Farmer's Harvest

msmezher

California

5/5  rDev +5.3%
quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | $$

Farmer's Harvest is easily the best grocery store/liquor store to buy beer in Huntington Beach, maybe even in Orange County. Hi-Time is the only other place I would recommend, and that's not really a comparison considering Mike at Farmer's Harvest used to order beer for Hi-Time. Everything is refrigerated and sold in single bottles (discounts for 6 and 12 pack purchases of 5-10cents/bottle) and their selection is huge. A strong range of styles and prices, ranging from a dollar or so up to 20. Beer tastings are also held in store, and from what it sounds like these events will be top quality (think Pliny good). Oh, and there's a high end grocery/produce store somewhere inside, i'm not too sure where.

09-14-2010 08:08:14 | More by msmezher

CRQuarto

California

5/5  rDev +5.3%
quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | $

Found out about this place by accident, and finally decided to check it out today. The guy who runs the beer department previously was in charge of the same at Hi Times Wine Cellars, so needless to say the man knows beer. Outstanding selection, great prices, and extremely helpful staff. I was amazed at the cleanliness of the store as well as the wonderful organization. The beer is all loose bottles (no six packs here, which removes any excuse you had not to try something), and organized by type, rather than brand, which made it much more fun to pick out new beers. This place will be a regular stop from now on. Heck, I'm even going to grocery shop there, it gives me an excuse to go more often!

08-11-2010 02:46:07 | More by CRQuarto

fadzero

California

5/5  rDev +5.3%
quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | $$

Where do I start?? When I heard that the old bookstore (Bookman 2) was being converted into a grocery store in the strip mall behind my house I was like, hmmm OK? I wondered how such a small space could support a grocery store. I was thinking it would be more like Farmboy or something. Well, they certainly did more than that... The place looks awesome!! Kind of a mini-Sprouts or Whole foods, it actually Reminds me of a store that used to be here in HB in the early 80's called Bells California Farms. Farmer's Harvest has some pretty cool features, 3 self-serve peanut/almond butter machines, and a self-serve juicer for OJ or Tangerine juice. A cool little tasting area for beer, wine, and champagne. The produce section is insane! They sell all the basic produce plus a lot of hard to find items such as lychee, dragon fruit, rambutan, etc. They also carry grocery items, a nice dairy section, flowers, lots of candy, gourmet cheese/sausage, and a newly added meat section!!

Ok, this is beer advocate so i'll cut to the coup de gras of FHM (for me anyway) the ENTIRE east wall of the market is dedicated to beer!! (there's also a nice wine section but I'm not a wine guy so I don't know much about that) Mike runs this section and is very knowledgeable (i heard he comes from Hi-Time, another well known store in the area) They sell Lost Abbey, Bootlegger's, Russian River, avery, Caldera, to name a few, as well as many great imports. I was even lucky enough to be there one night and get my hands on a bottle of PtE (first time i ever had it)!! About twice a week they have beer tastings which helps me because I'm fairly new to this scene! They arrange the beer by style, not brewery, which is kind of cool. All the beer is sold in singles which makes it easy to mix and match. THey offer discounts for 6, 12, 24, etc.. They've recently added some 12 packs of more common beers like Blue Moon, Pacifico, Steinlager etc.. But that's not their primary focus as CVS is right next door.

The service here is outstanding!! These guys really go out of their way to help. The Owners are always willing to drop what they're doing to steer you in the right direction on produce, wine, beer, whatever you need help with. (I've even seen Joe bagging groceries on numerous occasions!!) Yesterday he gave us a little mini-seminar on their new meat section, that was pretty cool!! They also take a lot of customer feedback/requests and are very thorough about meeting Those requests (within reason of course :) So I highly recommend this store to anyone in the area who truly want's an exceptional shopping experience!!

06-30-2010 18:49:27 | More by fadzero

SpdKilz

Illinois

4.7/5  rDev -1.1%
quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | $$$

Stopped here last night at 9:00pm (how great it is open 7am-10pm seven days a week?). The store was empty and Mike was restocking some of the beers from the weekend. As others have stated, there was nothing specifically "out of the ordinary", however, I did find two Jolly Pumpkin beers I was yet to see out here in California (and two that I enjoy) so I did pick those up. However, those two beers were a bit overpriced in my opinion. The other beers (I freaking love they sell singles) were reasonably priced and I spent, as always, way too much money while there. Mike was extremely helpful and after I chatted for a bit let me know of a few special beers they had in the back. I need to make a day trip to that area of California again because there are so many great beer stores around there versus where I live, and again, it was great being able to pick up numerous singles so I can give them a try without having to buy a six pack. I would defiantly go here again.

06-22-2010 03:19:45 | More by SpdKilz

opwog

Minnesota

4.85/5  rDev +2.1%
quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Let me start with something short for the short attention span crowd by saying...WOW!

Now as far as Farmer's Harvest, I have a feeling that there are going to be two different customers that they will have. 1 - people who care enough about their produce that they don't simply pick it up at the grocery store and they then may also grab some good beer. Then there is customer type number 2; which is me and probably more likely anybody reading this review on Beer Advocate...people who want a great beer selection and who may also pick up some snack mix or veggies that their significant other may need to complete dinner.

But as far as the beer, these guys have gotten into this about as full blown as anybody I have seen. There is a very impressive selection already (only been open for a few months) and the pricing is consumer friendly. The one thing that I saw here that I rarely see is that the beer is completely laid out by style. That means that it does take some getting used to when searching for specific beers, because breweries are split up all over this long cooler. I would say that if we could turn back the hands of time, this would have been the better way for all beer shops to lay out their beer, but now it is a matter of retraining how we look for beer. Only time will tell if this lay out will work or not for most customers. I like the idea, but if Joe wasn't there helping me find certain beers, I would have left with only half the haul that I went in intending to buy.

The staff there are all incredibly helpful, knowledgeable and friendly. On my first visit, they didn't have a beer that I wanted, so the clerk noted it. That beer was there on my next visit! Also, they have price breaks at different quantities on many of beers, so definitely look closely at the price tags of your favorite beers. This is a must stop for people living in or visiting HB.

06-09-2010 09:00:30 | More by opwog

DoubleJ

California

4.06/5  rDev -14.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I can't believe how small Farmer's Market is. There's produce, a tasting area, dairy, some assorted "grocery" goods, and a beer/wine aisle. Nothing else.

As for the beer, it's a good selection that should excite beer geeks. The beer is kept in a cold box, and it was very neatly organized. The fact a fair amount of space was still open in the cold box only leaves optimism in how the future beer selection will look. Beers from Bootlegger's, The Bruery, Lost Abbey, St. Bernardus, Cascade, Oskar Blues, Victory, Erdinger, O'Hara's, Mikkeller, and Ommegang represent just a small amount of the beers available. I even saw a small selection of basic beer glassware.

I got the beers I wanted and checked out quickly. It would be have great to run into the head of the beer department, but today wasn't the day. Maybe in the future.

Update 9/13/11: The selection seems to have expanded, lemme up the score.

06-02-2010 05:04:48 | More by DoubleJ

womencantsail

California

4.5/5  rDev -5.3%
quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | $$

This is not your typical beer store. As the name implies, this is a grocery store that focuses on fresh and local produce and "craft" products (ie. candy, snacks, drinks, etc.).

The beer selection is currently pretty impressive, especially considering the fact this store has only been open a couple weeks. A lot of the usual CA beers from Stone, Bruery, Lost Abbey, and Russian River. Some stuff from up the coast a bit too (Cascade, for example) and throughout the country. Quite a nice selection of imported beers as well (mostly German and Belgian).

The prices are at or below average, which is always appreciated and the service was very friendly and helpful.

I would definitely stop in frequently if I lived anywhere near Huntington Beach.

05-28-2010 03:27:47 | More by womencantsail

dcgunman

California

4.5/5  rDev -5.3%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

My first visit to Farmer's Harvest was on Sunday May 16. When you first walk in it reminds me of a very small Trader Joe's type store. Fruits and vegatables, nuts and other products are visable throughout. Walking towards the back (eastside) of the store you come up to a good size refridgerated shevles of craft beers. All in single bottles and some cans. I was a bit confused at first. I am used to looking at breweries or by country when buying beers. They have a section of good German beer. Some good Heffenweisen beer. Then its all craft from there on. Sectioned off by types (ales, stouts, IPA's, some sour, etc.) I met Mike while selecting my brews for the evening. Had a good conversation of what he has stocked and what he is expecting to stock in the very near future. Cant wait. He mentioned that they will have a facebook page online soon (hopefully by the end of the week). The plan is to have at least one taste testing during the week. Maybe two tasting per week. All the craft brews are sold in singles (12oz bottles, 22 oz bottles or 750ml). You will recieve a percentage discount when you buy a 6 pack (mix or match), 12 pack or a case. The discount will be a little more the more you buy. Being this store is just a few minutes from where I live, it is now my new goto place for craft beer.

05-20-2010 15:17:10 | More by dcgunman

Halcyondays

California

4.2/5  rDev -11.6%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

This new store just opened last Saturday so I went over to check out the beer selection. Walking in it's a rather small market, more of a Trader Joe's look than a Whole Foods.

The beer is back against the wall at the very left/east end of the store, 100% refrigerated. What I really like is that everything is sold in singles. The beer is arranged by style not country, state and brewery which threw me for a loop, but soon I got used to it. Very good selection filled with a lot of CA, they had a lot from the Bruery and some Russian River - Consecration, Blind Pig and Damnation. I saw some Angel's Share as well. I talked to Mike about PtE and they said they were working on it, I guess they're in the same boat as the rest of the Orange County bottle shops. Import selection is solid as well. Nothing super rare, I was hoping maybe for some Cantillon and Alpine, but to no avail. Saw some Cascade sours though which I have only seen at The Wine Country and Hi-Times. I picked up a Meantime Coffee Porter (small bottle/never seen this), Allagash Tripel, Victory Golden Monkey and a Bootlegger's Golden Chaos. Everything I've opened so far has been in prime condition.

Prices are at worst standard and at best really good deals. For example I saw some Ten Fidy and GUBNA for $2.79 a can. Not as good collectively as Liquor Warehouse, but nice. If there was a $1.5 option that's what I would put. All and all a welcome addition to the Huntington Beach beer scene, I just wish it wasn't in the southern part of the city.

05-12-2010 21:42:48 | More by Halcyondays