U Pick 6 Beer Store

Axic10

Pennsylvania

3.45/5  rDev -13.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 2 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5 | $$

Stopped here twice over my vacation visiting family in Erie over the Christmas holiday. Probably the best selection of bottles and maybe even drafts in Erie (not saying much though) at very reasonable prices.

The service was not good at all, as I was ignored both times I was there even though I was sitting at the bar.

Overall I'd stop again (probably just to get take out), but I never thought when I moved from Erie there'd be a place that offers American Micros and has a decent Belgian selection as well.

12-31-2010 22:52:51 | More by Axic10

Holmes698

Pennsylvania

4.38/5  rDev +10.3%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4.75 | food: 3.25 | $$$

First off I live in Erie, PA. Overall there are only a few bottle shops and grocery stores that carry craft beer. I feel U Pick 6 is one of the reasons that craft has grown in popularity in Erie. The atmosphere is great, and so is the tap selection. Cheers!

01-28-2013 17:39:35 | More by Holmes698

2livers

Florida

4.65/5  rDev +17.1%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

MY first post. Suprised this place hasn't popped up on the BA radar yet. It's the latest venture for the U Pick 6 crew with a great location on Peach & 4th. I was out of town working in the area and a local guy pictched it to me. Went for lunch on a weekday afternoon last week.

Walked in and felt instant bond. It's all about the beer! Unused pulls stick up all around the perimeter at the top of the walls. Totally suds oriented stuff hanging all over the walls.

Sat down at the bar and had instant service to sample the wares. Amazing! Great variety of choices, and having been exposed to the WOB experience in FL, I was suprised I didn't recognize many of the drafts on display. "Kid" and "candy store" describe it the best.

Ordered the beer braised sausage and sweet potato salad that Molly recommended and got served soon after. Good stuff!

As for the beer? I love firsts, and the Stone offering they had in the cask at room temp was "exciting and new". The Love Boat crew couldn't have made the my time more enjoyable. That's all I'm gonna say about that. Experience it for yourself:)

03-04-2012 17:35:09 | More by 2livers

beachfirebrews

Pennsylvania

4.6/5  rDev +15.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I live in a craft beer desolate location about an hour from Erie, so I'm always excited to stop by U Pick 6 and do so almost anytime I'm in the area.

The first time I stopped by was preceded by about 30min of driving around plazas, until I finally realized it was located in a small side plaza with a small sign that says "Beer Store'. Well worth the search though!

This place has a great atmosphere. Very nice bar area and a small area in the back with couches and a TV. Always has good music playing too.

The bottle selection here is about the best you will find in NW PA and they usually have at least 4-6 hard to find beers on tap, along with a few local favorites. Their bottle prices aren't too bad either, especially for PA.

Overall, this is a great place to stop, whether you are looking for a six pack, a few bombers or a pint or two.

12-22-2011 05:16:51 | More by beachfirebrews

dogfishandi

New York

4.2/5  rDev +5.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$$

drove down from buffalo to see what beers i could score that werent in NY, also to meet up with a fellow BA to trade for some KBS. all in all, this is a nice little place to visit if your in town, i ended up walking away with a bunch of bell's and voodoo. besides these and a few others there selection looks a lot like what i get in buffalo, ST, flying dog, DFH, victory, weyerbacher, sam smiths, lots of belgians, and lots of your staples like SN and stone.

a nice bar at the front with about ten taps available for pints right there or growler fills. they serve food, but from what i understand its just to get around the pennslyvania distro laws. in the back they have a whole wall of coolers stocked with six packs. the lady working there was very helpful in getting me some singles together and seemed to know what she had in stock and what was coming in.

overall: this was a nice place to visit, i prolly wouldnt make the drive again just for this place, but if i was in the area id be sure to stop in. also, i wish buffalo had a place like this, a bar and a store in one.

03-27-2011 17:01:50 | More by dogfishandi

PittRooney

Pennsylvania

4.13/5  rDev +4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

Definitely the place to go in Erie for craft beer, whether on tap or by the bottle. Although it is a little bit pricier than Wegman's which is just down the road, the selection is much better. They are also much more likely to have limited availability beers or ones that are hard to find in NWPA. This is not the place to go if you need help making a beer selection, however. You are generally not helped, is hard to find someone to help you, and are treated like your business is not needed. That being said, I do frequent U Pick 6 and is the only place I will go in Erie because if they don't have it, nobody else does.

Update 3.20.11
Since originally posting this review, I have been to UP6 many times. I can honestly say that the service and attention to detail has improved. My friends and I made a special trip up there to drink cowbell and watch a game and sat in the back on the couches and the gentleman behind the bar was more than accommodating. He went out of his way to make sure we were taken care of as far as drinks were concerned as well as food. Even when we went back to the bar to order more beers, he poured them and brought them back to us where we were sitting. Compared to my previous experiences, the past few have been very enjoyable. In my experiences recently, it really seems that everyone is going out of their way to ensure that their patrons are more than taken care of. This is a very welcomed change and only makes the experience even better!

02-13-2011 22:07:26 | More by PittRooney

alemkr

Pennsylvania

3.01/5  rDev -24.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 1 | selection: 4 | $$

I have visited the establishment about a half dozen times. the selection is fair to good (temps a bit off), the prices are reasonable and the atmosphere is inviting. There is a good selection of Belgian and specialty beers.

I have met the owner who does not help the places image whatsoever. Depending on who is serving the experience can vary from very bad to very good. My last trip there was spoiled by the snot behind the bar. However it does have some of the very finest servers in the area. Pick your visit time carefully.

01-13-2011 18:30:26 | More by alemkr

radioscooter

Pennsylvania

3.06/5  rDev -22.9%
vibe: 2 | quality: 4 | service: 1.5 | selection: 4 | $$$

Who'd have thought - a "bottle store" worth visiting in Erie, PA. Shocking but true.

I met the (an?) owner when they were getting ready to open a year or so ago and he was a nice, enthusiastic, helpful dude. He steered me completely wrong on a beer, but he meant well. (Back then he didn't know the difference between the good but easily attainable Big Black Voodoo Daddy and the Black Magick bourbon keg brewed stouts by Voodoo Brewery and he sent me to Wegman's PROMISING that he had seen the BM there earlier that same day. Of course he was wrong. But - let's forgive that for the moment.)

Selection was great. I was happily surprised by the presence of some HTF Belgians. Yes, of course they have the never-ending supplies of over-hopped hippie-named craft brews. But most places that go this route overlook the real Belgians and European Masters from whence everything came and thankfully this wasn't the case here.

Waitress was UNhelpful and sportin' a 'tude. And like so many PA beer stores, there's a ridiculous arcane set of hoops you have to go through to make up a 6-pack of bottles. Here's the irony - "YOU" do NOT pick. YOU write down (yes with a pen and paper) and then THEY pick out the bottles for you.

Conversely, the bartender was very helpful and made up a great 6 of Scotch Ales and stouts I hadn't tried.

Prices on mixed sixes were surprisingly good, actually. Prices on Belgians were high.

Didn't stay for any food or tap tasting and nothing there was so tempting that I wanted to stay anyway. But maybe another day.

UPDATE 3/20/2011: 2nd & 3rd trips here in February were sadly worse. 1. Got a tip that they had some Voodoo Black Magick. CALLED ahead when I was literally 5 minutes away. The woman who answered said "yes we have 4 here." Great. Can you hold them, I'll be RIGHT there. "Yes, they'll be at the bar." Got there 5 min later, no woman in sight. Asked bartender for the BM - "No we're all sold out." Explained what the woman on phone had said. He gets visibly irritated, reached behind the bar and brings up two bottles. Clearly he had tried to secure them for himself or someone else. I asked about other 2 and he said that was all that were available. Still acting like I was doing something wrong the whole tiime. 2. Later that night, got a tip from Pittrooney that they had Cowbell on nitro tap, went back up by myself and sat at the bar to try some. Bad service, bad attitude. The bartender was humorless and did that thing where his "friends" (maybe just regulars, who knows) were valued & more important than someone he didn't know. I understand why, but I managed a bar for years in a real resort town - you can do it better and slicker and less overtly so you don't piss off potential new regulars. He also was vindictive and over the top to a woman (that I didn't know) who was being admittedly boisterous.

None of this is so-so bad. But it all adds up to a lesser than comfortable atmosphere. I come to Erie every month. I'd LOVE a place like this to hang out at. But not in its current form. Ain't gonna happen. They should hire an experienced retail food service marketing consultant. Hey, I do this for a living and am available! LOL

11-24-2010 23:28:38 | More by radioscooter

bamadog

Kentucky

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

I looked this place up for a place to hopefully stop by and get some BBVD (and totally got it!) while home in NW PA recently. Took me a bit of driving around a small plaza to locate it, but I did and it was well worth the stop and 1/2 hour delay in my drive to my current residence in KY.

Quality: Nice! This guy offers some really nice stuff -- a nice selection of a bulk of the Voodoo Brewing offerings, a lot of nice Belgian offerings, a lot of Rogue, Lagunitas... Just good stuff overall, along with the ubiquitous but likely necessary BMC offerings to remain in business. The nice thing about this place is that I was able to buy freaking singles, which is virtually unheard of in PA (at least in this part of the state - I understand that things are a little different in some stores in Philly, but I never get over there). Major props.

Service: When I was in there, the owner was actually just opening it up and he was very friendly and helpful. He was also very interested in the notion that I found his place on BA and congratulated him for having such a cool store. He pretty much left me alone to shop, but was able to answer my pricing questions with no problems, and he seemed to know the various styles and breweries that were offered.

Selection: While it's not the biggest selection I've ever seen (it's hard to compete with the likes of The Party Source in Bellevue, KY), it was definitely solid and if I ever had the great misfortune to ever have to live in NW PA again, I would gladly make the hour drive to Erie just to shop here.

Value: I felt good about what I dropped for what I picked up.

04-18-2010 18:47:08 | More by bamadog

mtnbikerpa

Pennsylvania

4.35/5  rDev +9.6%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$$

My wife and I visited U Pick 6, because I saw a sign that said "Beer Store" on the front of the building. And what we found was quite a wonderful surprise. Upon entering we spotted and spoke to Matt Allen from Voo Doo Brewing. And waited a few minutes and got to try the new Voo Doo Cowbell milk stout which was awesome.

U pick 6 had 12 brews on tap total. Others included Erie Ol Red, a Lambic, SN Harvest and Celebration, Bells 3rd coast old ale, Rogue Yellow Snow and a few others.

Bottle selection was great including many seasonals. I got a couple bombers of Southern Tier Chokat, Krampus, a double Dead Guy, and an oaked aged Yeti.

12-25-2009 16:33:31 | More by mtnbikerpa