Famous Wine & Spirits

emerge077

Illinois

3.44/5  rDev -9.5%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

2011: Selection here seems to be aging and dwindling. Left empty handed and the clerk turned used car salesman on me once I started browsing the whiskey aisle. Not sure I'll return as the selection is pretty tired nowadays.

2009: Peeked in here 11/1, searching for Schlafly Pumpkin but they were sold out. Selection in general looked quite sparse, but there were still gems here and there.

09-05-2007 4.15
Stopped here while on a recent road trip to Springfield.
My main objective was to pick up a good cross section of regional beers not available in Chicago. Famous definitely delivered in that respect, there were full lines from Boulevard, Schlafly, Schell, O'Fallon, plus a few familiar standbys like Goose Island (even 1 old IIPA 4-pack), 3 Floyds, Ska, Flying Dog, etc.

Selection is modest, but there is a great wall of singles to be found here. After perusing the shelves for a few minutes, a friendly employee asked if we were looking for anything specific. He pointed out all the regional singles for me, and even split a 6-pack that wasn't on the singles shelf. Color me impressed!

A good selection of imports as well, UK, German, and a few Belgians, many smaller bottles available on the singles shelf. There were discounted 6-packs of mixed summer seasonals near the registers.

Overall it was a good experience, and i'll return next time i'm in town. These guys were much more friendly and helpful than Friar Tuck down the street.

09-05-2007 21:47:08 | More by emerge077

mportsch

Illinois

4.15/5  rDev +9.2%
quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

I was down in Bloomington for the evening and decided to see if this place had any goodies I couldn't get in Peoria. It's a large store, with most of the space occupied by wine bottles - I didn't look closely, but I'd imagine this would be a great stop if you're looking for a particular bottle of wine. Off to the far right is the beer section, including a cooler wall with some nice selections. Just about every major micro I'd expect to find in the midwest was available... Dogfish Head, Bell's, Three Floyds, Great Lakes, Two Brothers, etc. I was impressed to see Dogfish Head World Wide Stout, which I don't believe I've seen in the Peoria stores. There was also a pretty good assortment of imports - primarily German and Belgian - but nothing too surprising. There wasn't much for singles selection, and they didn't have many choices in their mix-a-six area, so those areas could use improvement.
Service was excellent - I was asked multiple times if I needed any help, and not in a pushy way either. While I browsed, the woman working conversed with an older man who had questions about a few craft beers, and she seemed to have a good grasp of what was what. In my limited experience, I'd imagine this is one of the better beer stores in Bloomington-Normal, if not the best. There's not a lot of rarities to be found, but you can certainly find loads of great beer.

09-01-2005 01:32:32 | More by mportsch