The Cheese Shop

bs870621345

New Jersey

3.75/5  rDev -8.3%
quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | $$$

Overall, I had a lot of hope for this place based on the wine selection they have. Fantastic wine selection, tiny beer selection.

What they had was pretty great, stone vertical epic 09.09.09, black ops, batch 10,000 was what I picked up. They had plenty of Victory, Bells, Belgians (common ones), and other breweries. Less of a selection of various other breweries that were pretty sweet.

The guy that helped me (and my mom) was not overly friendly. Seemed that we were a nuisance in his day. Offered to hold our stuff while we walked around, but still not all that great on service and he only knew his wine.

Selection was good, but not great. They had a lot of things i was looking for but not good prices.

Like I said, expensive. Wasn't sure if i was going to be able to find anything else as I've heard Williamsburg is a bit of a beer wasteland. Worth the trip if you are in Colonial area, but still high priced.

12-29-2010 04:27:20 | More by bs870621345

akorsak

Pennsylvania

3.36/5  rDev -17.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | $$

En route to OBX, we detoured into Williamsburg for lunch and a visit to the Cheese Shop.

Quality: At lunch time on a Saturday, this place is packed. The upstairs has a deli and high-end cheese, along with wine and beer. More alcohol is downstairs.

Service: I didn't seek out any assistance and didn't receive any. The kid carrying an umbrella seemed clueless when I tried to engage him. What can you do?

Selection: I was looking for Williamsburg and Richmond locals and was not disappointed. I walked out with Legends IPA and Pale Ale, a Hop Pocket and a few others. Williamsburg Alewerks was well-represented but nothing spectacular. A good place to go if you're looking for SoVA specialties.

08-15-2010 01:47:06 | More by akorsak

afordney

Tennessee

4.2/5  rDev +2.7%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

Visited twice while in Williamsburg, the upstairs is a swanky litte store that had a cheese case and other type foods as well as a deli that makes fantastic sandwiches. The beer shop is downstairs paired with a Wine selection. I was only looking for local beer with which to stock my fridge so I didn't do much extra looking but there didn't seem to be lots of beers displayed. Everyone was very friendly and helpful while we were there shopping. The deli upstairs has a great selection of meats and cheeses to make sandwiches with as well as all of their beers by the bottle to have with a your sandwich. The patio out front lets you observe the hustle and bustle on Duke of Gloucester in the market square area.

08-09-2010 22:45:38 | More by afordney

clayrock81

Virginia

3.85/5  rDev -5.9%
quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $$$$

Maybe I'm being a little harsh but this is a quality place and the help was good but I wouldn't consider it top-notch; just below world class beer store. There is a decent amount of stuff to find but you'll really not find stuff here, especially when it comes to imports, that you couldn't get at other beer shops. Good local selection, but since I live here that means nothing, and good American micro selection from Stone, Victory, Brooklyn but again - any good beer store has that. Are a couple of hidden gems I got here that I haven't seen anywhere else at all but since this is in the heart of the historic district of Wburg and caters to the high end wine crowd you will pay. Worth a visit though if in neighborhood.

04-05-2010 11:44:26 | More by clayrock81

bamadog

Kentucky

3.55/5  rDev -13.2%
quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | $

OK, so the numbers may seem a little low here, but I was actually pretty happy to find this little gem in Williamsburg. I'm here for a conference and this place is within walking distance, the selection is alright (but don't think that you're going to find tons of offerings from various brewers) and they may make the BEST sandwiches ever.

Quality: Pretty fair - had some nice offerings from local Virginia brewers and I really love being able to pick up beers that I can't back in the greater Cincinnati area despite the solid distribution.

Service: Didn't really look or ask for any help for what was there, so it's kind of hard to rate this. I do, however, imagine that they would be fine to answer some general questions about the beer, but nothing too specific about the potential flavor profiles or any kind of recommendations.

Selection: As I mentioned, it's not as if there are walls with rows and rows of beer, but the variety was solid for as small as the beer section is and there are only a few macro selections and a bulk of the space is devoted to locals and a few out of state imports (Bell's, Victory, etc...)

Value: I feel it was a fair deal for the beer that I bought - a mixed four pack I can't get back home and two bombers for 19 bones, I can live with that.

02-25-2010 05:16:27 | More by bamadog

PatrickJR

North Carolina

3.9/5  rDev -4.6%
quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $$

While on our way to Pennsylvania for vacation, my wife and I stopped in Williamsburg to redeem some free passes we had. Both enjoying cheese, we wandered in here and I was pleasantly surprised by their beer selection.

A small cooler upfront carries a lot of local stuff, especially from Williamsburg Brewing and Old Dominion. Down stairs is another cooler as well as a shelf amidst mountains of wine with another 50-75 beers. Lots of good stuff from Southern Tier, Dogfish Head, Stone, and plenty others. A few quality Belgian and German imports were available as well. The upstairs stuff is kept in a cooler along with about half of the downstairs stuff with the remainder hanging out at cellar temperature. It looks like this beer is well taken care of.

No real interaction with the staff; they seemed to be more concerned with their wine stash but not really a problem.

A decent selection, but I'm probably a bit biased because I spotted quite a few goodies that I'm not able to get here in NC. Most of the stock aside from local offerings were bigger, pricier beers so I wasn't able to pick up all that I wanted.

Prices seemed fair enough, bombers in the 6-10 range with singles at around 2-3 dollars.

Overall this was a pleasant surprise after spending a day in the sweltering heat. I was extremely happy to get my hands on some beers I've always wanted to try but are unavailable to be in NC.

07-20-2009 18:05:48 | More by PatrickJR

boxofepilepsy

Virginia

4.45/5  rDev +8.8%
quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

The Cheese Shop is a staple of the College community in the Burg and a pretty huge tourist stop right in Merchants' Square. They've got a beverage case with about 30 or so brews beside the sandwich station, but a better selection downstairs in the Wine Cellar. 100-125 different brews. All the perennial favorites-- Bells, Lagunitas, Brooklyn, DFH, Smutty, etc. plus some cool seasonals. Got my Brooklyn Black Ops there when I was in last November. Also some cool stuff there last time like Nogne-O and De Dolle. My tip is to talk to the staff. A couple of them know their stuff really well and if you ask them if they have anything cool, they might have something sweet hidden in the back for the geeks. Only down-side is that everything is single-bottle only.

06-15-2009 22:38:17 | More by boxofepilepsy

beer2day

North Carolina

4.2/5  rDev +2.7%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$$

Right off the green in Colonial Williamsburg. Nice selection of cold bottles, probably 40 or so with 20 in the "that would be nice" variety. Troegs, Lagunitas, Stone, and Legend all well represented.

The line for ordering a sandwich is insane. The previous advice for calling ahead and using the side take-out window is well warranted. We opted out and went for a cheese tray, which was very nice and got us out of the shop in less than 10 minutes. Lots of outside seating. Large area of tables out front, but that area fills quickly. Smaller section on the side, but theoretically you cannot drink there.

You can sneak downstairs and get beer from the Wine Shop cooler as well.

04-12-2009 15:46:42 | More by beer2day

lackenhauser

Maryland

3.8/5  rDev -7.1%
quality: 3.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

Tucked downstairs from the Cheese Shop just outside the historical district. I am assuming it is a seperate entity from the Cheese Shop, though that doesn't really matter.

Decent enough quality to what they had. Could use a good cleaning some of the bottles had been there a while. Stone 08 Old Guardian anyone? Service was very, very attentive-Brad?-maybe, busy stocking shelves with the hot off the presses Brooklyn 2.

Selection left a bit to be desired in my book. Stone, Southern Tier, some Victory and locals like Legends and Williamsburg Ale Works. Really only 1 or 2 styles from each brewer. Not a lot of space dedicated to beer really. I mean it is the "wine' cellar after all. I thought the grocery store closer to where I was staying had a better selection actually.

Still, if the wife is shopping and you need to find something for yourself to do head here. I was very pleased to find the Local 2. Not like you will go nuts stocking up and have to carry it around all day.

03-28-2009 22:13:52 | More by lackenhauser

Jimbo87

Virginia

4/5  rDev -2.2%
quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

They have some really good beers.

They are friendly and offer help when you walk in.

Selection is good, but not that good. If you have a specific beer in mind, and you come here you will probably not find it, but they have more beers I haven't heard of than some other places. Some notable beers they have now are Double Bastard, Old Guardian, ST Gemini, DFH Red and White, Rochefort 10, Karmeliet Triple, and Korbinian. For a while they had nugget nectar, and briefly bigfoot, and briefly hopslam, and still more briefly they had Black OPS.

Prices are reasonable, but at the high end of reasonable.

03-21-2009 16:00:12 | More by Jimbo87