Whole Foods Market (Pearl)

morebeergood

Massachusetts

3.7/5  rDev -7%
quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $

Day 2 & Stop 5 of the Portland Pub Crawl. Before our flight home, we stopped in here to grab a few beers to bring home. This store had a great selection of NW beers and other craft beers. We got six bombers from Bridgeport, Lompoc, Rogue, Laurelwood, HUB, and Alameda. All made it back safely, wrapped tightly in my checked luggage. Service was average, it's a grocery store. Most bombers were $5.99. We got six bombers for about $32. We didn't come across a lot of "beer" stores staying downtown, so this Whole Foods Market came in handy due to location and selection.

07-18-2009 00:03:53 | More by morebeergood

dirtylou

Washington

4/5  rDev +0.5%
quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

stopped in this joint after drinking at Henry's and buying books at Powel

quality: beer cooler wasnt really that large or anything but it was pretty packed with goodies. the size was certainly bigger than madison wholefoods and probably a little larger than raleigh whole foods which are the two i know the best. everything looked to be in good shape though i did notice some 2006 vintages that would not be too old to buy

service: not needed

selection; i read the reviews and was expecting a lot more honestly. the bomber selection was quite nice. There were a ton of moylands which i avoided since i have tried before and its coming to wisconsin. Rogue was well covered as were many other northwest breweries. There were some Alesmith products (yulesmith, ipa) but nothing too rare. There were some nice seasonals and a good selection of 6 packs. I think i am being too harsh on this place, and its probably because im spoiled. Dont come here to find ultra-rare stuff but come for a solid selection that covers the area well

i bought a deschutes anniversary and an eel river old ale

09-19-2007 03:32:40 | More by dirtylou

Rifugium

Pennsylvania

3.74/5  rDev -6%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $$

One of three Whole Foods I visited in Portland. Not that we don't have them here in PA, but I figured I'd see what I could find. Strangely it seems that prices on beer on about on par or even higher than the more strictly beer-centric shops such as Belmont or even Beaumont, since the PA Whole Foods price tags are typically a bit cheaper. Still reasonable overall. Atmosphere: it's a supermarket. The majority of the beer here was in a convenient cold room, and not quite as good a selection as the Whole Foods Hollywood market, or even the Fremont market. Still good though, and top notch as far as finding beer in a supermarket goes. Service rating is really an n/a, but I'll just give an average rating for technicality's sake.

One thing that PA WFs have that Portland WFs don't have: pubs in the store!

01-04-2012 06:13:14 | More by Rifugium

msubulldog25

Oregon

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

I've shopped at Whole Foods on many occasions and find that they have perhaps the best beer selection of any grocery store in Portland (this excludes all bottle shops, of course). They stock an excellent range of NW/Pacific/Rocky Mtn. craft beers. There are also a fair number of choices from the Midwest and East Coast.. International beers have a strong representation, too: choices from Belgium, UK, and Germany are plentiful and run the gamut of styles. Areas such as Canada, Asia, France, Italy and South/Central America are represented, too. Nothing terrible rare, just a broad selection from many breweries both local and from points afar.

The beer area is towards the back of the store, tucked away next to the cheese department. It's one of the quieter parts of the store, which allows ample time for browsing. Beers are stored in open coolers under what appear to be UV-filtered fluorescent lights. Suffice to say, I've not had any issues with the quality of beers I've purchased here.

Prices vary between reasonable and slightly more expensive than expected. Because of the size of this grocery chain, they are able to buy larger caseloads of some pretty hard to get releases (Stone Vertical and Hair of the Dog Blue Dot are two that come to mind), yet the prices are not any lower than the small retailers. They do not allow 'mix & match' and charge $1.99 minimum for singles from a 6-pack. They sometimes have a "bargain bin" of discounted leftovers.

Service in the evenings can be lackluster to non-existent. However, I highly recommend a visit on a weekday. I recently met Jeff in the Beer department; he's quite knowledgeable about everything in stock and gave great tips on upcoming releases and hidden gems kept back in the stock room.

Recommended for a visit when in Portland - the best place to buy bottles in downtown. Location at W. Burnside and 12th means it's central to everything.

08-15-2006 23:11:27 | More by msubulldog25

jdense

Oregon

3.5/5  rDev -12.1%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$$

Typical Whole Foods store in the trendy Pearl District,. You know the deal, overpriced but quality products. They recently put in a walk-in cold box with automatic doors on both ends that serendipitously open up whenever anybody walks by, irrespective if they want to come inside or not.

On a positive note, the cold box allowed this location to expand their beer offering significantly, at least in terms of shelf space. Decent selection of Belgians and Germans, along with usual array of craft beers. Prices, are to be expected, on the high side. If you are staying downtown and car-less, this is probably one of your better bets to pick up a bottle or two, but selection pails in comparison with Belmont Station or John's Marketplace and price to The Beer Mongers.

As with all Whole Foods locations, there is usually a beer person on spot, but when I asked if they had gotten any Pliny in (the same day all other stores in town received their shipment) I got a blank eyed stare. Evidently, they changed the secret handshake when they put in the new walk-in cold box.

12-26-2011 18:06:13 | More by jdense

indiapaleale

Massachusetts

3.85/5  rDev -3.3%
quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$

I stopped into Whole Foods in search of some Alaskan bombers to take back to New England with me. They had the Alaskan Barleywine and Arctic Devil so that was cool. Its not a HUGE selection here but what they had was very respectable and very reasonably priced. Pliny and Blind Pig bottles were under $4 and they had a bunch of Oregon bombers for under $5 as well. If you need beer this is a good place to get it as its pretty convenient for anyone staying/living in the city, not to mention that the store itself is huge and full of great food.

02-22-2009 19:23:35 | More by indiapaleale

djbreezy

Washington

4/5  rDev +0.5%
quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

After living in town for a few months now I finally made my way to this location to check out the beer selection. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and a reasonable number of bottles. The prices were fine, although I felt like they were priced to nickel and dime the consumer. Whatever, it's called Whole Paycheck for a reason.

The store is incredibly clean, organized, items faced. All of the staff were knowledgeable and friendly...not particularly about the beer but the employee vibe helps.

Overall it was a good experience and I picked up some decent Goose Island and Boulevard bottles. I'd go back. It's close to where I'm at and obsessively organized. I can dig it.

05-06-2010 21:08:30 | More by djbreezy

joedon

Minnesota

3.9/5  rDev -2%
quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $$

In the same block as Henry's Tavern.

Decent selection of craft brews in an open, grocery-store cooler. Also large display of Bigfoot 2006 adjacent to the cooler. I'd estimate there were 35 varieties of beer in six-packs and another 45 in 750's or singles. Mostly craft beers from the NW but several English, Belgian and German choices.

Since Whole Foods is basically a trendy, up-scale grocery, service is a non-issue. You would have to track someone down to answer a question and beer would not be their best subject.

Prices were fair [$10.00 for the Bigfoot] and they did have a lot of stuff you can't find in Minnesota.

Lots of god eats in the store, too.

02-16-2006 02:24:53 | More by joedon

squaremile

Oregon

3.55/5  rDev -10.8%
quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | $$

This is a pretty large grocery store in the heart of downtown that serves the yuppie health food crowd, sometimes that means me. The bottle selection is pretty good for the area since outside of Bailey's, there isn't much. You can get all of the regional brews and the out of state stuff that you can pretty much find anywhere else. I found Hair of the Dog Blue Dot here when it was no where else in town once, that was pretty cool. It is what it is: a grocery store with a Portland style beer selection.

06-01-2010 06:25:18 | More by squaremile

ndekke39

Ohio

4.35/5  rDev +9.3%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Made a quick stop here after having dinner at Henry's 12th Street Tavern. It's in a great location downtown, with its own parking garage. Big, huge cooler of beer in singles and six-packs, with a wide range of things. Too many to list here, but plenty of good micro/craft beers, just about anything you could want for party. Prices were pretty good, maybe $0.50 to $1.00 higher than other places. Didn't interact with any workers there, so couldn't tell you about service, but it's been great at every Whole Foods I've ever visited. Overall, a great stop for beer!

11-12-2007 20:41:52 | More by ndekke39