How Good is Your Bottle Shop?

Everett's? I have to work down in your area from time to time and I like to see if they have anything that doesn't get to Wisconsin. Great place. For what it's worth, most of Rockford is.nice and doesn't deserve the image it has. Cheers!

 

I think my local shops do alright. I can always find something in town that I have not had before. Good regional selections.

 

Let's see, mine is part of a gourmet supermarket with some of the best Italian, and other gourmet food, on planet, has a huge bottle/can selection, one of the best in the state, with most of them stored in long rows of refrigerators, plus many more on shelves. In front of the store is a pub where they serve an incredible variety of the world's finest beers, and they have a counter pressure growler fill and crowler filler. They have great events, and often/sometimes they allow bottles to be brought and shared on premises (though that got a bit out of hand and has been cut back). Top this off with a Christmas party bottle share that has no equal.

Of course I am talking about DeCicco's. My store is the one in Brewster.

 

the beer celler is my little shop here in glen Ellyn, and there is a large representation of local brews, some very small, that I can choose from, as well as great seasonal stuff. also, the owner had his 1st year bash in march with kegs from ballast point, bells, penrose just to name a few, cant wait till #2 next spring.

 

My bottle shop is pretty good. They have around 10 beers on tap to drink there or fill growlers. They have a large selection of bottles and first categorize them by area then by style. Always updating their inventory and on special releases, they allow holds over the phone.

 

Bestway in Greensboro does a great job. Fresh locals, everything Distro in NC is here, nice selection on imports. Glasses, maybe a 6 tap or so growler station. Potent Potibles in Jamestown has a great selection too, a wine/ beer bar, great beers on tap, Steve Kim is the owner , it's out of my way or I'd hit it more often. They also have a nice selection of glasses, and a food truck services customers, you can also bring your own food in. Music at night.

 

There are no bottle shops within about 45 minutes from my home. For Heady Topper runs I go to Beverage Baron in Barre, VT (32 miles of back roads). It is what it is, they get HT, SoS deliveries. Have ok craft section otherwise. They do a good job on HT delivery days. I go to Woodstock Hops & Barley sometimes as well when I am in the area. Nice little store, get SoS, knowledgeable and friendly.

 

Ours have huge pros and cons. Some receive amazing special releases that are fresh. And those same places have stuff that is past expiration and covered in dust. And their prices are often much higher than big box stores. Sometimes absurdly high.

Big box stores get some of the releases, have best prices, but they too can have both fresh and expired beer on shelves.

 

I drive an hour and a half to my usual bottle shop in Watertown, NY (Bottle Caps Beverage Center) and that means crossing the Canada/US border. The folks at this store are super friendly and very helpful to me. Anytime I see they have anything new/desirable in stock, I ask them to put a bottle or two aside for me, and they always do so. If I have a big order when I come down, usually anything over $150, they throw me at least a 5% discount. The more I buy the bigger the discount. The folks always have a special bottle or two set aside for me that is a real gem and they are usually game for a long chat about whatever the mood springs. Makes a longish trip worthwhile knowing you are going to have a good experience when you get there and that you will be coming back with what you want and more.

 

My bottle shop is a local family run business. La Bodega in Riverside Ca has the best selection of beers in the area, friendly staff, they make efforts so that rare beers are available to as many of us as possible, fresh beer, just all around world class bottle shop.

I do look around at a few other places but La Bodega gets my money and interest first.

 

I have to drive 55 miles one way, but Brawley's in Charlotte, NC is my go to bottle shop. Mike does an outstanding job there.

 

For the size of my town, pretty good. Lots of things I cant get here; have to go to Austin or Dallas. I was shocked the other day when they were out of Arrogant Bastard.

 

I have a real mix. There are some great shops around me at home and at work, and some with less than ideal inventory practices. Getting anything in the better shops is always tough, they are either holding it for a select few or put it out and its gone within minutes. Trading has become my most reliable way to get the beer I really want and rarely go into shops anymore.

 

I go to the Liquor Cabinet... Almost in Ohio, not quite in Michigan...
It's kinda located In the twilight zone.
The ladies that work there are gorgeous so I do think even know if they have beer.

But on the real yo. ... they have an amazing selection of craft beers. Very knowledgeable staff.
Also very accommodating. If there is a beer I want that they don't have. They will order it in.

 

The several stores I frequent have pros and cons with each. That is why I have 3-4 stores in circulation of my buying. There are 2 very well run stores about 20 miles from me but they aren't convenient. Maybe I should make more stock-up trips to those 2 shops and less circulation of the 3-4 local/convenient ones.

 

2 that stand out to me is Bon Vivant in Smithfield, Va. area. The owner is always willing to share info and is a wealth if knowledge AND carries some beers my other local bottle shops do not get. Also the Hair Of The Dog bottle shop in Williamsburg, VA is top notch with an amazing rotation if awesome beers, many hard to find and always fresh. Lauren is amazing and is extremely knowledgeable in all that they sell..Cheers !!

 

Casper has 2 great stores..for Wyoming standards.

 

If only there was a bottle shop nearby...

 

First world problems.....

 

I live in a city that is on the Minnesota/North Dakota border so I have the (somewhat slight) advantage of having two states worth of distro within 15 minutes of my home. That's the upside. The downside is that between the two cities, I have a pretty great beer selection, but either one of them on their own is mediocre. I often find myself having to make trips to two separate stores to accommodate my desires for different beer.

Additionally, the North Dakota side (which houses the larger city between the two and therefore, the larger liquor stores) isn't really a beer drinker's mecca in the sense I wish it was. Selection has vastly improved even in the last year, but the mismanagement of the beer in my particular store is troubling to me. On paper, the store looks great! They have a ton of square footage, a large row of coolers that are always stocked full of beer, a growler station, and they are never understaffed.

However, all of those positives turn to negatives quick when you dive in a little deeper. They do have a massive store, but (understandably so) very very little of it is devoted to craft beer. The large row of beer coolers is about 90% full of macro including cases of every possible size, shape, and configuration of Bud Light imaginable. There is actually only one cooler door devoted to craft beer. The rest of the craft selection, IPAs included, sits warm on a shelf facing the coolers. The growler station is consistently filled with things that range in description from "Meh" to "Why the f*ck would they have that at a growler station?" The staff, while plentiful in numbers, is almost entirely unresponsive to inquiries and lacks even a basic knowledge about most of their products. I don't delude myself into thinking every part time bottle shop employee should be a Cicerone, but a basic working knowledge of what they have and don't have would be nice. The store can be a wasteland of expired beer, sometimes well over a year old. And it's essentially a monopoly in town with its only true competitor being the store's second location on the other side of town, so I don't see change coming easy.

Look, I get that stores cater to the masses and most people don't drink craft beer. Despite all my griping, I would be exponentially more happy with my local store if freshness was considered a higher priority.