Best North Jersey beer stores?

Wf paramus had a ton of boat when I was there on Saturday. And it's about a 4 minute drive away from total wine. Should do both.

 

Fairway in Woodland Park has a decent selection.

I'd highly recommend Cable Beverage! Thankfully, its close to where I work. Although my wallet hurts!

 

Hoboken Vine can be good, didn't see them mentioned yet. Buy rite in Secaucus and Jersey City can be okay.

I am so down about buying beer in stores these days (as opposed to getting fills from breweries), with a few exceptions (Cable is one and so is Whole Foods). Everything is either overpriced, old or outdated stock, or both. 9 times out of 10 if I go into a store to get a six of something hoppy its 3-4 months old already and 13-14 dollars a six. Pass. I go into stores with limited releases and they are generously offered to me at outrageous prices. Bourbon Street offered to see me ONE KBS for 11.99, which I laughed at and passed on. Then yesterday in NYC I saw a single for 30.00.

Gotta get in the car more often and drive to Carton or Rushing Duck or stop by OH or something. Shit's getting tiresome out here.

 

You must live in the middle of nowhere. Or you don't know where to look. Just for example I've seen Sculpin that's less than a month old for $12.99 a 6. KBS is a poor example to use since a lot of shitty stores price gouge. Although I got KBS at a Bottle King for $5.99 a bottle. Getting the same fills from the same old 2 beers at breweries gets old by the way. And it costs way more than the $14 a six pack you quoted for the hoppy stuff.

 

I live right outside of the city and go to work in town almost every day. I've also bought beer in almost every store listed in this thread.

I was definitely kvetching and possibly exaggerating to some degree. I am just getting a little down on price vs. value and the difficulty of finding fresh beer in stores. I've never seen Sculpin for less than 14.99 and that includes the brewery. I know there are better buys out there and I do make those purchases. I also got KBS for 5.99 this year. It's the idea that someone is doing me a favor by selling me a single for 11.99 or 30 dollars or whatever that makes me irritable.

When I'm home in Weehawken and we decide we want to drink some fresh and tasty beer on a weekend afternoon there isn't anywhere for me to go within 30 minutes' drive that will reliably provide what I'm looking for, and that also has me down. Gianonne is 10 minutes away and is super overpriced and much of the stock is out of code. Buy-Rites take me at least 30 minutes due to traffic and have fair prices and old beer. Linwood wines, expensive and almost 30 mins away, WF Paramus, at least 30 mins, etc.

My best bet is to pick up as much beer at WF in the city near my job during the week and stock up. It's just not always convenient for me to do so.

Finally my growler examples were just that. Can't recall the Carton prices but RD is definitely fairly priced though. Both are an hour away unfortunately. And, OH has a huge list, not just two beers to choose from.

 

I would blame your location then. Everything would be more expensive since it's close to NYC and people don't want to travel through traffic to explore other stores.

Out here in Morris county we have lots of great stores to pick from without having to drive around all day or deal with the kind of traffic your area has.

 

There has to be some bars or stores around you that fill growlers, especially in hoboken or the city. You could probably take a quick drive to Other Half and fill up growlers.

Wine and Beverage Depot in Totowa is probably a 20 minute drive. Not a bad selection. You can stop at Fairway on the way. Picked up some Grapefruit Sculpin there on Sunday. Then you could drive another 5 minutes out to Wayne, NJ to the TapHouse Grill and fill up growlers. Some great beers there! Get a NJCB membership and get some discounts. NJCB also have a great list on their website of locations.

 

If you're in weehawken I would say give Sparrow Wine in uptown hoboken a shot. They've really gotten better and better over the past two years. I wouldn't say their prices are much below the average prices in the area but they usually fairly price their beer and they get most of the limited releases that hit the area

 

Guys I appreciate the tips and encouragement. Again I am being a bit of a negative nancy here. As mentioned I have been to pretty much every store listed here. I used to live much closer to Wine and Bev in Totowa but now it's a 30 minute drive without traffic.

If you know this area you know traffic is insane much of the day, everyday.

Going to Other Half (or anywhere in Brooklyn) is never a quick drive unless it's in the dead of the night. It's a 40 minute drive without traffic, likely going to take closer to 90 minutes, and there are significant tolls (lincoln tunnel at minimum)

I didn't know about Sparrow, I will have to give them a shot. I see they are close to Hoboken Vine so maybe next time I get down there I'll stop by both spots.

I should give a shout out to the Coppermine, a great bar with growler fills I get over to on occasion. Again in the middle of the night it's 15-20 minutes, otherwise 45 or so.

 

I realize I am coming off as a bit of a whiner. Sorry cats!

I'm just tired of jumping in the car to drive 6 miles and it taking me 40 minutes or whatever then finding 5 month old IPAs or stores outrageously overcharging for limited release beers because they just realized they can make some extra cabbage on the craft beer drinker. I am happy to pay for value but not to be raked over the coals for a limited release or charged premium pricing for old beer.

 

anyone know of stores in Morris/Union County that actually refrigerate IPAs? all the places around me leave them on the ground in room temperature and they always get new releases like a month past bottling date.

 

it's definitely your location. I live in Wood Ridge (other side of Secaucus from you) and there are 3-4 stores I could go to in Bergen County with decent stock of fresh beer (Bottle King, Whole Foods, etc)

Have you tried Buy-Rite in Fairview? 201 Broad Avenue. I bet it's not more than 15 minutes from you. The guy is really trying to establish his craft beer presence (new owners) and rotates stock well, has singles for purchase (that aren't 4+ mos. old) and at least 4-6 tap lines for growler fills.

 

also, 90 minutes to Other Half, 45 minutes to Copper Mine, from Weehawken? LOL. Give me a fucking break dude. Do you only try to drive during rush hour?

 

It is not 90 minutes to OH. Maybe during rush hour or evenings. When I went last Saturday, I left my house in Clifton (a minute off rt 3) at 8:30 and was already parked by 9. That was going 1&9 through Holland Tunnel and Battery Tunnel. Coming back, I just went Battery-West Side-Lincoln. Same thing, 30 minutes. You are about 10 minutes closer, so should be 20 minutes.

Yeah, the cost of tolls adds up. But if you want great beer, its a small price to pay.

I think you'd be best to talk to some of these stores, get an idea of delivery schedule and know their closing times or opening times for a weekend. Heading to Totowa, West Paterson from you at 8:30pm to grab some beer is alot different than going right after work at 6:30pm. Get there at 9am on a Saturday if you want to load up. Can't be much traffic on 3 and 46 then.

 

I promise you traffic is absurd at all hours. I live on Blvd East at the border of Weehawken and West New York (about 20 blocks north of the tunnel entrance). Yes, 45 minutes or so (maybe 40) to coppermine even in the middle of the day. It takes me 15 minutes to get to route 3 from where I am, then 10 mins on route 3, 10 minutes driving through North Arlington to get to coppermine.

Going through the Lincoln tunnel at any time can take 15-20 minutes or so, often much more than that.

The idea of getting to OH in 20 minutes from where I am is absurd. I am not closer than someone who is one minute off of route 3.

I appreciate all the comments and tips and I will refrain from further complaining but that is traffic in my area. I deal with it everyday, I'm not just throwing these drive times out there for no reason or exaggerating them. In rare cases things will be better but those tend to be at midnight or 10am on a Sunday morning or something like that. Maybe we can move on here. Sorry to vent.

 

Seriously? I almost guarantee you that if you go to Other Half this Sunday, leave at 9am, you would be through that tunnel in 5 minutes. I've gotten to Central Park on a Sunday morning in 15 minutes from my house!

Can the traffic be obsurd? Absolutely. NNJ is a nightmare most of the time. But if you time it right, it is not a big deal...especially to get great and fresh beer.

 

Shop Rite liqours both in Lincoln Park and Caldwell have a better than I expected selection. The Liqour outlet in Boonton also. Garys wine is getting into the craft beer scene as well.

 

The ShopRite on Browertown Road in Little Falls (right off 46) has a pretty good selection too, plus they regularly update their Beermenus selection.

The Totowa place is good, just make sure you check the born on dates. If you stop there, I'd recommend sticking to seasonals and new releases.

Gary's in Wayne has upped its game of late.

 

Is that the Shop Rite on Bloomfield and Central? Going home next week to visit my folks and could use a few good beers.