Beverage Warehouse

beer2day

North Carolina

3.88/5  rDev -6.7%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Located at the back of a industrial strip shopping center. Not sure what I was getting into, but glad I found it and glad I stopped in.

Cold beer is limited to one small cooler opposite the registers in the front. Warm beer area is large and all the way in the back and quite extensive. I was able to find plenty that I was looking for to fill my checked bags for the trip back east. Lots of Alaskan, AleSmith, Stone (plenty of 15th), and Drake's to make me happy.

Service, though a bit standoffish at first, was actually very pleasant when I checked out.

Hard to find, not easy to get to, but worth a stop.

09-23-2011 01:04:09 | More by beer2day

keithmurray

Louisiana

3.45/5  rDev -17.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 2.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

Visited this place on many occasions, figured I owed 'em a review.

Pretty decent selection of craft/import beers, the usual Samuel Smith/Samuel Adams/Lagunitas/Stone offerings that you can find in most places. The place looks like a large industrial warehouse, but everything is well organized. Prices are fair, on par with a lot of other stores in LA that sell craft beer. Only thing is they only carry stuff that you can find anywhere else, if you are looking for rare, one off beers, this isn't the place for you. You better know what you are looking for though, i'v been to this place maybe a dozen times and not once has anyone ever asked me if I needed help, which was all well and good, since I usually have an idea of what I need before I go there. Overall, decent place to get your craft beer fix.

04-10-2011 04:06:48 | More by keithmurray

nightwing002

California

4.06/5  rDev -2.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

i've been going to this place for awhile now since it is just 5 mins away from my parents house. hidden away from the main street next to a residential area.

they have a wide selection of beer, wine, and alcohol. they carry stuff that you wouldn't find at regular liquor or grocery stores. all of their products are organized and displayed in an easy to find order.

the beer section is extensive. they carry the usual popular market beers, but also carry craft brews and have a large european selection. i usually get my alesmith, russian river, rogue, rochefort, or great divide beers here. the only downer to this place is that they usually don't get the hard to find craft brews. i also love getting my beer glasses here. you can get steins, duvel tulips, yards, and pilsners.

the staff is knowledgeable. but don't except them to go up to you. you have to hunt them down for help. but once you get them they are helpful.

overall, this is a place where you can fulfill most of your craft beer needs.

03-12-2011 23:57:54 | More by nightwing002

jkaiser150

Florida

4.65/5  rDev +11.8%
quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

took a bus here from the airport on a sunday, had to walk the last mile and a half, sheer torture.
finally got there and two guys said hello, told them i came from orlando for their beer, they took pitty on me and answered my quest for pliny and damnation
it was a tough being in there, i had little time, normally in a place like this i would have spent close to $50-75 but i was on strict budget and time. do you understand what i;m saying, i was so pressed for time i couldn;t look at anything.
the guy got me the beers, double bagged it for me and i was ready to walk again, this time for 6 miles. good god. only did it for the pliny and damnation, never again.
place is on my list for next time if i have a car.

08-21-2010 03:02:06 | More by jkaiser150

psiweaver

Washington

3.7/5  rDev -11.1%
quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $$

This used to be my go to beer store. I find that it is very hit and miss, some weeks I go in and they have a ton of items that I want, other weeks I got in and they seem to have nothing of interest. They do have a large selection. The staff are generally helpful. They don't tend to get many rare items, and not a lot of the Lost Abbey items. Overall very reliable and with a pretty good selection just nothing that will blow you away or get you all giddy.

They do have a great alcohol selection though so there is definitely some other interesting things that can be found/had while you are there.

05-20-2010 02:43:07 | More by psiweaver

tjensen3618

California

4/5  rDev -3.8%
quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 5 | $$

It's just as the name implies, it's a warehouse with a lot of beverages. The wall of beer has the lineups from most companies you'd think to see in So. Cal. Rogue, Lagunitas, Stone, etc. A great selection of Belgian, English and German beers.

The row of boxes opposite the beer wall has some finds if you dig through them, I spotted several beers that i had never seen anywhere else. I also found myself a St. Bernardus gift pack that was really nice.

The staff was just there to check people out, I didn't get the impression that they were there to answer many questions. However, I don't mind that as i usually don't find the need to ask clerks questions about beer.

A definite stop in the unfortunate event that I find myself on the 405 in that area again.

03-16-2010 05:38:47 | More by tjensen3618

GJ40

North Carolina

3.55/5  rDev -14.7%
quality: 2.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

This place was right by my hotel during a business trip but I almost missed it because they're only open from 9 AM to 6 PM on weekdays. Fortunately we managed to get out of our meetings early one day.

Beverage Warehouse has a nice selection of beer from CA, the rest of the US and Europe. The selection is very good but it's not particularly well organized or displayed. Given that it's a warehouse, I wouldn't hold that against them. I focused on the locals and was able to pick up some AleSmith (IPA & Speedway Stout) and Russian River (PyE & Blind Pig). I always try to take some west coast IPAs back when I'm out there. Unfortunately they were out of Ballast Point Sculpin & Dorado.

The guys in the place were helpful and knowledgeable. Overall the prices were good. Some seemed high but most were on the low to average side. The PtY was only $4.29 which is lower than I pay in Seattle.

As I started to drink the beers I'd brought back, I started to see a pattern. First off, I noticed that the Blind Pig was four months old (although the PtE was only two weeks old). It was pretty dry and the hops had certainly faded. Then, I opened a Marin IPA and it was way too carbonated and dry as well. The AleSmith IPA wasn't bad but it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. I think the warm conditions at BW played a role in all of these. With the garage doors wide open all day, the heat seems to be even higher than most places without refrigeration. The guy behind the counter mentioned that RR requires them to refrigerate their beer and I can see why.

I can't say for sure that the beer spoiled because of the conditions at BW but I'm not sure I'd take the chance again. When I'm back in the area, I'll stick to the refrigerated RR and check the dates more carefully.

07-23-2009 12:10:19 | More by GJ40

GRG1313

California

4.24/5  rDev +1.9%
vibe: 3.75 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | $

This place is a real sleeper. Extensive mailings with adds for wine, champagne, and the like but never beer! Huge spirit and wine selections, as well a a large soft drink and water section.

However, the beer selection is also one of the best in the city, as long as you don't expect too much help or too much in the way of service. Huge selection-Belgians, Germans, English and, of course, domestic craft. Good prices with a constant change in stock.

I recommend a periodic visit to this place. I've met some real beer aficionados, home brewers and just some very interesting people roaming the beer aisles. Worth a visit!

05-25-2009 05:41:45 | More by GRG1313

skillerified

Illinois

3.8/5  rDev -8.7%
quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 5 | $$

Stopped by yesterday while on a short visit to LA.

The best part about the place is the selection. I found it to be quite extensive, but this is also the only place that I've ever shopped for beer in CA before at the time of this writing. Still, in comparison to what I can find back home in Texas, the selection was certainly well above average. It looks like they may have expanded the beer selection a little since some of the previous reviews as it now covers basically an aisle and a half at the back corner of the store. Lots of brews I hadn't seen before. Managed to score a couple bottles of Goose Island Bourbon County Stout of which it looked like they only had one case. Picked up a few Russian Rivers as well.

The quality is maybe a bit of a problem. I don't know how warm it can get here in CA and I've been actually a little surprise at how cool it's been since I got here, but if it ever did manage to get much over 85 or 90 degrees outside I would be concerned about the storage of the brews here. Everything is wide open. I'm not sure if the place was air conditioned or not, but my experience of working in warehouses (and this is literally a warehouse) is that they are not. Still, I've already tried some of what picked up and haven't had any problems. I guess I'd just always prefer to see everything in a cooler, you know?

Customer service was non-existent, but I wasn't really looking for any help anyway. I couldn't tell the difference between the people who were just passionate customers and the actual employees for the most part.

I think the value was high. I didn't spend too much money and got some pretty good stuff. It's comparable to anywhere else I've been in the country anyway.

All in all, a pretty solid beer destination. Definitely worth a stop if you're in the area.

03-08-2009 14:55:37 | More by skillerified

brewseum

Minnesota

4.15/5  rDev -0.2%
quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Being from MN,I needed to find some bombers to bring back with me,and Beverage Warehouse is a great stop to get you "beer on"

One of the guys hooked me up with wine shippers which allow you to pack 3 bombers in a styro shell,which was GOLDEN for checked baggage on a plane.

I met Dan Ackroyd coming out of the men's room,he was there to sign some of his signature wine.

Picked up Pliny the Elder,Ten Fidy,Russian River,Old Viscosity,Dogfish Head and Hair of the Dog,to name a few notables.Like a previous reviewer said,its good to utilize a GPS to find this place.Its well worth the trip though...

01-26-2009 17:16:49 | More by brewseum