Just visited a Woodman's (grocery store) for the first time, in the western burbs of Chicago. Their beer/liquor department is larger than most stand alone liquor stores. They had an excellent selection that dwarfed any grocer and competed with most liquor stores and beer shops. Lots of seasonal offerings with the best prices across the board I've seen. For example, $3.99 for Lagunitas bombers such as HopStoopid and Equinox. I highly encourage anyone w/ a Woodman's nearby to check it out, although I think their footprint is limited to WI and northern IL.
North Aurora. I meant to add that inventory dating was pretty good, not fantastic. Certainly as good if not better than quality grocers and bev-marts like Binny's.
Here I thought Woodman's was only in WI. Shows what I know. In 2001, Woodman’s opens their 1st store outside the state of Wisconsin in Rockford, IL. The store is a huge success for Woodman’s outside of their home state. So they opened 2 more stores in Illinois, one in Carpentersville (2004) and one in North Aurora (2006).
Their selection is bigger than most liquor stores? LOL. Good sir, their LIQUOR selection is bigger than the FOOD selection at most grocery stores.
They started picking up on the hyped beer releases now and up charge those type beers (think kbs, parabol, bcbs). But for regular shelf offerings they have the best prices in the area.
They're good for the regular off the shelf stuff and liquor. I find more at the smaller liquor stores.
I'd be careful and watch date codes at the Rockford Woodmans. Last time I was there, there was some stuff that was pretty far gone.
Mariano's is quite good for a grocery store. Good variety, reasonable dating. At first glance I was impressed with Caputo's, but they have a lot of really old stuff. So much that I don't even think I'll look there anymore. Kind of a shame because they just opened a new location really close to our house, and I thought it might be nice for grabbing some go-to beers.
