The Wine Source

gillagorilla

Maryland

4.26/5  rDev -3%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.25 | food: 4.5 | $$

This place is very well designed with a nice layout. They have a small, cramped parking lot and if you can't get a spot in there then it can be a bit hard to find one without a bit of a hike.

Everything has its place and the staff is extremely friendly and welcoming. They are actually pretty knowledgeable too and willing to help out.

They have a pretty great selection, especially in bombers. There is a wall for singles but they all seem to be old and are usually by breweries that I have never heard of or ever heard good things about. That is what you can make your mix six out of, or you can ask to break up a six pack that isn't on the wall. They have a wall full of refrigerated beer as well. There is also a nice selection of cider here.

Also, they have a great selection of food, for food pairings. The food here is a bit exotic and pricey, but you can't get it at many other places. Their cheese selection is top notch.

05-18-2013 00:56:29 | More by gillagorilla

Swift989

District of Columbia

4.5/5  rDev +2.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | $$

Great selection especially of local wines and east coast beers. Was there on a Wednesday and they had a nice wine tasting with Tablas Creek Vineyard with the owners/operators there.

Employees are SUPER helpful and nice and love their products. I talked with one guy for 20 minutes about different beers and whether organic beers really mean anything different and whether their quality is worse. He had legit recommendations for craft brewery batches that came in inconsistant and not worth the $$ or up to par with past years. Really really fun and interesting chat.

03-14-2013 17:14:13 | More by Swift989

orangesol

Pennsylvania

4.32/5  rDev -1.6%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.25 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Stopped in here earlier this week. I have always heard good things, figured it was time to finally check it out for myself.

Atmosphere was pretty good. A very nice feel to the store with all of the bottles laid out before you. People milling around in the aisles looking at bottles of wine and such. Service was good as well. I was asked multiple times if I needed help and when I did need to know a price they were quick to find out the answer.

Quality was pretty high. Lots of top notch wine, spirits and beer throughout and even some snacks to boot. They even had some rarer spirits / beers that I hadn't seen in awhile. Beer selection was pretty solid. Lots of locals mixed with the typical national offerings, and even some more obscure overseas offerings too boot. Prices were more than reasonable in my book. Overall a really solid bottle shop, I will definitely return the next time I am in the area.

02-24-2013 23:49:17 | More by orangesol

Kanegarden

New Jersey

4.54/5  rDev +3.4%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.25 | $$

First time to the Baltimore area....definitely enjoyed some of the local estabilishments i.e. Of Love and Regret Pub and Provisions and Max's taphouse to name a few. Decided to pick up a few bombers at Wine Source after reading some of the reviews on BA. Greeted with a friendly and knowledgeable beer bro who first introduced me to a few of his favs current favs. Jolly Pumpkin's Madrugada Obscura, Boulevard's Harvest Dance, MOA a NZ brewery's Pale Ale, Maine Beer Co.'s Titus, an austrian brewer Stift Engelszell 's Benno, and lastly a local Heavy Seas Siren Noire. Then the helpful fella offered me a tasting of one of Flying Dogs single batch imperial ipa....a definite gold star for service when offered a private tasting. Nicely organized with domestic/american craft beers, german, belgian, all separated. Definitely will be back to explore other destinations in Baltimore i.e. Brewer''s Art, Heavy Seas, Stillwater...and of course this place again for some new beers to try. Cheers!

01-27-2013 19:58:57 | More by Kanegarden

DRBiser

Maryland

4.13/5  rDev -5.9%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | $$

This place has one of the better beer selections in Baltimore City and arguably county. It's a large shop with the beers in the back nicely organized with separate shelves based on geographics and styles. They also group together certain beers by brewery. I fully appreciate that it's tough to choose the best way of stocking your shelves, but this place has it set-up as nice as i've seen.

I particularly enjoyed their great selection (and nice rotation) of beers from Jolly pumpkin, Evil Twin, and Mikkeller.

Only knock would be service. It's a big shop with a ton of people at registers so the wait is never a problem, but they don't offer much in the way of help as you browse. They're happy to answer any questions you may have, however.

There's also a little deli section with gourmet cheeses which looked pretty solid, but i can't speak to the quality or selection.

10-10-2012 15:12:16 | More by DRBiser

steebo777

Michigan

4.8/5  rDev +9.3%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

My wife and I were visiting family in the Baltimore area so we decided to check this place out. Really cool vibe on the outside with a slick sign.

Inside was laid out nicely. Everything was very logically placed and very easy to get to. Nothing was out of stock and there were a ton of things I wanted. Prices were exactly were I expected them as well.

The staff was very friendly and courteous at the front counter. We chatted for a few minutes and as we walked out my brother-in-law said this is his go-to place from here on out.

All in all a great beer and wine store that I would DEFINITELY hit again and again.

01-09-2012 16:32:43 | More by steebo777

Slatetank

Pennsylvania

4.03/5  rDev -8.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I came here based on a recommendation from kegatron. I was pleased with the ease of finding the place and the interior is well lit and organized. I checked out the prices which are all very reasonable. I think they have a very good selection and the place has other things besides beer and wine. The service is ok, they didn't really acknowledge I was in the store until I checked out and it wasn't busy, though.

I would return based on the ease of finding the beer you want -it is grouped by American, Belgian, German and UK beers. They have a good deal of stuff from 12% including Evil Twin. I like the prices and the stuff I bought was fresh so from a quality standpoint they are moving the product. I recommend them for the fair prices too - so if you are in the area, check them out.

11-20-2011 14:11:49 | More by Slatetank

raznug

Ohio

4.14/5  rDev -5.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I found the wine source when I was moving my sister to Hopkins. It has a very small parking lot but it is worth your while to taking a look. The have a great selections of beer in coolers as well as warm. The employees were more than helpful in knowledge of their selection and prices. They have helped my sister plenty of times when she doesn't know what she wants or can't find the brew. The Wine Source is a must stop when in Baltimore everything thing from the good selection belgians to the local brews like Heavy Seas, and plenty of beers from across the country and world.

05-21-2011 12:36:45 | More by raznug

nickshep7

Maryland

4.28/5  rDev -2.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | $$

Great bottle shop. Large selection of bombers, six packs, four packs and singles. The 12oz single selection is a little thin, but overall this is a great shop for most beers available in MD -- Green flash, Southern Tier, Goose Island, Jolly Pumpkin, Rogue, Sierra Nevada, Long Trail, to local favorites like Brewers Art, Stillwater, and DFH. Nice selection of imports (Belgians) too. Jed, the beer manager, is the man...he's tried everything in the store and is willing to help locate any brew in the shop or available in their distribution.

05-04-2011 23:51:00 | More by nickshep7

johnmichaelsen

Oregon

4.03/5  rDev -8.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Once upon a time, I used to work right next door to the Wine Source over at the Rotunda. Of course in those days the beer selection there was a complete afterthought, while now it's pretty much the best in town.

Like a few other liquor stores I could name in Baltimore, the Wine Source is not the easiest place to find. Likewise, parking is pretty limited (6 or 7 spots right out front), and so one's initial impression is really not all that great. However, once you walk in, it's readily apparent that the Wine Source is not your typical Baltimore liquor store. Aside from their stellar wine selection, they also carry gourmet coffee, a wide selection cheeses, cigars and a nice range of glassware. The beer selection has always been located straight back to the right when you first walk in the door, and has grown considerably over time. I've visited the WS a number of times, and I can honestly say that the selection has just gotten better and better over time (I'd rank this as probably the best spot for craft beer in the city now). There still is a cold box of macro crap as well, but it's only in the cold box and the selection of macro swill seems to be dwindling. As for craft beer and imports, the selection is extensive, though I never did figure out how everything is organized. There are some shelves dedicated exclusively to Belgians, though another shelf with predominantly Belgian stuff also had a row of Mikkeller. I was here this day hoping to pick up some CC Thank you, Thank you very much, and it took a while to find it. It wasn't located in an exclusively "locals" or IPA section, but whatever... at least they had it (I called all over town trying to find it, and they seemed to be the only store in town that had any). Otherwise, the selection of craft beer and imports is vast and impressive, and I confess I never find it too arduous a chore looking over row after row of great beer.

As for service, I'm not really sure what to say about it. I was in the store looking around for roughly 20 minutes and never had anyone stop by to ask whether or not I needed any help (not that I did). On the other hand, when I walked to the back of the store to take a gander at some half bottles and some pinot noir, I was asked almost immediately if I required any assistance, or was I just looking around. In any event, everyone here was otherwise very pleasant and polite.

Regardless, the Wine Source is a very fine beer store and prices are fairly reasonable (by Baltimore City standards). I'd definitely call it the preeminent beer store in the city, one that is on a par with State Line and the Perfect Pour. Just wish it wasn't such a hassle to get to from my West Side home and office in Woodlawn.

12-21-2010 12:11:01 | More by johnmichaelsen