Natick-ish BAs: where do you shop?

Just hit up Julios in Westboro.

 

Jacks Abby brewery. Thu and fri 3-7, sat noon to five. Every couple weeks a new unbelievably dank lager is released. Hope I can get some of that sunset biere de garde next weekend... If you like hoponius u will love abcs. Their second anniversary dipl comes out June twentieth. Cheers!

 

Try Marty's or Upper Falls Discount Liquors in Newton. I also second the post above recommending Jacks Abby - it's awesome and the folks there are great.

 

I'm in Needham and my local is Newton Upper Falls. They're probably a step below the best shops, but they have a good supply of hoppy stuff and locals and they get their share of rare stuff. Mike the beer guy is a great guy and worth getting to know. I don't consider Julio's or Marty's local but obviously they're great if you want the extra drive.

You're probably very close to Town Line Liquors which is pretty mediocre. I think Warehouse in Framingham is good and Newton Lower Falls is a cool wine shop with a small but decent craft selection.

You should keep an eye on Needham. They just went wet and the Upper Falls guys opened Needham Wine and Spirits which has a good selection. The guy behind Ball Square should be opening soon and Bin Ends is opening near the highway.

 

Gordon's in Waltham is impressive too. U can only get those frequent growler fill punches at the brewery though

 

Unfortunately, the Natick, Framingham, Wayland area is very spotty for a big selection of Craft beer. I usually drive to gordons in waltham, Marty's in newton and the occasional jaunt to Julio's

 

Fannon's in Natick has a shelf dedicated to craft beer.

 

I'm currently in West Newton. My regular places are Marty's in Newton, Julio's, Gordon's in Waltham (usually the Main St location, occasionally Moody St) and 5th Ave in Framingham (near Stap & Shop / BJ's on Old conn. path)
Craft Beer Cellar will be opening in Newton Center later this year, and I suspect that will become one of the regular places.

 

Fannon's selection is passable but make sure to check dates I saw mojo in there over a year old. You gotta go to Jack's Abby it's right over the framingham boarder.

 

Costco as in the bulk warehouse costco? If so and you remember can you check if they have the Firestone Walker mixed cases there? I heard they were only sold at Costco.

 

Bummer and thanks! I also had no idea you didn't have to be a member for booze so that's always good to know.

 

For the six pack type drinker, Gordon's on Moody St seems to have a little better selection than Main St. And hot releases last a little bit longer.

If fresh beer at a reasonable price is your thing, avoid Marty's. Although they are having a sale on jack's abby right now - $9.99 for Hoponius/Private Rye/Leisure Time/Jabby. (Hoponius bottled on 5/3)

 

The releases at Moody last a bit longer, true.... mostly as long as it takes people to get to the one from the other when Main St runs out of those releases.
You are right Marty's does have slightly higher prices (50 cents to a buck highter on most things) and freshness can sometimes be an issue - though an extra couple weeks isn;t usually a problem with non-ipas. (they do still have a shelf of xmas beers around at heavy discount, but I skip those in season, let alone out)
However, Marty's does sometimes have things that others, even Gordon's does not. In the past 6 months or so, I've found Brooklyn Black Ops, KBS, BCBS, and several other things there that had been long sold out at every other place I'd been to.

 

Noticed that Jack's Abby was also on sale at Gordon's - $8.99 /4pk regular releases (athough it says all releases, they will charge you individual bottle prices if you mix and match your own 4 pack) Hoponius was dated early March though. hmmm, hope inventory of JA isn't backing up...

 

Yup, and if past experience is any indicator the distributor points the finger at the retailer and the retailer at the distributor. But to have a beer like Hoponius Union that seems to be a good seller from a small local brewery be over 3 months old on your shelf, something is up. Then discounted $2 per 4pk makes you go hmmmm....