, but many are also there in sixers, etc. The staff are all very personable, and if you can't find what you're looking for, they'll be more than happy to order it for you. With these awesome guys, a great variety of special edition brews, and a constantly revolving selection, this place will always be my go-to store here in Lafayette. Boiler up!

This is a great place! The guy doing the beer ordering knows what good beer to order and what not to order. The micro section seems to be constantly expanding with better and better beers. You can pre-order things which is very nice and you get a ten percent discount when you get a case of beer (Craft beer anyways). He can also tell you when things are going to be in (KBS, Founders breakfast stout, Bells Hopslam, Rogue yellow snow, Bells Expedition stout...etc) and at what price they will be in at by either a phone call or stopping in. As for beer selection such as belgians and imports, they have a nice selection. I talked to the guy about why didn't they have a huge selection of belgians (his names nathan incase anyone wants to know) he said it was mainly because of two things. One he had basically what distribution could get him and two anything they didn't have he said I should tell my buddies or whomever to call or come in and there's a good chance he could order it for you. It is always a nice place to visit and I really enjoy the staff. They always come over when i'm in the craft section (yes they have a whole side of the store dedicated to craft beer) and ask me if I need help finding anything or If I HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT BEER! I haven't talked to a guy there who couldn't tell me what was good beer and what was great beer. Sure some seem to know more than others but all the guys there are beer geeks that I have seen. Plain and simple! Love, Live, Respect, beer

I have visited liquor stores from all over Indiana, and this location by far is
one of the best in the state. From the ridiculous variety of beers and more
wines than you have time to look through, this place has everything. It has a
clean and organized atmosphere, and a knowledgeable and educated staff that
seem to have as much passion for beer as I do. Tons of Indiana micros, a whole
section of belgium, and even the General Manager Nathan has his own
unrefrigerated section called "nathans favorites of the month" which is full of
amazing selections. They have their own wine taster with four different
varieties that they change weekly. If you are looking for a particular wine or
just have a query, the owner Donna will answer all your questions and more!
This is my go to store for sho!

EASILY the best selection in the area. One of the very few places that sells singles and bombers. Also one of the few that sells Belgians (though the selection still ain't that great).

Bombers of FFF and Stone, along with selections from Flying Dog, Mikeller, Magic Hat, Bells, Dogfish Head, Goose Island, and others. All beer cold.

The atmosphere is liquor store-ish, but since it's in a good neighborhood it's not depressing or dangerous. I didn't ask the staff any questions but they seemed nice enough. College kids, mostly, so while I doubt they're full-on beer connoisseurs they'd at least try to answer whatever questions you might have.

This is the closest thing that Lafayette has to a beer store.

I visited this place on 4/27/2009.

Very easy to get to - just off Sagamore Pkwy in West Lafayette. Lots of parking out front and down the side of the building. Upon entering, the warm beer was to the left and the cold beer was in glass doored coolers in the back.

I liked the selection a lot, finding a great variety of Stone, FFF, Founders, Two Brothers, Unibroue, Bells, etc as well as super local stuff from Lafayette Brewing Company. Solid selection of imports too. I also scored three bombers of Avery Thirteen which is really rare at this point! Curiously, there seemed to be almost as much beer in the coolers as there was warm beer out in the store. I also appreciated that there were singles in the cooler allowing me to pick up some I-just-want-to-try-one type beers.

Service was friendly and knowlegable. The guy behind the counter was able to hold a decent conversation about craft beer and right before my eyes he resisted the Corona/Quervo distributor's attempt to "steal" some premium floor space from the warm craft beer aisle. Awesome!

All in all a great beer store that I will make a destination every time I am in or near greater Lafayette, IN.


Service

Found this place while stopping off at Lafayette Brewing Company. Mostly a BMC and liquor store. They have some fridge space dedicated to craft. Pretty good selection for what space they have. Plenty of local Indiana beers to be found. It looks like they at one time tried to stock some nice Belgians. The shop doesn't look like it gets much craft/import traffic because I was able to find a couple of beers that I've been looking for sometime. There was a couple bottles of Fantome Dark Ghost and Strange Ghost. There were some nice options to be had. Other than that, it would be a good stop to find some in-state beers in the area.

The best selection of beers in the Lafayette/West Lafayette area. No question. That being said, there are a few you may not find here, that you can scrounge up at some of the other local places. But, try here first. Nice mix of singles, six packs, and bigger bottles.

The help is hit and miss. While the selection of beers is one of the best in town, I have yet to meet anyone who works here and is into craft beer. In fact, the owner can be downright condescending when you ask about beer. Ask about wine however, and she will be willing to lead you around and talk about every bottle they have. A little glimpse of the stigma beer drinkers still have I guess.

Most of the craft brew is kept in the coolers, about 3.5 worth. They have recently started carrying some non-chilled brews. It seems like the selection has increased in the past 6 months. One nice feature is the quick turnover. I haven't found a dusty bottle here, beer or wine, so it seems to be treated pretty well.

Decided to drop by this liquor store again just to check it out. I was first stopped by here over a year ago and it was decent but nothing like it is now. There is a massive selection of singles. Almost the complete Unibroue lineup, tons of Rogue, Stone (vertical epic, old guardian, IPA, and AB), 750's of Duvel and Allagash were also available as was Aventinus, Orval, and many many others(including a few sixers of Bell's Batch 6000, and bombers of 3floyds Dreadnaught and Alpha Klaus). I was surprised to see a store of this quality in a college town. A downside is virtually all of the beer if stupidly cold. The have no warm beer at all unless you count a few cases of Bud and a bottle of Sam Adam's Uptopia. This is probably the best liquor store in the Lafayette area.

Situated just north of the campus of Purdue University, the Village Bottle Shoppe at first looks a lot like most regular college town liquor stores, kinda like a generic chain-store a la 7-11 or Circle K. Once you get inside, walk toward the back past the standard piles and stacks of macro brews, you realize there are some good beers to be found.
As I was in a sampling mindset, I wanted to get singles vice 6-packs. Two refrigerated shelves and some room temp shelves are devoted to regional micro brewers. The store also offers a nice range of six-packs from local brewers, including the full range of Back Road Brewing Co. I walked out with a decent selection of brews: DFH Punkin Ale, Sam Adams IPA, Bell's Beer, Summit Maibock, Goose Island Pils, Bluegrass Brewing's Hell For Certain, and Three Floyd's Xtra Pale Ale and Pride & Joy.
Service was what you might expect from a college town liqour store: a college-age guy at the register with not much beer knowledge. No problem: I had my list.
Overall, a store that's pretty much middle of the road. It's got the wine and spirits and lots of cheap beer befitting the budgets of most college students. But, for the beer enthusiast, there are items at the Village Bottle Shoppe that would make it worth stopping at if you find yourself in West Lafayette.