Grape Vine Market - Austin

BgThang

Texas

2.85/5  rDev -33.3%
quality: 3 | service: 3 | selection: 2.5 | $$$

UPDATE----
As of a few months ago the main beer guy no longer works at grapevine and the quality has gone downhill. The best place for a goto store is spec's. The only thing grapevine has going for them is you can still buy beers in singles. Spec's is quite cheaper and always has the newest stuff compared to grapevine now. The new beer peeps just do not seem as if they care as much anymore at the austin store.

As many people have already stated THIS IS the best place to buy beer in austin PERIOD! James the beer manager there prides himself on getting beer when it first comes in to texas before spec's and others here. THis place has a wide variety and the beer does not stay long on the shelves. A great turnover. The sandwhich/food they have here is great WOW!. If your in austin and want to find the latest thats available in Texas and this area especially you can not go wrong with grapevine.
They also do provide singles to buy so you can mix and match.
Say hi to BA member grapevinejames when your in the store.
They also have Original Trenton Crackers for wine/beer tastings. Only place i have been able to find them in austin.

11-18-2008 18:38:39 | More by BgThang

BeerBelcher

Ohio

3.7/5  rDev -13.3%
quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | $

This is the best place to buy beer I've found during several visits to Austin. I would characterize it as a very nice wine store that happens to carry a decent selection of craft beer. They have quite a bit of beer, and three quarters of it or so is refrigerated. This store carries more 12oz single bottles than I've seen other places, although it seemed like a lot of the shelf space was empty or a lot of items were out of stock during my visit. Also, a lot of the local stuff that I'd seen in 6-packs at Central Market weren't here...which was a shade disappointing.

The staff answered a question of mine regarding how long something had been sitting on a shelf well-enough, but they definitely seemed more interested in the wine clientele, even though there was no one really shopping the wine aisles at the time.

I thought the singles were a very good value; a lot of times when I purchase singles I find myself subject to a pretty severe mark-up and that didn't occur here.

A pretty good place to shop for beer.

10-31-2007 01:40:56 | More by BeerBelcher

northaustin

Texas

3.7/5  rDev -13.3%
quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $

57 livin' yall. this store is less than a block from my house so i have been frequenting it for some time. selection is a little less than specs right up the freeway but almost always has a few offerings that no one else has. plus the chance to make your own sixer is always a plus, and i dont think i have seen a more diverse selection of 12 ouncers anywhere else.good prices on the 750's and 22's. pretty small deli but a huge wine area as well. good beers at great prices is really all that needs to be said. got a 2005 jasperilla a few weeks ago as well as a few others that had been sittin in the back for some time.

06-24-2009 02:13:25 | More by northaustin

Dubblebock

Texas

3.85/5  rDev -9.8%
quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$$

EDIT: It's been a few years since I wrote this review, and I've had to field a couple of questions from local BAs who wondered how I could give a middle-of-the-road review to Grapevine. Well, I go to Grapevine every couple of months or so, and I have yet to see anything that changes my review substantially. I like the establishment, they have a great lineup of beers, it's clean and easy to find, etc. BUT, they still have some trouble keeping things on the shelves. Case in point, I went last week to seek out the DFH Punkin' Ale only to find out that they had sold out the first day they had it. The beer guy was apologetic about it, but they just didn't have it. I went down the road to Central Market south, and they had an entire display of the stuff out for purchase. At least I finally had someone come over and ask if they could help me, though. That's the first time I've ever had anyone offer assistance at Grapevine. In short, my review still looks spot-on for the most part.



I hit Grapevine Market around lunchtime on a weekday. I went with a friend of mine who frequents the establishment for his wine purchases. They have a great website and the word of mouth was all good, so I thought that I'd scope it out for beer selection.

Maybe my expectations had been built up too high....I was thinking beer Mecca, a burning bush, a guy in a robe and sandals with a long white beard standing on a stack of beer cases holding two six-packs and glaring at me as I walked in, trumpets blasting.

Well...not so much. Although they did have a pretty good selection of beers, I felt a little let down. I went with a specific list of things that I was looking for and came away with only two of the items that I wanted. Seasonally it's Fall, October to be specific, yet they only had one pumpkin ale to choose from. The Oktoberfests were lean as well. Not a good sign. They had a fair selection of microbrews from around the country, but it was frustrating to see that they did not carry all of the available beers for specific breweries. Anchor Brewing was only represented by the Liberty Ale, the Anchor Steam, and the Anchor Porter, for example. Sierra Nevada and New Belgium were similarly shortchanged, as were several other brewers of note. I was expecting to find all of the available offerings from these brewers, but all I saw were their standby labels.

Imports fared a little better, but there were still gaps. No Paulaner Oktoberfest to be found! I was shocked! They did have a nice selection of Canadian and Mexican beers, and the domestic macro aisle was well stocked with all of the standards.

Service was ok. No one seemed to be actively servicing the beer aisles. The checkout clerk was friendly. The store was clean and well lit. All beers are available as singles.

Bottom line: it was a good, but hardly exceptional outing. If you're already shopping for beer at Central Market or Whole Foods, don't bother making a special trip. If you're in the neighborhood, check them out. Maybe I just visited on a bad day.

10-22-2003 19:39:34 | More by Dubblebock

Gagnonsux

Texas

3.85/5  rDev -9.8%
quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5

I saw this place from the freeway and decided to make a quick trip and check it out. From what I could tell this was a liquor superstore with a selection of foods to complement wine and for parties and such. I mainly scoped out the beer and ignored the rest of the store. This store had an excellent selection which was organized by country. Central Market's selection may beat this store, but just barely. Quality wasn't an issue, except for a few seasonals that were probably past their expiration dates. I also noticed that they sold a large number of their beers as singles, which is a great way for someone like me to try many new beers without spending all my cash. I didn't notice anything special about their service, but I didn't ask for help either.

07-29-2004 20:06:51 | More by Gagnonsux

kindestcut

North Carolina

4/5  rDev -6.3%
quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4

The name says wine but the Grape Vine Market has a very nice selection of beer as well. If you stop in thinking this is a market in the traditional sense, you'll be disappointed...this is not a grocery store. It's all about the beverages here plus some food fit for fine dining and gatherings.

The beer section is all refrigerated with open coolers. The selection is very good, although very similar to the Dallas meccas of Central Market/Whole Foods/Mr. G's. If you need a comparison, I'd say Grape Vine is more like Central Market but not as impressive as Hall's. I noticed that Grape Vine sells singles as well as packs.

All-in-all, I was impressed.

10-26-2004 13:22:07 | More by kindestcut

MUSHROOMCLOUD

Texas

4/5  rDev -6.3%
quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

The Grapevine is a great beer location . The store is very nice, clean and full of beer and wine. I finally visited them last week and I will definitely return in the near future.

The service was good. I was greeted by everyone throughout the store and left alone while I was perusing the beer aisle (that is great for me).

The selection was very good. I think they have just about whatever is available in Texas. The #1 best thing about Grapevine to me is the fact that you can buy singles of any beer they stock. Their single prices are very reasonable, I paid $1.29 for some and the most I paid was $1.69 for a Rogue 12oz single.

Overall, a good beer shopping experience, and I will go back.

12-13-2005 03:13:28 | More by MUSHROOMCLOUD

briman

Texas

4.05/5  rDev -5.2%
quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Stopped in a couple of weekends back during a day trip to Austin. Overall the selection was great, but they were out of a few things when I was there. One of them was something I specifically went there to buy knowing I could not currently get it in Dallas, so that was a bit of a dissapointment.

Overall it's a decent place, lot of gourmet items...beer, wine, cheese, chocolate, etc.

While one of the guys stocking the shelves went out of his way to try and find something for me in the back, I will say the number of checkers on duty was not great. I think there were 2 people checking, with one guy....I dunno...supervising...and with 10 people in line it would have been nice to open another register to speed up the line. I had a similiar experience as another reviewer where my checker seemed to like to pack my beers in the box sideways, upside down & all around.

11-17-2006 22:59:06 | More by briman

harpus

Alabama

4.05/5  rDev -5.2%
quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | $$

This place specializes in wine in liquor but have a good selection of beer. They have 200+ beers. Most of the beers that they carry are sold as singles. All of the beers that are carried are broken out by country/region. They carry beers from Germany, UK, Ireland, Belgium Japan, Thailand and the US. This is store has a few locations and at least two in the Austin area. They carry Lagunitas, New Belgium, Anchor, Chimay, Fuller, Guinness, St. Arnold and so on. If have not been back to this location but have been to another location in the Austin area. They are worth a visit.

03-07-2008 02:57:53 | More by harpus

HardTarget

Texas

4.15/5  rDev -2.8%
quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5

Checked out the Grape Vine with a print out of the current (10/10/03) top 50 beers. They carried the following in stock:

Celebrator Dopplebock
Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout
Shakespeare Stout
Stone India Pale Ale
Duvel (Red lettering)
Aventinus Wheat Doppelbock
Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale (available seasonably)
Chocolate Stout (Rouge)
La Fin Du Monde
Old Rasputin Russian Imp. Stout
Arrogant Bastard
Fuller's London Porter
Hennepin
Maudite
Trois Pistoles
Weihenstephaner HefeWeissbier
Unibroue 11
Chimay Blue
Bigfoot Barley (well, they claimed, they were out of stock)
Ommegang
Don de Dieu
Fuller's ESB

All in all, not bad. They had a lot more than what's listed above, beers I've never heard of before, etc. They also allow you to break up 6's into singles (even provided extra six pack carriers to build your own). Good hunting!

10-12-2003 02:53:10 | More by HardTarget