B & B Liquor Store

Realale

Missouri

4.5/5  rDev +21%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Review updated as of June 24, 2007: Selection is still excellent for Michigan craft, Stone, and Belgians. Nice, but a spottier elsewhere. Since I hit the store for Michigan craft beer, I'm well hooked-up. Please, don't be shy about stepping into the cooler and checking the dark, cool shelves there, where I found many additional selections not repeated in the cooler door displays or the warm shelves. Very friendly staff continues to be a great asset. No out of code product noted. A great choice if you're on the opposite side of town from Siciliano's.

Original review:

Great selection crammed into this tiny shop. Emphasis on Belgians and Michigan Micros, which was exactly what I was looking for. Excellent selection of single bottles from the Michigan producers, with a broad range of Bell's, Dark Horse, New Holland, Founder's and others. Lots of large bottles of Belgians as well.

Some dust, but the shop itself was quite cool, and all of the backstock appeared to be in the cooler. Will alter the quality after I have a chance to sample the beers if necessary.

Friendly, helpful staff who are genuinely interested in beers. Worth a special trip.

06-25-2007 00:02:01 | More by Realale

jmichaeldesign

Colorado

4.65/5  rDev +25%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | $$

Stopped in pretty close to closing time. It looked close as a pulled up as it was dimly lit, but the open sign was on so I walked in. Once I thought about it, a beer store should be dimly lit. It was just light enough to see everything easily.

Instantly I was wowed by the selection. A few rarities I haven't seen anywhere else in town. Namely DFH Red and White and Urthel Hop-It. By far the best selection of imports I've seen, and a great selection of Michigan beers.

The only staff I talked made it clear he would answer any questions, but he wasn't in my face. For me thats a huge plus, I hate the used car salesman trying to sell me beer.

Prices were a bit random. Most were average to a bit lower than average for the area. Some were far lower, but a few were quite high.

05-01-2007 21:19:06 | More by jmichaeldesign

rsyberg01

California

4.65/5  rDev +25%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | $$

Stopped in Grand Rapids after DLD. This was one of the stops I hadnt really planned but hopped on the net and looked it up. Pretty much a spontaneous stop, and what a stop it was. Picked up two four packs of Great Lakes Black out, 10 bottles of KBS, SA Chocolate bock, and some stone goods. They have a great selection including plenty of Michigan locals like Founders, Jolly Pumpkin, Dark Horse. Micros like Stone, DFH, Rogue, Brooklyn, O'Fallon, etc.... Had about 12 cases of devil dancer left. Not to mention the fantastic service, the nice lady who was working that day waived our deposit fee because we were from out of town. Definitely a must stop. I loved it.

04-30-2007 21:29:33 | More by rsyberg01

nortmand

Virginia

4.65/5  rDev +25%
quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$$

Small place that I wasn't even seeking out, but passed and recognized from the greatest tool on the internet.

Everything I bought was high quality, very fresh, or well stored.

The lady behind the counter, I presume the owner, was very friendly, recommending beers basd on what we bought and telling us of her travels to buy the stuff. It was a nice experience.

Not a huge selection of himebrew supplies, but I almost picked up some yeast, and would have if I'd had a cooler. Beer selection is focused on Belgian beers, and their selection is more than ample. Also, quite the selection (both size and variety) of Hitachino and plenty of out of state micros that are not available in Lansing.

A good stop if you're in that part of town and your wife is at Nordstrom's Rack. A bit pricey, but it seems that the owner goes to great lengths to provide the selection that she does.

09-18-2006 22:07:22 | More by nortmand

SupaCelt

Michigan

3.85/5  rDev +3.5%
quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5

B&B had a decent crop of Michigan brews as well as your DogFish Head stuff and other common findings of a shop of this nature. Overall the selection is bested by Sicilianos, but they are certainly holding their own. They seemed to have a decent stock of foreigners, although I have not really been seeking out these and am relatively naive about them. I am always fearful of getting a shitty tasting bottle when it comes to imports as transit time and shelf lingering seem to have offed the flavor of certain things I have tried. Unless they just taste cruddy to begin with. Anyhow, they have a homebrewing section that looks like just your basic requirements. I am not a beer maker myself but the other store that I already namedropped looks to have a wider variety of options available. They did have a gigantic jug La Fin Du Monde ( bigger than the regular big bottles Unibroue offers, I did not look at the volume contained though ) that would be nice to save for a celebration. I also came across Bell's Batch 6000. They had Arcadia #999 too which I wish was sold as a single, but they would not let me get just one which kinda sucked. This place would be better if you could break sixers or four packs that are not designated as single sales at this time. The service was not what I would call stellar. They asked if we needed help but they weren't overly social. Just a cashier and a stocker who were doing their jobs. All in all, well worth the gander. I will return.

03-29-2005 17:51:51 | More by SupaCelt

Silphium

Michigan

3.7/5  rDev -0.5%
quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5

This is my second-favorite beer stop in Grand Rapids. Plenty of beers are crammed into one small aisle and a case of coolers. Nice domestic selection of Founders, Bells, Arcadia, New Holland, Dark Horse, etc. Also carries Dogfish Head, Rogue, Avery, and the other better domestic micros available in West Michigan. Most of these are available as singles, but if they aren't in the coolers, don't expect to be able to break a six-pack. Every now and then a rarity like Bells Batch 5000 or New Holland Y2K Barleywine appears in the coolers.

This store bests its local competitors in its nice (for the area) Belgian selection, harboring a handful of lambics as well as saisons like DuPont Avec les bons Vouex. Rochefort was here before it appeared anywhere else, although a sign falsely proclaimed the bottles were "aged 5 years," a claim that was quickly disproven by a glance at the "best by" date.

One nice thing about this store is that they don't put every last case they order out on the floor right away, so some beers that disappear elsewhere tend to stick around here for awhile.

01-10-2005 21:49:32 | More by Silphium

granger10

Wisconsin

4.05/5  rDev +8.9%
quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | $$$

This place is newly remodeled on 28th street just east of Breton. It's kind of hidden so you would have to look for it to see it. The store is a little on the small side but seems quite clean which is nice. The beer selection is one of the best in GR. Great microbrew selection of (some New Holland I don't see anywhere else). The Belgian selection is also the best I have seen in GR. I was there looking for quite awhile and got no service but the lady working seemed nice enough, just not too helpful when it came to beer. Prices are reasonable. Homebrew section is much weaker than Siciliano's.

04-14-2004 14:29:43 | More by granger10

CortexBomb

Michigan

4.15/5  rDev +11.6%
quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4

I guess I've been spoiled on other stores, but B&B strikes me as a middle of the road place to pick up brews. They have a decent selection of locals, including most of the more obscure Bell's offerings that I'd otherwise have to visit the brewery to get (ie: Harry's Spiced Stout, Trumpeter, so on) as well as stuff from the Great Lakes company, Founders, and some imports, but they only have a couple coolers of singles that have interest to me with the others being filled with wine coolers and macroswill.

Selection on the shelves is quite a bit better though; 4/6 packs of some harder to find items, and much more impressively, a great array of Belgians both in small and large bottle form. I, alas, rarely have enough spare money to buy a decent selection of Belgians at one time, but if you are looking for some variety on that front this is a good place to go, the best variety I've found in western MI actually.

Main knock on this place is it's location, dead in the middle of 28th Street with no easy way to get in and out. When I'm in the area I swing by to check out their selection, but I rarely make a special trip unless I'm dying for an obscure Bell's offering.

01-17-2004 01:44:05 | More by CortexBomb