So I'm headed to the Bay Area (Concord/Martinez area) for Thanksgiving. Where's a good place to hunt for some Pliny - or other hard-to-find-in-New-England quality beers?
Monument doesn't sell out that quick. They have it most times i ever go in. Was limit 2 for a while, but now 1
Places worth checking out: Concord - Monument Liquors Lafayette - Jackson's, Whole Foods* El Sobrante - Bottles* Pinole - Bevmo Albany - Albany Taproom Berkeley - Ledger's Liquors*, Berkeley Bowl West, Whole Foods* Oakland - Beer Revolution Ledger's gets Pliny every Wednesday afternoon (almost without fail). Most Whole Foods are worth checking. I mention the Pinole Bevmo specifically because things tend to sit around there longer than other places, but the Walnut Creek and Albany Bevmos are also worth checking. Anywhere with a * I've known to get Pliny. That doesn't mean the other places do not get it. Bevmo definitely doesn't, though.
Funny thing - I stumbled across Bottles (which is below the hill I grew up on) and got my first Pliny there. That place is SOLID - especially for where it's located.
The Pinole BevMo is perhaps the worst BevMo I have ever been to.There can't be more than a few bottles that are actually fresh on the shelves. Seriously old and dusty selection of beers. And Bottles in El Sobrante tends to overprice a few items, but if you might be able to snag a few 'not for sale anywhere else' items if you want to break the bank.
I'm likely to be spending more time in the Martiez-Walnut Creek-Oakland "corridor" - not sure how much of West CoCo I'll be in.
A fair assessment of the Pinole Bevmo's turnover -- don't buy anything that you want to be fresh that didn't just release from there. That said, because of the low beer turnover rate, stuff sits on the shelf there longer than anywhere else, so I prefer to look at the glass as half-full. Just know what you're getting into. They get most limited releases in there, and they sit around for longer than at almost anywhere else in the East Bay.
