Favorite Beer Store?

I prefer a store that has quality over quantity and has good turn over so most things are fresh.

 

I think this is a good topic for discussion!

My favorite beer store is Party Town in Florence, KY. Let me count the ways I love thee...

1. Friendly, helpful, knowledgeable staff
They have folks working there who specialize in beer. They know what's good and what's popular and are often able to get it. When they manage to acquire hard-to-find items, they keep them in the back and sell them on request. That way, true beer fans who are ``in the know'' can get them and the greedy can't make pigs of themselves. They also recognize their regulars. If they see me there and there's something in the back they just got in that they think I might be interested in, they'll tell me.

2. Awesome growler station
They have 18 taps. Recently, they started experimenting with one of those ``Randall the Enamel Animal'' hop transducers on the growler station. They have run standard IPAs through a ``hopstacle course'', but they also ran a porter through bourbon-soaked oak chips and vanilla beans.

3. Reasonable pricing on bottles, outstanding pricing on growlers
This speaks for itself.

4. Weekly $2 beer tastings
Every Friday from 6-7, and you never know what they'll have out there. Once, they had Sam Adams Utopias (though they charged a few dollars extra if you wanted to try them). Another time, they had a small keg of Zombie Dust. Every so often, they feature a specific brewery and a rep from that brewery will attend. Sometimes, they bring swag with them. Sometimes they bring a keg of something really rare and special. When Goose Island came last year, they brought a keg of Bourbon County Stout and the store sold growlers of it.

 

Wine Works in Marlton NJ is such a place I love to go but do not frequent often as I do not have a car, and I have a busy schedule in the summer.

They have a killer pick and mix, as well as craft offerings from All American regions, as well as an awesome world selection that can not be beat.

Bruce is one of the best beer managers, my best friend says and I have not met him yet.

I did not see any t-shirts there but that would be REALLY awesome.

Most of the staff is nice, if not knowledgeable. I believe being on the west coast and then on the east there is a noticeable difference in customer care and service. We can argue that point a lot but I have been here in NJ for five years now and it is rare to find someone who is nice(nor do I expect anyone to be as nice as me. that is not correct). It does make a different in what region you are, but it does not mean it is absolute. I know I have also experience great people in the south too!

 

Definitely prefer quality over quantity. My go-to shop (BierGarten in Jenks, OK) is small but the owner is as knowledgeable as anyone in the state and tries to only put the best on his shelves. Really the only negative is attributed to our state in general - we get pretty limlited distribution and the better stores run out of good stuff quickly. Quality brews and friendly staff are a must.

 

Out here in Snohomish, WA (a bit North of Seattle) I actually have a couple places I have come to really like.
-- Snohomish Beer and Wine
-- Special-Brews (Lynwood, WA)
-- Norm's Market (Lake Stevens, WA)
-- Albertson's (the one of SR 9 North of 180th)

Would've honestly never even checked out Albertsons had it not been for a post I saw by NWer, I believe it was NWer, in the Northwest forum. I went there yesterday and picked up Parabola (they still had three or four there when I left so go get 'em!), Cocoa Mole, Sofie, Widmer Brrrbon 2010, and the Stone Smoked Porter Chipotle/Vanilla Bean versions. Not bad for being able to put those in a cart with my groceries!

Cheers and big ups to NWer for the find!

 

Bestway in Greensboro. Fresh stuff that's well taken care of and TW kinda pricing. I've never had a bad beer that just wasn't well a bad tasting beer (Wild Devil). Roger and Leslie take care of their stuff and it's as fresh as they can possibly get it. I would never buy hoppy beer from a Beer super store IMO TW does more to kill new craft beer drinkers than they help. They think they're buying a great beer and it's old, kept in the light, warm and it sucks. Not the beers fault.

 

Defanitely both a friendly and knowledgable staff that takes time to help & explain things to you. Prices that are cheaper than chain grocery stores, email newslteers, and occasional sales reps that visit along with tastings is always a plus.

 

RSVP (Portland, ME) and Bootlegger (Topsham, ME), since both of them have a fair amount of other liquors that I don't care about and little sections of warm and cold beer and both of them leave me alone, that's what I like the best. Since I take the opinions of most people on BA and the research I do, I'd rather listen to those opinions than somebody who would rather drink his/her high end wine to tell me about the beer I should buy from his/her store. 99% of the time I go into a store that sells alcohol I know what I'm looking for and don't want someone to tell me what I should buy.

 

this is what i appreciate the most
large selection of singles
large selection of imports
large selection of wild/sour brews
a knowledgeable beer guy that that appreciates loyal customers
twitter updates
competitive prices
fresh inventory

 

I actually like a store that has a wide array of choices regardless of the price. I like to see beers that I do not see often. I am not talking about rare beers per se, but more beers that I just do not see on a regular basis.

But what is also important to me is the attitude of the staff. You can go into a large beer store but if the staff act like they do not want to be there and are simply doping their job, it sort of spoils the pleasure. I like to be able to ask intelligent questions about beers I have never had.

 

Being that I just got a job at a beer, store, I will not be biased & won't mention them. However:
Davis Beer Shoppe, Davis, CA - Great beer selection on tap & bottles, very fair prices, and flights everyday for s good price.
Pangaea, Sacramento, CA - Good beer selection on tap & bottles, a little over priced, and very knowledgeable staff. James really knows his beers.
BevMo Natomas, Sacramento, CA - They get a decent amount of distro compared to other large beer stores in the area, and the head beer guy gives his regulars a call if he gets something special in.

 

Gotta confess - I'm curious what got it flagged and removed - it sounds innocuous enough. I'm not trying to stir up trouble, but what boundary was crossed?

Anyway, my favorite stores are my favorites because:
1. They get what's available in the area, meaning, if it hit Long Island (in my case), they'll get some, so I don't miss out on stuff
2. The staff knows beer - I can talk to them and learn from them, and they're cool
3. They staff knows me - they hold stuff for me and point out elite releases that just arrived or are coming soon
4. They have a reliable core stock - I can always find a wide variety of known faves to choose from; even when there are no elite new arrivals, I am always excited about the beer I bring home

 

My favorite 'large' craft beer store in the area is between Shawan and Honeygo.

Shawan is closer, a slightly smaller selection but better prices. Honeygo has one of the larger I've seen(won't waste time going to Perfect Pour) but the prices have only gotten higher the past year. Plus they have great twitter and facebook updates.

 

for where i live, redstone liquors in stoneham mass is awesome. I've been to some cali chain liquor store that I would prefer to shop at due to distribution and prices though.

 

Beermongers in Portland has an awesome staff, great selection and impossibly low prices.

 

Don't go to sleep on Larry and Pete over at Pipe & Pint. While I count on Roger to stay up to date with the latest releases from Founders, Bells, Oskar Blues, Olde Hickory, etc., the P&P is a road less traveled. They have the same selection, save the beers given to Roger exclusively, and I can be sure that the P&P will always have something that left most shelves a while back. I was buying Evil Twin Imp Biscotti Break at the P&P for weeks after it sold out at Bestway (and they just got in Evil Twin Even More Jesus if you're interested).

 

I wouldn't split sixers of beers unless I absolutely had to, usually because of price. But tracking inventory and freshness is daunting with tons of single bottles floating around. I can see English brews and such, or 4 pk's6 pks that sell for 16-17 bucks give or take, but for most 10-11 sixers they would stay intact. The exception might be special releases, but then the retailers usually jack it up big time.

What a bad beer? Buy a single bottle of most any hoppy beer from TW.

 

I agree, I've bought from Pipe and Pint before, but I was thinking he was more interested in doing mostly Belgians. Nice guys, gave me 2-3 bottles of free stuff one time after discussing Barleywines. Definitely the road least traveled and if your into Belgians which I'm not this shop would be an easy have to stop.

 

I would give them another try. Their selection used to be weighted more toward the Belgians, but they have diversified a bit more in the last year.