Where do you buy your beer?

Depends on the day. I can walk to a few places to get stuff, and probably pay a premium for it, but I don't have to start the car and can work off a can before it gets home. In Maine, the general store is always a productive place. The supermarkets, ehh. Gas stations, never. A few breweries nearby, but their prices aren't any cheaper than retail somewhere else.

 

Our grocery stores have generally solid beer selections. That's where I get most of mine

 

In the not so distant past I used to buy most of my beers from a beer store that we call a Beer Distributor in Pennsylvania. There was a good selection of brands, both imports and domestic, and the prices were economical. But because of state regulations you had to purchase them by the case (24 bottles/cans). In 2015 the definition of case was ‘liberalized’ so that the Beer Distributors could sell beers in 12-packs (they had the be packaged in a 12-pack box; two six-packs didn’t count). And then later (2016?) those Beer Distributors could sell six-packs and singles. And in addition the state offered ‘special’ licenses to retailers like supermarket so sell beer (and later wine), but with certain restrictions. Once some of my local supermarkets, which I would go to buy my groceries, started selling beer I started buying six-packs (and on occasion mix-a-six packs) there.

I still occasionally purchase beer (six-packs) from my local Beer Distributor but the majority of my beer purchases come from my local supermarkets (e.g., Wegmans, Giant) for three reasons:

· It is just more convenient to conduct one-stop shopping (i.e., groceries plus beer)

· There is much higher turnover at the supermarkets so less old product vs. Beer Distributors

· The prices are more economical at the supermarkets. Perhaps they use economical beer prices to draw in customers and while they are there they will buy other stuff (e.g., groceries)?

Beer sales in Pennsylvania is markedly different from what it was a few years ago.

Cheers!

P.S. I have a handful of times purchased beer at brewery taprooms but this is rare.

 

These days I’d say 90% bottle shops 10% breweries. Most grocery stores round these parts don’t sell liquor

 

My 'local' Total Wine & More is in my neighboring state of Delaware. I mostly purchase wine and occasionally liquor there. I will browse the beer section to see if there is anything of interest but it is mostly an exercise: I pick up the six-pack, look at the date (which is typically very old) and put the beer back on the shelf. Every once in a while I get lucky and find a six-pack(s) that is not many months old and I will buy it (them). This is a rare event.

Cheers!

 

Mostly grocery stores/mini-marts & breweries. I don't particularly care for the lone bottle shop in my town, but do occasionally patronize them. When I head down to Seattle, I will hit up the shops there. Most of my beer purchases are from breweries within, roughly, a hundred mile radius, so freshness is rarely an issue.

 

During one of my visits to my 'local' Total Wine & More (Claymont, DE) I was looking for a specific beer and I asked the young fellow stocking the shelves if he knew where I could find x. He replied: "I don't work here" but he was kind enough to walk me to the aisle where that beer was located. I was at first confused but noticed he had on his shirt a patch that read "such & such Beverage Co.) and I realized he actually worked for a beer Wholesale Distributor. It turns out that this Total Wine & More store (and maybe others?) gets the Wholesale Distributors to provide the 'free labor' to stock shelves. An 'evil' thought popped into my mind: no wonder there is so much old product on the shelves, the Wholesale Distributors use this store to 'dump' old product. Is that genuinely the case?

Cheers!

 

In order of frequency...

1) Grocery store

2) Brewery

3) Gas station

4) Liquor/Beer/Wine/Party supply store

5) Bottle shop

 

Most of my purchases are made at the local beer store. Sometimes I’ll grab something from Sheetz or Weis if it catches my eye.

My local beer store sells Ever Grain 4 packs (16 oz cans) for under $12 after tax and their IPA game is at top in our state.

My local brewery charges $20 for a 4 pack (16 oz cans) of their flagship hazy IPA. It’s about as mediocre as they come. So, I rarely buy anything from them.

 

I order mainly from one of three supermarkets, often the one with the largest selection, about 40-50 different NA beers at a time. Maybe I will expand a bit again and order from abroad at some point, at least now and then. And then there is a domestic online bottle shop with fixed selections of 12 or 24, but my ideal is to choose every single individually.

At the moment it feels like the 100 or so different beers from the supermarkets are enough, much to go deeper into.

 

Somewhat extensive...
"Locally", talking SE VA lower peninsula... the Total Wines (Norfolk, Chesapeake, VA Beach). As far as "choice bottle shops": bottleBOX in Norfolk or Casual Pint in VA Beach. I also venture to upper peninsula at Earlybird's in Poquoson and occasionally hit Boonies in Moyock NC.

When I'm out in western-ish part of state, I try and swing by Greenwood Grocery in the Crozet area and Brew Ridge Taps in Lexington VA.

I still investigate grocery stores when I'm in them (say, Krogers) but never give them much faith. And I always look at a brewery's "for sale" section or a local bottle shop if I'm travelling elsewhere.

 

Boy do we have it fun here in UT

Anything under 5% abv I can find from the Grocery Store, Smiths(Kroger is my go-to) However some of the local grocers have different distributors and therefore different beers.

To get the 'high point' abv beers the state has near full control of that, and there are DABC stores fairly close by, but nothing is refrigerated, with exception of the Park City location.

Outside of that, I frequent my nearest Brewery- Strap Tank Brewing on tuesdays for some fresh pints, and I try to get out to the other nearby breweries once or twice a month.

My favorite is in better weather to take day trips to the Breweries that are a good 2-4 hours away and buy cans to take home; and usually will make a weekend of it as the ones I like are near national parks or national monuments.

 

Dennys in Bellingham Massachusetts has been my go to store for several years. They offer singles of unboxed beers, their prices are better than smaller stores and they offer a wide range of styles from many breweries.

#2 is Gasparos in North Attleboro, much bigger than Dennys in size and selections, they offer a discounted mix-a-six.

I haven't been hitting local breweries as much as I did before the cold weather set in, looking forward to some new beers this coming spring. Cheers.

 

I am assuming that "local beer store" = Beer Distributor?

Is your Beer Distributor able to consistently have fresh IPAs available?

Cheers!

 

Do you have any idea (guess?) about the popularity of homebrewing in Utah?

Cheers!

 

Yes and yes. They get a couple cases of New Trail and Ever Grain releases and they don’t stick around long.