What's the best Denver liquor store for Russian River goodies?

There really isn't a one stop shop around. There are a couple bigger stores down south a bit, not a bad drive from DTC area: Lukas and Davidsons. I tend to see more RR @ Lukas than Davidsons, Pliny in particular. but I'm not at either regularly enough to say for sure. And at Davidsons, you will probably have to ask one of the beer guys, they tend to keep that stuff in the back.

Smaller shops where I see some RR sporadically are Wallaby's, Grapevine and even the King Soopers @ Leetsdale and Cherry. Not a big selection of specialty beers at King Soop, but they get random gems and are able to sell them for way less than everyone else. Unfortunately, I've never seen a Pliny at any of them.
Mr. B's in LoDo not far from the stadium is where I got my last couple of Pliny's just last weekend, again, you'll usually need to ask for them.

GL

 

Joy Wine and Spirits, Mile High, Colorado Liquor Mart, Applejack's, Argonaut (though it doesn't last there).

 

It's going to be hard to find Pliny anywhere. I saw it sell out in less than a minute at Lukas.

 

Pliny hits about every 3 weeks on a Friday. Some stores put it right out on the shelf, others you have to ask. Applejack gets 2 cases and usually has it through Saturday, but they do put it right out so sometimes someone will buy them out.

Some stores it's gone in two minutes, others I've seen it sit until the following Monday at the latest.

 

any idea when supplication will hit again

 

It looks like World of Beer in Cherry Creek still has Supplication on tap if you wanna get real freaky...

 

There are lots of small liquor stores that will have random RR bottles almost all the time (not pliny, though). Those are the best places to go. I'm not telling you any of the ones I go to, though, lol.

 

Just a reminder to bottle shops who think its okay to say sh*t like this. In this digital era of instant info/forums and such, words of douchebaggery travels quick and fast. Don't be a douche. A simple sorry, we're out for now is the correct thing to say. There's plenty of other options in Denver to buy from.

 

I try not to judge anyone on their best or worst day. I gotta stand up for Lukas'. I've been shopping there for two years and they have become one of my two favorite shops. I've asked for stuff and always just been told no or no but we have...

It's a solid shop, they don't play the "gotta ask for it" shit which I despise. Beers that should be refrigerated are, they post when limited releases go on sale, and the employees have been nothing but helpful. Plus their cellar releases are $$$$.

The op must have caught someone on a bad day, we all have them. Lukas is the the best beer store down south that I know of.

 

Sorry, I came off sounding a bit too harsh. I actually do like like Lukas and have never had a problem there. But then again, I rarely ask for what they got since it all seems to get put out right away. I got a little sensitive to what sounded like a rude comment towards a customer.

 

Yeah I've never experienced anything but phenomenal service at Lukas, that's really quite odd.

 

I'm sorry our "dumbass" did not have any Russian River in stock for you. We do not, nor does anybody in the state of Colorado have Russian River, mainly Pliny, all the time. I do apologize for how the staff member's comment came across. We field the Russian River question about 10 times a day by phone and about 20 a day on the sales floor. If you are unsure of the nature of how Russian River works with their distribution, I'd be happy to enlighten you and others. I can also almost guarantee the other store mentioned had not "just gotten cases of Pliny and Supplication". Those beers were distributed weeks ago to most stores and Pliny should've been drank by now. Please correct me if it's a new batch, I'd love to know and so would everyone who lives in the area. If they did just receive it now... it's because they did not pay their bills and were on credit hold. I also know that we have some of the best sours and wilds in the world other than Russian River in our Bomb Shelter. It blows Other Store Mentioned out of the water. I am not justifying my employees comment. I personally apologize for any disservice you were given. I'm glad you found the cherry you were looking for, even if it was not at Lukas. I'd be happy to give you the link to our website and blog so you can keep up with our Limited Releases.

 

Confirmed this today, they still have the 6/17 batch that hit town a few weeks ago

 

There's another large liquor retailer who's name I won't mention where, after buttonholing an employee rushing by, you'd have a 30% chance of getting an answer and a 70% chance of getting "I don't know, let me go find one of the beer guys." 5-10 minutes later, somebody will come through the swinging door and tell you, "Sorry, we sold that out two weeks ago."

At least you got a quick answer from somebody who knew...

And I'm not complaining about the unnamed retailer, I probably buy 80% of my beer there...it's just the way it is when you're trying to buy something special.

 

An over asked question is not an excuse nor should it ever be used as one. I was just giving insight into why an employee may have responded in that way, not justifying it. I honestly apologized for the "jackass" and stand by that. No customer should be treated with disrespect regardless of their request or where they are from. What he should have said as politically correct as possible is - Russian River Pliny is distributed every 3 - 4 weeks and is allocated to certain stores with certain case amounts. The amount of Pliny Colorado receives has not changed in the last 3 years, believe it or not. Other RR beers are sent to Colorado when RR and the distributor have them ready. They too are allocated in the same manner as Pliny. Each store is then allowed to sell these products as they see fit. We offer RR beers as part of our Special Releases that happen almost every Saturday at 2:00 p.m. I can offer you web address so you can see what we have available next time you are in town.

 

Can you provide me that web address? I will be in town the last week of August and would love to see what special releases will be coming out. I went to the store address but couldn't find a special release update.

 

http://coloradobeernews.blogspot.com/

 

I was gonna be rude and tell you to GTFO o.p.

 

Traded all my RR away at the Momi release and I've got another trade in the works that wants some of the sours. Anyone know what RR sours are available on the south side and where? I haven't had much time to peruse all the stores on the south side of town. Thanks in advance guys/gals.

 

The only one I've seen recently was Supplication (april batch I think) the one before that was decemeber batch and a november batch of Sanctification, maybe one batch of Consecration but

I think those two are all gone, only seen Supplication (and non-sour Redemption) on shelf as of now. Sanctification & Temptation are annual releases for Colorado (and non-sour Salvation, although it didn't land in June like I expected).

 

The Lukas Liquors blog is great! MYJELLOMISFIT, you do a great job of keeping us posted about your what's on sale each week. You helped me with bottles of the Stone W00tstout when it was released over the summer. I just wish I could get down to Lukas more often when you've gotten shipments of Pliny. It always sells out before I can get down there.

 

where are you? i dont ever go down south, ive never even been to lukas (sorry jellomisfit, but the southern suburbs might as well be new mexico to me). but i know when i see pliny on the blog that the stores in my neighborhood got it as well.

 

I'm in Aurora. It's not the distance that's a problem, it's the time of day. I teach during the week and have a second job on Saturdays. The other stores where I buy beer don't ever seem to get Pliny.

 

The answer to your question is libations.

 

I will have to check there. I've stopped in once or twice, but I will definitely give them another try. Do they have an email list or anything?

 

Pliny is always 1 per at Libations, they have a text message sign up and most of the time they let you kno when they get it. Doesn't last through the day usually though.

 

They have their beer text communique. I like it. This weeks text was my favorite so far... "too many new beers to list".

 

I'm at Davidsons. I tend not to bring that up here a lot, because the brothers don't want free advertising on the boards, and I want to respect that. But, in times like these, I feel like it's more of a benefit to the thread to go ahead and pipe up about something.

Pliny is getting more and more rare. RR even ran out of the stuff a short while back. We used to get a couple of cases every couple of weeks. Then, that turned into a couple of cases every 4-5 weeks. Now it's just a case whenever it shows up. Because of this, we have gone from offering two bottles per person to one bottle per person.

As soon as it shows up, I put it out on social media immediately. That way, the people who really want it can follow and come and get it. We do not handsell it on the floor, as in "Oh hey, I see you have a six pack of such and such IPA in your basket, have you ever heard of Pliny?". No, we prefer to get the beer into the hands of the geeks who really want it. Also, we keep things in the back and dole them out so that "that guy" can't come in and buy up an entire shelf's worth of rare beer before anyone else has a shot at it.

For rare beer releases and all that stuff... inbox me and I'd be happy to tell you what we've got in the back. There are a lot of goodies due to GABF.

 

Off Broadway in Englewood gets Russian River beers from time to time. They don't sell out fast because most people don't know they have it. You may have to ask for it, though, as they don't usually put it on the shelf.

 

While not as convenient as a bottle, the FRTH has PtE on tap very, very regularly. If you're just looking to try it or get a quick fix, that's easier than driving around town, 1-bottle limits, having to know the secret knock, etc.