Artalé Wine Co.

1beerqueer

Illinois

4.53/5  rDev +4.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I have lived in Rockford forever and didn't even notice this gem until recently. Sure, it's obviously labeled a wine company. However, they have quite a bit of beer waiting to be checked out in the back of the store.

I was pleasantly surprised by the staff when I walked in. He was very knowledgeable about the merchandise and offered to help if necessary. As I looked through the cooler section, I noticed quite a few brands that I had not heard of. In addition to this, directly behind me were three racks of unique and gargantuan bombers. I could browse for a long time, but time is money; a player's gotta spend it to get it. So I picked out a few interesting bottles for a very low price. I will be back several more times and would recommend to friends.

02-18-2013 08:06:45 | More by 1beerqueer

KFBR392

Illinois

4.75/5  rDev +10%
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 4.75 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Atmosphere: Feels small and cozy. Front of the store is all wine while the beer is located toward the back of the store. Warm feeling, everything is right on top of you.

Quality: I go to school in the Rockford area and this is by far the best selection in town. Absolutely top end quality stuff, only a small cooler of crappy domestic beer.

Service: By far the best aspect of this establishment. Highly knowledgeable staff who are very friendly and always willing to chat about beer with a fellow beer geek. Very relaxed feeling when dealing with the employees, no rush or pushing particular products.

Selection: Like I said above, best selection in the area. I know the beer guys at Artale go out of their way to acquire different products that cannot be shipped to them. Just all high end products which will make the snobbiest beer geek happy. Quality over quantity for sure.

Value: Right on point for the most part. Certainly don't mind paying a little bit more for some products due to the quality and service overall.

Overall: Instantly became my favorite establishment in Rockford upon finding it. Look it up and go get yourself some awesome beer!

01-25-2013 03:48:04 | More by KFBR392

Trifecta1

Illinois

4.06/5  rDev -6%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

A great little place in Rockford to pick up beer, and maybe even some wine. They have a very large selection, comparable to Woodman's selection even. They both have about the same amount of choices, however, they get their stock from different breweries. If Woodman's doesn't have it, Artale probably will, and vice versa. This being said, Artale has a MUCH larger selection of bombers.
The service varies greatly, depending on who's working, and if their family is in the store. I know family comes first, but you won't get so much as a "hello" if one of their kin are in the store. As for who's working, there's Artale Sr. and Artale Jr. Jr. is much more knowledgeable about beer, and comes off more easy going, and will chat with you about beer for hours given the chance. whereas Artale Sr. (the actual owner) is much more business oriented, and is more wine-savvy. He'll usually only respond in "Okay" or "Is that right?" to anything you say. Even as a usual customer, I get nothing out of him. Aaron Sleger, a big player in the Rockford beer scene, hangs out in Artale from time to time, who is also very knowledgeable and fun to chat with.
Another thing I really like about Artale is the fact that they alert friends on facebook when they get a limited-release beer in, and allow call-ins to hold said beer for customers. Firestone's Sucaba, Goose Island's 3 Sisters Series, and Bell's Two-Hearted mini-kegs are a few examples.
The price is right, the atmosphere is right, and the recognition CAN be right, depending on who's working. A great place to stop.

10-26-2012 19:20:22 | More by Trifecta1

TheSSG

Illinois

4.39/5  rDev +1.6%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

This place has been an interesting development.
I stopped in a few years ago, and I found it to be overpriced and filled with the kind of bier people who pretend to like bier drink; it seemed like they were catering to a class of bier drinkers who were ignorant, but had money to burn.

I've been back recently, and WOW!
The prices are GOOD, if not GREAT! This has become my go-to spot for bombers. They have stuff I've never seen in the Midwest, and stuff that is definitely not around locally, otherwise.

The staff was a bit distant some of the time (then again, I don't fit the look of the typical wine drinker, haha), but as I've gone in more often, they're warming up, and are really nice (not that anyone was ever rude to me). Maybe I just intimidated them from my appearance?

I still predominantly go to Woodman's for my bulk bier needs (Two Brothers from the Rockford one, and New Glarus/Ale Asylum in Beloit or Janesville), but this is now my top choice when I am in the mood for something interesting. The few 6-packs they sell are pretty much winners (of their craft selection). You'd be hard pressed NOT to get something there that made you go, "Oh, wow! They have that!?"

Fantastic little shop. Don't let the wine fool you, or intimidate you. The person who selects which brews they sell REALLY has a passion, and knows what to stock. Quality, not quantity.
Also, they sell Central Waters!!!

10-25-2012 01:48:13 | More by TheSSG

BeerNDoggerel

Illinois

4.86/5  rDev +12.5%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

One could walk in a hundred times and make the mistake of thinking this is simply the nicest wine store you've ever been in, if at some point you didn't wander to the back corner of the store, where there is a carefully curated selection of beers for every taste.

The father and son owners do a great job of choosing what to offer, and they carry not only the classics but also breweries and individual beers that are not available elsewhere in town. The son, Anthony, is quite a beer expert. As he has grown to know my taste, he has both led me to great exemplars of the styles I like and coaxed me into expanding my preferences by introducing me to just the right new beer in each successive new style.

In addition, one of their employees is a Cicerone--quite knowledgeable and enthusiastic about exploring the golden age of beer we live in.

Sure, Woodman's carries a pretty extensive selection of craft beer and even Logli's carries some. When I want to try something new and not have to worry that after the first bottle the rest of the six will languish, however, I go to Artale. Their expertise never lets me down.

06-08-2012 02:18:31 | More by BeerNDoggerel

Skylermandela

Illinois

2.85/5  rDev -34%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3 | service: 2.5 | selection: 2.5 | $$

This place isn't terrible. But it definitely isn't that great. Their beer selection is decent but don't expect anything that particularly fresh. A lot of their IPAs are well over a month old, if that doesn't bother you more power to you, but it bugs me a bit.

Now this used to be a good place to get some beer that is rather highly allocated elsewhere. However that has changed. It seems that the beer buyer doesn't really care about pleasing some people and he's more concerned about attempting to please everybody. He's starting to take all his allocations of hard to find beer and just do samplings and not sell any of the bottles.

The beer buyer is the only nice guy there. I've been a few times and they don't greet you when you come in. If the guy at the register is having a conversation with his friends or family that are always there, don't expect him to even say two words to you.

Like I said it's not a terrible place to buy beer, but in the stateline area there are a lot better places that will be courteous, get you what you want, and reward you for being a 'regular'.

Me being a regular of this place has reaped no benefits. I say "take care of those who take care of you", that's not particularly the case with this place.

I'd also like to add that receiving a message (that was particularly antagonizing) via Facebook from the beer buyer at this store was anything less than professional. Let alone that it was a month after the fact. Apparently honest opinions aren't well liked by this store. I would take my business elsewhere.

03-22-2012 20:29:33 | More by Skylermandela

orbitalr0x

Illinois

4.5/5  rDev +4.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | $$

Stopped by here after visiting Anderson Japanese Gardens. A great cozy store with a great layout. There's a warm atmosphere when you enter that goes along nicely with the dim lighting. The first half of the store is dedicated to wine with great bookcase-esque displays across each of the walls. If you're a wine lover you'd find plenty here!!

Walk back to the back of the store and find the coolers with feature a good deal of craft brews. Ballast Point and Heavy Seas which we don't get in the western burbs is cool. Turn around and you'll find a bunch of various bombers and 750's on the shelves as well. An overall good selection of domestic and import crafts. I grabbed a bottle of Le Terrior which I never saw anywhere out my way!

Overalll, this is a great shop for craft beer in Rockford and the staff is extremely friendly and they seem to really care about both beer and wine. Support local, independent shops like this, there are not enough of them around!!! Highly recommended :)

09-06-2011 00:29:35 | More by orbitalr0x

hoosier222002

Illinois

4.64/5  rDev +7.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

In my opinion, Artale is the best place in Rockford to purchase craft beer. As the name suggests, it is a wine store but has done a nice job with their craft beer.

The staff is always available to ask if you are looking for anything in particular or offer suggestions. They have a nice selection of the Midwestern beers and others from around the country. Two full shelves of bomber bottles and a cooler stocked as well.

I have made Artale my choice. Small family run place that treats their customers well.

07-10-2011 13:55:24 | More by hoosier222002

SpdKilz

Illinois

4.28/5  rDev -0.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | $$

Have been here a few times when I go to visit my sister.

Walking in it is a, well as the name suggests, more of a wine store than beer store. However, there are a few cooler sections that are filled with good craft beers, and also two tall wooden shelves with other craft beers. The selection is decent – honestly it has a few things that I don’t see elsewhere in Rockford and/or some stuff that might be sold out in other beer stores closer to Chicago. I came here during Christmas and they still had some Bourbon County Stout from GI when literally all the Binny’s in the area were sold out.
The atmosphere was pretty good. The guy running the place (same guy every time) is always ready to strike up a conversation (though I don’t think he knows a ton about beer). I will admit there was some beer that had dust on it…that shouldn’t (i.e. some Hoppin Frog IPA’s and such). I don’t even want to know how long some of this beer has been here. However, overall the beer selection was pretty good, though prices were a bit more than other stores for similar products.
I will always stop here when I come to Rockford – not the rarest of beer, but better than pretty much anything else in the area.

06-30-2011 02:54:29 | More by SpdKilz

EROCK75

Illinois

4.28/5  rDev -0.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | $$

This is my first place to look in Rockford when wanting to try something new. Anthony does a very good job rotating and rstocking new seasonals and offerings from a wide veriety of breweries. Artale's is first a wine store, but fast growing as the go to place for the best variety. The prices are resonable, in line with most liquor stores, slightly higher than the grocery store at times. The service is well worth stopping alone. Anthony is always willing to chat about whats new and help with suggestions. They also offer almost monthly beer tastings, highlighting the new to town brands and seasonals. If they can order it, they will get it for you. Love this place. It has made being a beersnob in this BMC city much easier.

05-06-2011 20:29:46 | More by EROCK75