Suffolk County bottle shops

Bellport Beer and Soda off of Station Rd in Bellport is a great shop. It's a little drive from Ronkonkoma but totally worth it.

Plus, Spicy's Chicken is just up the road across Montauk Hwy. Win-Win.

 

Lake Ronkonkoma Beverage is a top notch store. It doesn't look like much when you see it from the outside (it's attached to a Coastal gas station) but it's one of the best stores on the whole Island. He's got everything new and always some hidden gem bombers. Bring a growler too.

Agree with BB on Bellport Beer. Great store but a bit of a trip from where you'll be. You should be fine staying around the Ronkonkoma area.

 

Never heard of this place before. Will have to check it out next time I am in the area.

Do they have an updated beermenus? Only one I could find was from 2012.

 

No. They don't update anything. I, don't live close enough or go there enough to know definitively, but I think they kind of revel in the "off-the-grid" approach. It's such a non-descript place upon appearance, but it's a gem on the inside.

They only have local beers on the growler station, too.

 

Wow -- did they have any other stuff that you typically can't find on Long Island? Did they have Heady in stock when you went?

 

$40 for a 4 pack is obnoxious.

 

Agreed. But since I've never had it, I would be willing to overpay once to try it. Cheaper than the gas to Vermont.

Cool, thanks for the info!

 

I'll throw in for Lake Ronk bev too, great people there. great selection and they do get Lunch when it hits the area.

 

shhh.....quiet down you. can't we have any secrets left on LI? but srs...i'm there probably a few times a week since it is near my office and a great destination to go to when i need a destination at lunch. whilst i find the lack of announcements of what they just got to be frustrating at times when i stop there looking for something that other local shops have posted on social media but they haven't gotten yet or at all...it is part of the charm of the shop and makes being a loyal regular fun since you never know what surprises you might find just out on a shelf. that being said, they usually get picked clean of special and limited release stuff as quick as other shops in the area and sometimes they get stuff that others do not...and on the flipside, they don't get everything that others get also.

as for other spots in the area, there are a few spots that no one talks about at all that are mostly non-craft stores that do occassionally get limited stuff or nice craft and it will sit there...but those are for you to find as there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to which of those stores gets which limited releases. one i stumbled into several bottles of king henry months after it was sold out everywhere...others i have found shelf aged BCBS several years old...but just because they got something special once doesn't mean that they are a hidden gem (though there are a few REAL hidden gems on the island).

whilst bellport is a bit of a drive, i think it is worth it at least once since they get some stuff others don't and it is the kind of place where in past years you might find a gem on the shelf...but warning, don't say my name in that store since apparently dave who owns it will rant and rave about me to anyone who will listen and saying my name could put you on the bad list for him opening up "the vault." i've had several people tell me that he talks trash about me whenever he can (which is funny since i never met the man). i assume it is due to a rant i made a while back in one of these "where can i buy beer in suffolk" threads where he chimed in saying that he is beer robinhood and if you go there he will hook you up with special and limited beer if you talk to him and he sees that you are into beer. my experiences with that store were quite the opposite so i called BS on that and called him out for hoarding limited releases in improper storage conditions and saving them for vault events where he jacks the prices up or sells the desirable stuff to a select group of people that if you weren't a part of, you were out of luck. my frustrations mostly stemmed from calling to see if they got certain beer, then driving out, and then being informed that only dave could sell that beer and i'd have to come back when he was around even though i was instructed to come now. i'm pretty sure that one point he made people submit an essay on why they should be allowed to buy a bottle of CBS or maybe it was KBS when founders first hit our distro or something like that....though i was never able to find the email or webpage as proof that it was him when i called him out on that and he denied it, but some store out in suffolk pulled some nonsense like that at one point (sorry to bellport if that wasn't you, my other best guess would be stonybrook, but logically it doesn't make sense that stonybrook would do that since they are the kind of place that will sell a full case of a beer and not care when everyone else is selling it by the single bottle). all that said, i think the big problem was the staff that ran the store when dave wasn't there really just made the business look like a sideshow act giving mis-information and contradicting themselves when you called them out on it. i never knowingly encountered dave, so i give him the benefit of the doubt that the non-sense i dealt with regularly when i was a regular customer was his staff. the newer staff seems legit though and he brought in some familiar faces from other LI beer stores. if you go there though, try to get social and strike up a convo and see if the vault gets opened up to you...who knows, you may walk out of there with some stale whales

the bigger question is why those of us in the area aren't organizing more bottle shares and getting to know each other and building our local community instead of competing over the same 2 cases of limited beer that gets out to LI.


tl;dr - i like beer, you like beer, we local - we should drink beer together!

 

Holy shit balls ^^lol

 

@cosmicevan
I'm with you, brotha. I've been going to Bellport since I was in college and I've never had a problem there. I've been going to Dave's shop and the Big Z and A&R since American beer sucked ass and all I wanted was European beer.

Name the place and time, and as long as it's cool with the missus and kids, I'm in. My only problem is (and it's not really a problem), that I'm happy enough to have a few friends and connects to get me hard to find beers, but I'll basically drink whatever it is you put in front of me. Because, that's who am I, and that's who I'll always be.

And, I'm not on facebook, twitter, or instagram, or whatever it is the kids on the street are on nowadays, I respect the way LRB does their business and anytime I'm in there, the guy behind the register is always helpful and always smiling.

 

not sure if i understand this or not...are you saying that you normally drink hard to find beers, but are willing to drink regular stuff if we get together or are you saying that you drink regular stuff only and are worried about not having cool stuff to contribute? either way i'd say don't sweat it since if you want to drink hard to find stuff we can do that, but if you want to drink less hard to find stuff we can do that too...all i ask when i pop bottles with people is to bring what you want to share, but don't get offended if it doesn't get opened since there is ALWAYS more beer than can be consumed and when we pop bottles we go around and everyone gets to pick a beer (but not what they brought) and sometimes you open all the beers you brought and other times none of them. if that will bother you then you host and i'll follow your rules

 

I normally drink "normal" (to us) beers and drink the better ones from time to time.

Basically I was agreeing with you and saying I respect the way LRB does their business because being almost 40 and not technologically advanced, the way they do business I can get behind 100%.

I was saying I'd drink a CBS with you or an Olde English 800 40 because although I'd like to think I have good taste I am not beneath drinking anything.

 

gotta tick em all

 

Hahaha, I've ticked OE a few hundred times, my friend. The old 64ozer with the finger hole...gotta love it.

 

I'm down for bringing some nice bottles to a new or existing tasting group on Long Island, preferably in Suffolk. Let me know.