K & L Wine Merchants

Gambac

California

4.8/5  rDev +7.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | $$

I had been to K & L before, and while I found what I was looking for, for whatever reason, it just didn't stick with me as a go-to place.

Went back today. Treasure trove, now on the monthly rotation for beer pursuits.

Inventory was fun to check online, all backed in store. Found things I wouldn't have expected, such as a Peche Mortel and Bigfoot Barleywine Ale from Sierra Nevada. Most importantly to me, all the stuff that should be chilled was chilled. And then some. To top it all off, I was able to buy a variety of singles - really looking forward to trying these new delights.

Didn't talk to the beer guy, but the cashier was extremely helpful and offered a good time to catch him next time. Might just take him up on it.

06-17-2011 23:09:25 | More by Gambac

bradybeer

California

4.64/5  rDev +3.6%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | $$

Visiting nearby Palo Alto I was disappointed by the selection of beers to take back to Santa Cruz. I didn't realize that Redwood City was so near PA. Walking in this is no doubt a wine store-period. However, find your way to the beer coolers in the corner. The selection was fantastic, but not overly large. High end hard to find beers-Ironfist Brewing from Vista (really? great), Great Divide, Highwater from Redding, Midnight Sun from Alaska, plus large number of other U.S craft beers. They also had a very good selection of European micros as well as a few British. I thought prices were good. I bought bomber bottles of Yeti, Oak Aged Yeti, Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti, Uinta's 750 ML Barleywine, and the bomber of Rogue dark ale estate beer for $50.

Service was good and I will be back to look throughthe 100 plus solid beers.

06-15-2011 00:27:05 | More by bradybeer

mikul93

California

4.43/5  rDev -1.1%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

This is my go to place for beer around my neighborhood. No, they don't have the largest selection around, but the quality of their selection makes up for it. The staff is very helpful and the store is very neat and clean! You can also search for beers on their website. If they are out of stock, you can request to be emailed once the beer is in stock. Awesome! If I had to say one bad thing about the place, it's that they had a larger selection of beer rather than isles and isles of wine. But that's just the hop head in me.

05-18-2011 21:48:20 | More by mikul93

Dobby

California

5/5  rDev +11.6%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | $$

K&L is an amazing store. Yes while its primarily a wine store, K&L packs a great selection of beer in thier dainty little cooler in the corner. Great place to pick up Pliny once a week and also stocks Alpine beers from time to time. Love the functionality of thier website as it lets me know what beers are coming soon and even lets me purchase them online and pick them up in the store later that day. All in all a great place to pick up beer, nothing bad can be said about this place at all. Highly reccomended

05-05-2011 05:14:20 | More by Dobby

easong

California

4.5/5  rDev +0.4%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

This is where I go for Russian River's Pliny and Alpine Beer's Duet IPA. If you don't have any idea why that would be good, your local Whole Foods or BevMo will do. If you don't know why WF or BVM is a good bet, ignore this review and enjoy your Bud Light. K & L Wines has a location in Hollywood which, apparently, is able to obtain the best beers of southern California and then truck them up to NoCal on the inter-store delivery truck, to the delight of the fans of hard-to-get beers. The beer buyer at this store is on top of his retail game and you'd have to go to Berkeley or further to find a better selection.

01-16-2011 05:50:56 | More by easong

nataku00

California

4.35/5  rDev -2.9%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

K & L is predominantly a wine store, with almost 70% of the store devoted to wine. However, on one side of the fairly large floor space, there is a wall of shelves and a few coolers. Half of the shelves contain liquor and spirits, a quarter for sake, and the last quarter of shelves contain beer. Most of the four coolers contain beer as well, with a little bit of space for champagne and some wines. The store is very neat and clean, fairly well organized, and well lit.

There's abundant staff, and many of them do know a little bit about their beer. They are very knowledgeable about the wine, of course. Everyone has been friendly every time I've visited.

Pretty good selection of beer, especially with the option to get a lot of beers from southern California by asking them to order and ship between their Hollywood store and the ones here in the Bay Area. There are a few other stores in the Bay Area that have a deeper selection, but K&L is pretty good.

Pricing is reasonable and on par with some of the lower prices for some beers offered in other stores.

01-08-2011 23:26:16 | More by nataku00

Arbitrator

California

4.5/5  rDev +0.4%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

A relatively small selection against BevMo, given that K & L specializes in wine. However, they do have a full single-wall refrigerated display of beer.

The quality of those beers is phenomenal. It is impossible to find Russian River stuff at BevMo, but K & L had several of their selections in stock. I also observed Lost Abbey, Goose Island, Dogfish Head, and a number of Belgian imports. Prices were reasonable on all.

The beer buyer was in the store at the time of my purchase, and he turned out to be very friendly and knowledgeable.

I will definitely be returning to the store once or twice a month in my hunt for craft brew.

03/20/2009 -- The beer buyer, Bryan, has been taking his job very seriously. I go to this place almost weekly now, and it gets my dollars over BevMo. This is a great place to find quality beer on the Peninsula. Hope to see the beer selection expand even more. Have upgraded their rating.

08/18/2010 -- This is my go-to store at this point. Great beer, fast turnover, refrigerated selection, fair prices (creeping up just a little bit here and there as the store gets more popular, but that's life). Bryan is constantly getting more and more amazing stuff.

08-18-2010 21:00:40 | More by Arbitrator

ThreeWiseMen

California

4.35/5  rDev -2.9%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I stopped in here yesterday on the recommendation from a friend (JustinA1). He's ordered beer online from K & L multiple times.

K & L is a wine store first, beer store (very distant) second. Hundreds upon hundreds of wine bottles fill the spacious warehouse, while the entire beer selection is relegated to four wall coolers and two shelves in the back corner. What the beer selection lacks in quantity, however, it more than makes up for in quality.

The selection included a number of rare European beers; a lot of highly touted ales from Belgium, but many from less common countries like Spain, Italy, Sweden, and Norway. There were also a ton of highly touted American craft beers, many of them hard-to-find and/or limited production. All of the beer is sold individually (i.e. no four packs, six packs, etc.), but the prices are reasonable.

The guy at the register was laid back and nice. He told me that K & L will be expanding their beer selection in the near future, which I'm excited about.

The only beef I had with K & L was that they had all of their Midnight Sun (which included Sockeye Red IPA and Melt Down Double IPA) on the unrefrigerated shelf. Not a huge deal, but it did stop me from purchasing any of those beers.

All in all, this is a great place to find rare craft beer. Expect to pay a lot, but it'll all be worth it (as I said above, the prices are fair). Thanks for the suggestion Justin!

05-03-2010 18:22:32 | More by ThreeWiseMen

womencantsail

California

4.35/5  rDev -2.9%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

I stopped in here after hearing such great things about the store and being in the area for the weekend.

The store is definitely focused on wine, as it takes up the vast majority store. The beer section is just a few cooler doors. While the beer section is small, there are certainly some great offerings.

I had a hard time limiting myself to the rather impressive purchases I made (easily could have spent much more money). Offerings from Drie Fonteinen, HaandBryggeriet, Cantillon, Valley, and plenty of other great breweries.

The prices are pretty much standard, and while some items are pricey (like Drie Fonteinen Schaarbeekse Kriek at $40 for a 750), they are reasonable for the most part.

I would easily recommend this place to anyone and I would definitely stop in again.

02-08-2010 07:16:31 | More by womencantsail

mlaroche

California

4.65/5  rDev +3.8%
quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$$

First and foremost: Bryan, the beer buyer, is a great guy. He replies to emails and gets beer in sometimes just for me asking. He does a ton of research, and the beer selection is solid.

Second: I can reserve beers online if I can't make it to the store that day. This is great for special releases.

Third: I can reserve beers online from their Hollywood location, with free transfers between stores. It's a great way to get some Southern California beers that don't make it up normally.

Selection is great, but it's top end, harder to find only. For example: I could find Older Viscosity there, but not Old Viscosity. What they have is almost all top shelf. It's not going to be your only beer store.

12-04-2009 18:29:15 | More by mlaroche