Hi guys! I'm looking for advice on bottle shops and beer bars. We're going to be in Burnaby in a week, followed by Edmonton (Bonnyville) the week after. What I'd like to do is hit up a decent bottle shop when we arrive in each province to stock up for the trip. This is my first trip out west, so most everything will be new to me. We won't have a car in Burnaby and are somewhat limited for "free time", but we are near a SkyTrain station. I know we will hit up Alibi room at some point otherwise. For Bonnyville we will have a car, so I'm thinking we'll stop at Keg n Cork on our way there from YEG. We also spend a couple of days in south Edmonton before we return. Any suggestions are most welcome! Cheers.
Keg n Cork is great. I like the people there and the atmosphere. They have an outstanding selection of beers. The best bottle shop in Edm is Sherbrooke. It doesn't look like much from the outside - but it has a great selection. It, imo, lacks the atmosphere of Keg n Cork but has a wider selection.
In Edmonton the best bottle shop in town is Sherbrooke Liquor Store, hands down. Service and selection are top notch. Capilano Liquor Depot is another excellent and more affordable bottle shop with 30+ rotating taps, or "Real Canadian Liquor Store" next to any SuperStore; they carry Red Racer IPA, Full Nelson DIPA, Muskoka, Flying Monkeys, Yukon Brewing, Golden Pheasant, Phillips Brewing, and several other interesting craft breweries.
I personally would stay away from Liquor Depot, if only for the fact that they are more expensive than Sherbrooke & Keg 'n Cork, and their selection isn't as big or as wide. As for Liquor Superstore, isn't all beer kept on warm shelves? Pricing is good, but the beer isn't 'treated' well; kinda like Wine & Beyond.
Sherbrooke is the answer. Unreal selection. You'd be shocked by some of the things they have on their shelves. I've been tempted by their low prices before, but I can't pull the trigger on warm IPA's.
Thanks for the replies guys! When we land in Edmonton we won't have a lot of time before heading to Bonnyville so I was going to stock a few days' worth from Keg n Cork. I'll definitely visit Sherbrooke on the tail end of our trip when we're staying in Edmonton. If we pass by a Liquor Superstore I might pop in to see what's cheap and relatively fresh. Whenever I visit New England most stores have minimal fridge space so I imagine I'll treat it the same. For Vancouver it's looking like we'll visit Alibi room and hopefully get a chance to do a Brassneck/Main St./33 Acres/whatever else we can walk to tour. I'm not sure what I'll do for bottles since there's very little near where we're staying in Burnaby, from what I can tell.
Bottle Jockey is in Burnaby and maaaaay be accessible for you. If not, Steamworks Liquor store is nearish to Alibi and very close to Waterfront Station. They have really good staff who have bringing in solid offerings (though it may tone down in the near future). If you're going to do the Mount Pleasant breweries (Brass/33/Main), maybe you can walk a bit further up to Brewery Creek, which is the best bottle shop in town. You may also be able to check out Dageraad brewing in Burnaby, depending on where you're staying. St Augustines is another beer bar tat's right on the skytrain line (commercial)
Apparently Liquor Barn in burnaby has a few interesting locals as well (they seem to have a looooot of Driftwood right now), but it wouldn't be my main hit unless you're looking for Obscuritas or Old Cellar Dweller.
Thanks for the suggestions. We'll be within walking distance of Dageraad. For bottles it sounds like I'll either need to borrow a car or bring a haul back on the skytrain.
Firefly, both the Cambie Street and Maple Ridge stores, are my go tos great selections. Brewing Creek on Main Street has a great selection. Or you can head down to the Oylmpic Village area. Close to a dozen breweries with tasting lounges, two taproom bars, one with a 100 taps, all within about six blocks.
We hit up Brainbridge Liquor in Burnaby when we arrived. The selection was mostly local bombers and some from Oregon, but good enough for me to grab a few for the week. We've hit up a couple of breweries so far - Brassneck, Granville, Steamworks, Moon Under Water, as well as Alibi Room. Heading over to 33 Acres today and will try to hit up Brewery Creek after. All-in-all a great trip in BC. Hopefully more of the same in Alberta, although we will be off-the-grid for the first few days.
