The Wine Source

cracker

Pennsylvania

4.05/5  rDev -7.7%
quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$

A pretty decent find considering it's more know for the wine selection (hence the name). It used to be in the Rotunda (Rotunda Wine and Spirits) but moved down the street about three years ago.

They have an entire wall devoted to refrigerated beers. About 1/3 or so is BMC stuff. But the remainder is impressive...Victory, Stoudts, Troegs, Weyerbacher, Yards, DogFish Head, Old Dominion, Clipper City, Anderson Valley, Brooklyn, Saranac, Sierra Nevada, Harpoon, Rogue, Smuttynose, Avery, Magic Hat, and more which I cannot recall right now.

On the shelves are several Belgians and US/Canadian Belgians (Corsendonk, Chimay, Rochefort, Duvel, Cantillon, De Koninck, Lindemans, Hoegaarden, Westmalle, Unibroue products, V12 from Victory, Ommegang among others), a smaller German and British stock and a few single bottles of American micros (the ones that benefit from cellaring...imperial stoudts, double IPA etc.)

Price is average with occasional products being on sale. The average six pack (for the good stuff) runs from $7 to $10 depending on the style and ABV. Single bottles (750 ml) are a little on the high side ($5 for Rogues and $8-14 for the Belgians).

The service is excellent for those buying wine but I'm not so sure about beer. I never really ask since I'm familiar with most of the beer products and usually know what I want. They probably are helpful if you ask though but don't seem to come up and ask you 'can I help you'.

It's a great place all in all especially if you live in the area (like I do).

02-25-2005 15:35:31 | More by cracker

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