Where do folks shop?

In honor of this thread I picked up a sixer of Mayflower Oatmeal Stout from CBC in Belmont. I actually never tried it despite being a big fan of their porter.

Good choice, I liked it.

 

I'll have to check that out, as I'm also a big fan of the porter.

I mostly shop at either Yankee Spirits in Swansea or Bacon's in Hudson. Occasionally Somerset Liquors in Somerset because they have 18 packs of Miller High Life long necks for $10.99 which is the best deal around.

 

I’m a big fan of my liquor store run when I get out of work early. Head west out of Hartford towards Harvest, then head up to Maximum Beverage, then head down 44 and hit up M&R Avon, The Bottle Shop, Super Cellar, and Liquor Depot all in a row before heading home. A convenient run for those who live west of Hartford.

 

How are the prices at Harvest? Do you have to ask about “special” beers or do they just put everything out? I think I’m going to start shopping there.

 

Been to the Craft Beer Cellar in Nashua or Westford, MA?

 

What's a good bottle shop in or near Needham?

 

Since moving south of Boston I usually hit Yankee in Attleboro.

 

That's really only convenient if you live on the Western side of Avon Mtn (except for Maximum in Bishops Corner, WH). But yeah, my favorite of that group is M&R Avon. I actually do most of my shopping at M&R Glastonbury since I work there (in Glastonbury, not M&R!)...

 

Check out Upper Falls in newton, its fairly close to needham. had a killer craft selection when i visited last

 

^^Thx. Do they have Trillium, Nightshift, Exhibit A, Melvin, etc?

 

Richmond market right down the block typically has a nice local selection in their walk in. Helps that I can walk when I've had a few. CBC in Waterbury once a month or so. Otherwise mixed SN or OC 12 packs from the supermarkets.

 

They seem to have had night shift, pipeworks, lamplighter and stuff like that in the past. not sure if trillium still sends stuff to stores, pretty sure its brewery only

 

They won't have Trillium as they haven't really distributed to stores for a while now.

But they are 20 minutes from the brewery itself.

 

Needham Center Fine Wines.

 

Yankee is a worthy stop, and I would assume all the locations are similar.

Julio's - it's a pilgrimage (hour and a half), but they are good and the huge Wegman's isn't too far away (just watch the bottle dates). Hard to beat, but for us it isn't worth the drive on a regular basis. Has to be part of doing something else in that general direction. The staff knows their stuff, and even though the shelves can be a bit untidy at times they can find what you are looking for easily and make suggestions

Let me clarify a bit - there is one guy who is/was like a box of chocolates - you never know. Sometimes he is nice as pie and a pleasure to deal with, but other times can't seem to be bothered to give you the time of day. Not a huge deal, and I have not seen him recently so maybe has moved on - who knows. And anybody can have a bad day dealing with the public.

In Swansea they moved the beer from the edge to the middle and things certainly had not settled in yet. Normally they are pretty well organized, but the stop around Christmas it was obvious things were not finished. I think when they get it all buttoned up it will be a smart move as it looks like it will help them organize better, provide more space, and get the floor stacks easier to access if they go in the middle of what looks like a wider aisle.

They might not have the rarest of the rare, but they always have a great selection and the prices are pretty darned good. Definitely worth your time to at least give them a walk through.

 

Stores can legally only order from the same distributors, who ration items to ensure most relevant places get all the same stuff.The retail market is saturated enough and the distributor reps are now knowledgeable enough (wasn't always the case) that there are no "hidden gems" or exciting beers that fly under the radar. Couple that with the trend of breweries keeping more and their most interesting items at their own breweries for more control and higher margins, and you've got a recipe for a bland marketplace -- for the most discerning customer at least. There's more amazing beers on shelves in the area then literally ever before.

The proliferation of brands and SKUs has also exerted obvious pressure on the market. You've denigrated the decision to feature flavor of the week beers... but they're a flavor more people buy. Both retailers and distributors respond to that for obvious reasons. Supporting quality beer that isn't trendy is awesome.. I wish more customers did it. It's relatively easy for a store to do: it's one of 600-1000 beers you carry. But customers buy a few beers at a time and they have to pick that one beer out of the 1,000. You can increase the odds by putting it into a cooler and hand-selling it... but you can only do that with so many beers at a time. If other stores aren't moving that quality non-trendy beer you decided was worth featuring, the distributor won't continue to carry it or won't order it very often. And then it just disappears.

 

In WMass, I go to
Ryan and Casey, Greenfield
Provisions , Northampton
Table and Vine , West Springfield (less often lately as there product range is not as good)
Spirit Haus, Amherst
Cheers all

 

CBC Framingham is quickly becoming a favorite. It's bigger & seems to consistently have a better selection that the other CBCs I've been to.

Today I picked up Double Hop Hop, Laser Cat, & Danger Danger there.

 

I just wish they'd update their twitter more often with stuff that comes in, they sometimes go weeks without posting, while other CBC's and Crafted post usually every day or two, if not more.