Total Wine & More

thadbme

South Carolina

3.94/5  rDev +3.1%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $

Total Wine has a pretty good selection, and was where I started getting into Belgians. I asked some of the employees there for recommendations, and they pointed me to someone that was more knowledgable in that area. Boy did he start me on some good stuff. The stuff they have there is more popular and available, but they have a TON of different things that you would have a hard time finding. You won't see the more rare beers like you will at the beer exchange, or the really personal experience, but its worth a stop if you are nearby.

09-25-2011 00:30:56 | More by thadbme

psicelt

Florida

3.84/5  rDev +0.5%
vibe: 3.75 | quality: 4.25 | service: 2.5 | selection: 4.75 | $$

Total Wine is a chain store across half the country, so I knew what to expect, for the most part. Forgot about the local laws, so distilled spirits are separated from beer/wine, even in this day and age. Eh, no big deal. What I saw of the liquor section was nicely done, with prices about average compared to what I see at home in FL.

Stepping over to the beer aisle, I was impressed with selection, for the most part. Not as many regional brews as I would have thought, but I still pulled two boxes' worth of bombers. Unlike most TW stores I've been in, this one focuses HEAVILY on imported stuff. Usually the ratio to USA-import is about 50-50, but this one seemed to be more like 70-30. Not a bad thing, just saying. Had I not been constrained by limits on my vehicle's trunk and my bank account, I could have bought another 150+ brews that I've never had before; that's not a situation I encounter very often!

My only real complaint was the (obviously) very busy employee who almost ran me over with nary a "oops, sorry" or an "excuse me". no big deal, but polite service personnel are always a plus. The checkout girl was friendly and helpful, though.

Given the other stores available, I'd opt for one of those for regional beers(at cheaper prices, too), but I saw nothing to compare with the selection of imports that TW had.

06-10-2013 16:40:07 | More by psicelt

skm

South Carolina

3.43/5  rDev -10.2%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 1.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$$

Stopped in one day when headed back from the historic plantations out on 61. I found this place to be the Toys R Us of alcohol...fine if you want the selection and all, but it was overwhelming and staff seemed a bit put out when I asked for help. Checkout clerk was even rude when I tried to use the wrong coupon by accident. I was also surprised to see certain beers on sale cheaper at Harris teeter the same weekend, so I don't really plan on driving all the way across town to shop there. Impressive stock, though. Maybe a Saturday isn't the best day to go.

12-14-2012 02:08:00 | More by skm

MacQ32

South Carolina

4.18/5  rDev +9.4%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $

Total wine has an amazing selection and offers prices that are as good as anywhere else in town (grocery stores and other beer specialties included), expensive beer is expensive and the same holds true here, but you never overpay in comparison to its competition. They have recently opened a 5 or 6 tap growler stations as well and do beer tastings every Thursday, very cool! Can't grade the atmosphere too high because its pretty much a grocery store for winos and beer heads. Best place for beer in WA or anywhere else in the area dollar for dollar

05-22-2011 21:42:02 | More by MacQ32

clemtig76

South Carolina

3.7/5  rDev -3.1%
quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $$

This was one of my go to places for good beer when visiting Charleston until The Charleston Beer Exchange opened. Large selection of quality American and imports. Every bottle I checked was will within freshness date. They also have a singles selection that is top notch. The staff is helpful in finding a particular beer but not for much else. Prices are usually better than supermarkets and they have a much better selection. Not a bad stop if you are on that side of town, but CBX is the go to place if you are in town.

03-23-2009 12:21:48 | More by clemtig76

kiawahisland

South Carolina

3.7/5  rDev -3.1%
quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

As others have mentioned they have a lot to choose from. Plenty of Microbeers to be found here and the prices are comparable to other places in Cherleston. Plenty of Smuttynose,Boulder,Lagunitas and other crafts to choose from and they were up to date on all the seasonals. However, the one area I could see some improvement on is a more expanded import sections, such as Belgiums, German, and English beers. Overall a good place to find beer in Charleston and convienent if you are in West of the Ashley. Service was on par with other grocery stores and the checkout lady was friendly. Beer quality was good and did not find any out of dates.

01-16-2009 15:18:08 | More by kiawahisland

HeyItsChili

China

3.35/5  rDev -12.3%
quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | $$

Total Wine has a large number of beers from around the globe as well as a variety of US microbrews and macrobrews. The hophead might nitpick and say that the US selection leans too heavily in favor of the macros and leaves some great brewers like Founders and New Holland out in the cold. People have questioned the freshness of the stock, and I can't vouch for or against this, but it is always something to watch out for in a big box warehouse. The staff is absolutely zero help for the most part.

12-01-2008 02:58:44 | More by HeyItsChili

avalon07

South Carolina

3.55/5  rDev -7.1%
quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | $$

This is a decent place to buy your beer, though its warehouse quality makes you a little leery of freshness. There's a decent selection - it has quite a few Belgians, which I like - but it seems like they waste a lot of space on crappy macrobrewed beers. The service can really be an issue. None of the staff will volunteer to help if you're standing there browsing, and when you ask for help they might not know what they're talking about. This place has decent prices - better than most. Overall, it's a good place to buy beer, but Charleston needs someplace better.

01-11-2008 15:19:37 | More by avalon07

mikesgroove

South Carolina

3.35/5  rDev -12.3%
quality: 3.5 | service: 2.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Just like pretty much any other that you go into, this was no exception. I try to always visit as many stores as I can when I am in an area, so I hadn't been here and saw it coming up down the road and ran in for a second. Decent selection, nothing really outstanding, but then again I didn't really expect it. Good amount of imports and a great selection of regionals. I thought the singles were a bit lacking to be honest compared to some of the other places I have seen, but hey at least they had a singles section. Overall not a bad place, prices were decent, but I am pretty sure you could find a better selection in a lot of other places, just not sure totally where in this city, hopefully I will be back soon and can find one.

10-15-2007 23:19:17 | More by mikesgroove

softcough

South Carolina

3.5/5  rDev -8.4%
quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $$

This place is the mega store of the Charleston area. It has a wharehouse like feel and is the kind of store that tries to have everything instead of selecting only higher quality items. Thats not to say that they don't have many great beers, they certainly have a wonderful assortment, its just that you have to navigate through the masses of quality challenged, mass produced products to get them.

The beer is located in the back end of the building, behind the massive wine section of the store. I have found that the specialty beers often seem somewhat neglected. Freshness may be an issue as I have, in a few cases, been looking at the same bottles of certain slower selling beers for as long as the store has been open. I'm sure this is the exception rather than the norm but it leaves some degree of doubt in one's mind. On the other hand, I have, at times, found beers here that I was not able to get elsewhere in the Charleston area. I recently found a Flying Dog Wild Dog (the barrel aged imperial porter) here after the very limited supply that came into the area seemed to vanish as soon as it arrived.

Service is a little unreliable. If you find somebody that knows the products, they can be very helpful. Sometimes you can't find that somebody.

As I said, the selection is very large for the area. The more obscure beers are kept on room temperature shelves while there is a large cooler area that has a good selection of the faster movers.

Prices are usually very good. If you are in the West Ashley area of Charleston, this is probably the best place to buy beer.

06-19-2007 21:07:06 | More by softcough