Beer and Wine Store Concern

doesn't bother me much. it's nice if someone is able to tell you whether/when they'll be getting in any of [upcoming release] but it's not a deal breaker, my primary concern is selection.

 

Move

 

Beer generally isn't given the same attention and respect that wine is. Some people are bothered by that, some don't care. I think employees of a store that sells beer should have a general knowledge about the product they sell, so they should know the difference between an IPA and an imperial stout. But—not that you indicated you're expecting this—it's unrealistic to expect employees to have sampled every beer in the cooler or to be able to tell you which of the 50 IPAs in stock is most citrusy or piney vs. which one is more floral.

Of the stores I frequent, the most helpful staff are the ones who can point me to a handful of beers to choose from if I give them a few specific qualities I'm looking for. I'm looking for a hoppy wheatwine, can you tell me what you have in stock? Oh, Harvest Dance—great, I'll give that a try. I'm looking for a big barrel-aged imperial stout. Oh, Ivan the Terrible is in? But you have to go into the store with a basic level of knowledge about beer and chances are you'll know more than some of the staff. For some of these people, it's just a job. And just as with wine, the more knowledge you have starting out, the more helpful the right staff members can be.

 

You're not weird. I generally find the beer knowledge lacking among store employees. It doesn't bother me too much because I'm usually not looking for suggestions while in the store (I do my research before hand). I just need them to know when something's coming in, or where it is in the store in case I can't find it. But employees who can make smart recommendations to people who're looking for them are a rare breed, and there needs to be more.

 

I'm not surprised, honestly. The wine scene has a much more established reputation of being keen to professionals (aka sommeliers). There are many more sommeliers than cicerones, just because of the short time that "beer experts" have been professionally judged.

If you don't think the stores you frequent have the right mix of beer professionals to wine professionals, try a new store. You never know, even small shops can have some good staff.

If a store has a good selection with everything up to date codes, I am more than happy to buy what I like, and not need a word from the staff. But, like you said, conversation does help, especially around limited releases.

 

I worked with wine for 5 years, so I love going to places like that around here. Gomer's is the best.

 

sommelierish? Now that's weird.

 

As long as I don't get stupid comments on how expensive the beer I buy is, I don't really care. I never understand the need for clerks to imply that you're spending too much money in their store.

Most of the stores I go to have beer managers though and they always ask if I need anything.

 

While the situation you describe isn't unusual (more wine centric employees) it doesn't bother me.

I think, that if I wanted to, a whole lot of things could bother me but this would be low on the list.

With today's access levels to information, be it the net, books, magazines or what have you, I'd expect the ability to seek out 'in store' experts will decrease. Simply isn't a need to have them there when literally anyone can "google" something to get answers. Given that the 'in store' experience will most likely decline - I'm not going to let it bother me - refuse to. I have too much going on to allow a hobby/passion that's non-essential to breathing/shelter/clothing upset me. I decide what does or doesn't and I've decided, for me, that this one doesn't.

 

As a small wine shop that carries a lot of craft beer, we find it a necessity to be knowledgeable in ALL the products we sell. It'd be a shame otherwise. Our customers rely on us to provide as much info on our products as possible and that's why they keep on coming back

 

In the Midwest most people think if you know anything about wine and are presentable, dumb people may label you that. Unrelated to the OP, I noticed the ish suffix.

 

Except for the still having 9-month old Ruination on the shelf at Gomer's Midtown.

My experience around here is that most of the liquor store employees (at least at the classy ones I go to; I try to avoid the trashy stores) know a lot about various beer styles and comparative tastes. Typically, though, they aren't that informed about releases. It would be nice to be able to walk into a store and ask when they'll be getting Abyss, but they typically don't know. I suppose that might be the distributor's fault though.

 

I'm surprised Midtown would have anything like Stone on the shelf for that long. I usually shop at the Lee's Summit location.

 

Martignettis in allston is like that for me. I usually dont seek out help unless its for rare items because i know they dont have a beer expert/guru/person. But what bothers me about it is when i hear other customers ask questions about specific beers. The sales guys always just jump to "no but we have lots of 30 packs"

 

Yeah man I was in there on Wednesday and as I posted in the other thread, I found Ruination, Double Jack, and several other IPAs that I was specifically after - they aren't distributed in Kansas and Gomer's Midtown is the closest KCMO store that carries them. Aaand all the IPAs I wanted were 5-9 months old. It was disappointing because I live in Lawrence so it's a bit of a drive to get to KCMO so I wasted my gas money getting there.

 

Anderson's is great. That store, and all the beer guys, are a hard act to follow.

 

It would definitely bother me if my favorite store didn't have a ``beer guy'' (thankfully, they do). You're not weird.

 

Royal off 103rd & State Line is closer for you & much better. It's on the Missouri side, amazing Belgian selection, lots of Mikkeller & Evil Twin.

 

I tried to call Royal several times about Stone Enjoy By 4/20/13 but their phone number was disconnected, so I assumed they must have been closed down.