Liquor Store Pet Peeves

green bottles right up against the window or display lights or up on an exposed top shelf.

 

I was buying a 4-pack of Backwoods Bastard a few weeks ago ($14.99) and the lady that rang me up said "Whoa thats a lot to pay for 4 beers" and I said "Well its well worth it" and she said "How much better can it be than 'regular beer'" and I wanted to say "regular beer sucks" or "what exactly is 'regular beer'?" but instead I just said "oh I dunno, about fifteen dollars better maybe...". The guy behind me in line gave a slight chuckle and the lady giggled for a second, but I knew the concept was lost on them....

 

I totally understand the idea of not wanting to clean up others piss, especially people who are reckless with their aim. But I wasn't drunk, I had two beers previous to going to this store and was fine. The store owner certainly had no idea that I had even those two beers. It's not like I was going to go all fire-hose in the bathroom.

 

But yet you will sell said drunk peoples more booze?

 

I'm going to come at this front the other side of things, for I actually manage a small wine / beer / spirits shop in CT... mainly I'm in charge of the beer (obviously). I absolutely love my job, and I love helping people try new and interesting things. Our beer section isn't huge, but it's full of great craft beers from around the world, and I'm always looking out for the next big thing; that is, depending on what's distributed in CT, which is kind of limited.

What really makes me happy though is converting our regular Bud, Busch, and Coors drinkers into craft-fiends. It's not an easy task, but definitely worth the challange. At this point, I've gotten so many people to value and trust my opinion that it really makes what I do worthwhile... it's all about sharing the love! But for my true craft fans, I do keep a special "stash" in the back of very limited items, and my customers who know always enjoy the fruits of my reserve.

Any store that doesn't provide helpful knowledge or personal interest in their customers and their products is a waste of time for me. There are so many good beverages out there, even the insiders need guidance sometimes.

 

I also always let my customers use the bathroom.

 

THat's just lazy and a lack of caring about the product you sell. As a customer, I can pick out at least ten expired beers within the 15 minutes I am there. You only need to look at certain styles, not the whole inventory - anyone with real knowledge/experience with your stock should be able to do it much more effeciently than someone who only looks at it 15 minutes a week.

 

Not a pet peeve because it only happened to me once, but in Chicago I was able to find BCBS Coffee and Cherry Rye at the same store. Not only was I charged $30.99 per bottle, the clerk (presumably manager) forced me to bundle them with overpriced Madame Rose and Night Stalker. Normally I would have balked at this ridiculousness, but I was quite sure it was my only opportunity to score the BCBS variants this year. Needless to say I won't be back.

 

I try to avoid stores that cater to beer geeks these days. Limits on how much you can buy and the swarm mentality of the staff quick to give you a lesson about beer without knowing your knowledge level or the things you are interested in is a big turnoff to me. It was better when no one knew shit about beer and I could browse the selection without being asked if I need help every 5 minutes.

 

When I see someone buying a 30 pack of Bud Light for $17.95 I say "Do your realize how little this costs? Because it is really that bad."

 

I'm sure such places exist but personally I've never been to a craft-oriented store where the staff were anything but friendly and helpful if that's what you wanted, and content to leave you to browse in peace if you aren't specifically asking for them.

 

The major liquor store in my town got several cases of BCBS and entered it into their inventory system as "Goose Stout." Everybody who called, including myself, were told it was all gone.

 

nightstalker is back?! or was it an old bottle?

 

This. I had a customer of mine who owns a liquor store. He claimed to have a solid reputation with his distributor, so I would periodically ask him if he could get "X' beer. I was rewarded for letting him know about some of these limited releases. It was beneficial on both sides. He would call his rep and lock down some limited bottles and I would get a bottle or two for letting him know to look for them (I obviously still paid retail price for these beers.)

The catch came when CBS was announced. I told him about the release and asked if he could get it. After not hearing from him for a couple weeks after the beer had hit the state, I ran in to him at work and asked. This was his response, "I wasn't going to tell you, but I ended up getting two bottles. I'm not going to sell you one because I can get at least $150/bottle on eBay right now." He pulled the same thing with Bramble Rye and Bourbon County Coffee.

After that, I wrote him off and haven't been back to the store since. The part that really got me was the outright abuse of his position to obtain and then resell beer.

 

please do the public a service and name this retailer

 

Most stores that aren't State Line Liquors. No mussing about with some silly "singles" section. You want one beer out of that six pack? Cool, grab it and bring it to the counter. Repeat until satisfied.

 

**** sections, shady clientele, general dinginess...

 

My two biggest pet peeves are that the stores near me do not have an established IOU program or have Rare, Vanilla or KH in stock all the time. In cases.

 

I went into a liquor store looking for a bottle of Chimay Blue. Couldn't find it so I asked the guy behind the counter. He said 'what does it look like'. I told him it would be in a bottle, probably large with a cork top, and be about $11 or $12. He informed me that he doesn't like practical jokers and asked me to leave.

I was at a bar not long ago and they had a sign up that said 'all domestic pints $2'. So I ordered a Bells Oberon and a Sierra Nevada. Get my bill and they charged me $6 for each one. I asked the bartender and she informed me that 'both of those are imported from Europe'. I showed her on my phone that no, they are both very domestic. She then said 'only miller, bud and coors are domestic, everything else is an import, even if it comes from Michigan. I told her that she's not allowed to alter the definition of the word import, dropped $6(beer + $2 tip) and walked out. There was no manager so hopefully she rung it up as a domestic and kept the tip. If she had said that they're 'specialty' I would have gone along, but the domestic issue really bugged me.

Next time buy those beers from Whole Foods. They were charging $18.99 per bottle for BCBS and take early reservations(only way to get your hands on 'em from there.)

 

I only read the first page, so let me know if this has already been posted -- but the Brewer's Association is of the stance that craft beer should be organized by brand.

http://www.brewersassociation.org/p...to-keep-craft-beer-set-by-brand-in-the-chains

I have mixed feelings because it makes it super easy when I'm looking for a specific beer, but if I don't know what I want and just know what I'm in the mood for... it can be annoying -- but that's what helpful staff are for!