The Hopshop

TheMultiYeast

Pennsylvania

4.73/5  rDev +8%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

The Hopshop is a great bottle shop offering a huge selection of brews.

Located in the basement of a restaurant/craft beer bar, the place is well lit, clean, very organized, and usually has some heady tunes on XM Radio to complement the flatscreen TV.

Most of the staff are young, knowledgeable dudes who share their excitement and willingness to help.

There's a huge selection of bombers from Rogue, Stone, Smuttynose, Otto's, Weyerbacher, Victory... There's also plenty of sixers and twelve packs with 8 rotating growler fills of local and seasonal varieties. The Hopshop also offers glassware from Dogfish head, Ommegang, Duvel, and signature Hopshop glasses.

01-02-2012 22:40:40 | More by TheMultiYeast

TheSevenDuffs

Ontario (Canada)

4.2/5  rDev -4.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$$

Definitely the best bottle shop in State College. It is an A+ for a visit to State College but I won't rate is solely on that criterion.

Atmosphere is really cool. Clean, well organized and most of the beer is refrigerated. Selection is very good, including some great seasonal releases and lots of local bottles. Seemed to be a lot of wasted space that will hopefully be used to increase selection in the future.

Service was very friendly and knowledgeable.

Growler fill station had 4 choices, which was good to see in PA.

A must visit if State College is your destination. A great bottle shop but still room to improve.

10-03-2011 22:51:01 | More by TheSevenDuffs

akorsak

Pennsylvania

4.2/5  rDev -4.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Interviews done, on the way back to the condo. Heister St, you say? Well that's not more than a block out of the way from here.

Atmosphere: The corner of Heister and Calder, the last door before the alley. A short trip downstairs reveals a wide open space, coolers lining three walls with a warm mix-a-six and other new seasonals on shelves. To the left on entrance is a growler station with four taps (2 Elk Creek, 1 Gamble Mill and Yuengling Oktoberfest).

Quality: I like the lay-out, industrial and sparse but loaded with beer goodies. Service was friendly and talkative throughout. A growler station downtown is also a brilliant idea. And yes, they fill all growlers!

Service: I was promptly greeted and has a good banter with the staff. Seems like a good crew that is into craft beer.

Selection: This is where the store differentiated itself from the rest of the downtown bottle shop scene. Beer, beer and more beer. I was immediately drawn to the preponderance of Dogfish Head, including Life & Limb (and plenty of it too). The coolers nearest the growler station are singles, bombers and dinner bottles. Stone, DFH, Smuttynose, Malheur, Otto's, Troegs. Just a smattering. The remaining rows of coolers are for six packs (again Otto's and PA beers are plentiful). Finally, warm bottles are available for mixed packs, although the selection available to mix seemed a little pedestrian. Oh yeah, still has some Ithaca 13 and Brooklyn Sorachi Ace as well. I left with Life & Limb and Sorachi Ace. I'll be getting more this weekend.

Food: N/A

09-22-2011 00:30:32 | More by akorsak