Thoughts on best NYC bottle shops?

I personally don't have a favorite shop, I usually go to ones that are closest to where ever I'm at.

For Brooklyn:

Brouwerij Lane's selection is small, but they always have good stuff.

Hops & Hocks has a decent selection, but their prices are too high.

Bed-Stuy Beer Works has a good selection and decent prices, but they really need more fridges for all the IPAs they have. And they need to rotate some of the older stock out.

Breukelen Bier Merchants can be hit or miss. Sometimes they have a great selection and other times the fridges seem bare.

In Manhattan - I will say I go to Good Beer the most for bottle purchases.

I will say I was surprised by Broadway Dive. I just thought it was a bar, but they have a ton of fridges with a lot of bottle choices. Granted UWS prices.

 

Whole Foods Columbus Circle and 97th and Columbus are both great. The grocery store at 147th and St. Nick's has an excellent selection (pretty sure it was a C-Town when I lived next door, now goes by another name).

I always hit the first two along with Good Beer and WF Bowery.

 

I've found that for beer at least, Whole Foods doesn't deserve it's overpriced reputation, I don't know of many (non-PS Food Coop) places with better prices.

New to my shit list is Brooklyn Harvest on Union, the other day I trekked out there because they'd had Peche n Brett on their beermenus page for over a week, only it failed to mention you would need to spend $50 on other Logsdon beers for the privilege of spending $30 on a PnB. That's when I remembered they were the ones who were reported on here as requiring you to buy a case of BCBS in order to buy a Vanilla Rye. I was able to get a PnB from Good Beer though, so props to them.

 

I'm in Brooklyn and I like St Gambrinus and Prospect Heights Beer Works' bottle selection. Although PHBW doesn't have prices on individual beers which is annoying. They are both not huge but well curated. I also tend to use Whole Foods whether the Bowery or even the one in Gowanus. And my local bodega in Park Slope isn't bad either. Then again I'm not chasing whales, rarities, or hard to find beer. Life is too short.

 

Haha I was literally just telling someone about my experience with this. Called the beer guy today at Brooklyn Harvest to inquire before I made the trip over there--I previously discussed in a thread how he told me I needed to buy (4) 4-packs of regular founders to be eligible to purchase (1) 12 oz bottle of KBS--but anyway, he gave me the same song and dance. Great selection there and good prices in general, but this kind of shit drives me nuts.

 

And I'm still looking for a PnB...I heard from the guy at Prospect Beer Works that the city only got something like 15 cases.
My apologies for the thread jack!

 

If I had answered this thread a year ago, I would have said Prospect Heights Beer Works hands down. They were getting essentially every decent release, their prices were better than anywhere else around, and they were fairly off the radar, so it wasn't a bum-rush to get every single release. Talking to the manager over the past year, though, they are really doing poor business, and their current model isn't working - which has led them to limit their ordering on rarer stuff and more sought-after bombers, and their decreased ordering has likewise limited distributors' willingness to make sure they get stocked with quality product. Additionally, to combat the slow business, they've been inching pricing up deliberately over the last year. It's actually pretty frustrating - I keep encouraging them to get more active on social media, advertise amongst the beer community more, but they seem really burnt out. I think it's a matter of time before they shutter up.

There are a lot of good bottle shops in the city, but I think the reality is the best bottle shop is usually the one that's easiest to get to. I love Covenhoven, because while a bit pricey for the neighborhood, their curation is tremendous and they consistently get sought-after releases. Plus, it's a block from my apartment! That said, I also love random local grocery stores, having found Eclipse 50/50 at a local Key Food and Sucaba at the Compare Foods, not to mention cleaning out a local grocery store of their $25/4 BCBCS last Black Friday. Random beer buyers at grocery stores are the best, and while it means the regular "pop in" to see what they have, it's usually worth it.

If I had to pick any store in the city to live nearby, I'd probably select C-Town 28th Street Astoria. Never been there, but their selection and prices on Beermenus suggests a simply tremendous beer buyer and curator.

In the greater metro area, it's gotta be the DeCicco's grocery stores, hands down. I don't think there is a single place in the city that can hold a candle to their Brewster or Armonk stores.

 

To be honest none of the NYC bottle shops are stellar in my mind.

Don't get me wrong - there are some great places, but they usually tend to have some significant cons to go along with the pros.

As with @Kanger - I don't have a favourite. It just depends on where I am.

Re: Whole Foods - never realised it had an over-priced reputation. I think the prices (compared to other places) are reasonable. I do think that their beer game has dropped in the last year or so (or perhaps my geek factor has just gone up).

I'm sure part of it is simply differing distribution, but when I travel to other parts of the country I often come across stores that seem to be a step up. Could easily be a case of grass is greener though. I've never lived anywhere else in the US, so if/when I do, that will be the test.

 

I was referring to their reputation for groceries, ie the "whole paycheck" thing; I was saying that for beer their prices are actually better than most places. I think for basic stuff/staples they are better priced than C-Town a lot of the time, but we can take that discussion to groceryadvocate.com.

 

It's one thing if a store wants to use its own discretion and set high prices or bottle limits on certain beers, but if they decide to impose rules like this they would lose my business immediately and I would take my money elsewhere.

 

I live down the street from WF bowery and around the corner from New Beer, so convenience is key for me. Love being able to hit New Beer/WF Bowery/Top Hops at the same time basically whenever i need to

 

I go there pretty often. Selection is great and they fit it into the tiniest of spaces right in the front of the store. They also have hard to find thai peppers which makes me love them even more

I selfishly love it for being a hike from the train which keeps people away.

 

Since i started working in Manhattan, i've been trying to find out which shops are on my route home, or close enough that i can get to on a lunch break. So far, WF Chelsea, and Bread & Honey have been my go to. I did go to Carmine St but they are extremely overpriced. They are charging $9 for Aventinus, when i can get it for $4 in Jersey city.

 

I live two blocks from Brooklyn Harvest so I'm in there not just for beer but groceries as well, so I'm probably considered a regular. I've never had the issues people are mentioning, but at the same time, I've never asked to buy the beers mentioned either. They have a great selection, including special releases, at fair prices. I've gotten Abraxas, Sump, AB Noir, ADWTD, and a bunch of other things there as well.

The Key Food in my neighborhood (Grand and Lorimer) is pretty solid as well. Somewhat the same thing as Harvest, but with less of the real rare stuff and without the hassle of buying other items to get it.

I specifically like Good Beer for the mix-a-six, finding things I've just never tried before and grabbing a few singles.

 

I agree that WF Bowery seems to have fallen off a bit over the past year or so, though it's still decent.

Broadway Dive has a great selection, though sometimes the stuff that would be in six-packs is a little steep. All in all, though, I find their prices reasonable, especially on big bottles and limited releases. Plus the staff there are great.

Foodtown of Harlem at St. Nicholas and 147th has a pretty good selection and good prices, but they sometimes make you buy, say, $50 of other beer to get one bottle of KBS. Their long-time beer guy appears to have moved on, and it doesn't seem as good as it used to be.

I haven't been in a couple of months, but Brooklyn Beer & Soda has a respectable selection. One of only two places in town I saw the St. Bernardus Extra 4 last year. Their choices for growler fills is, again, respectable, though not thrilling.

Too bad about Prospect Heights Beer Works. It's in kind of a rotten location, which could partly account for their lack of business.