Woodman's Food Market

beveragecaptain

New Jersey

4/5  rDev -0.7%
quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | $

I probably buy more beer at Woodman's than anywhere else. There are two reasons for this: 1. Woodman's has the best prices around. 2. Woodman's has the largest selection around. Not the best selection in Madison, but surely the largest. During a trip to Woodman's, I typically follow the same route, which I'll describe. As you walk in the door, follow the wall to your left past all the crap. You'll notice an especially large selection of 40s along the way. Ignore them. Once you reach the corner, that's where the good stuff starts. Almost all of the beers is in chilled.

The wall starts with with imported singles. Some weird Eastern European beers you never see. The usual lineup of English beers, although more than you usually see in one place. This is followed by some specialty singles of American microwbrews, like Great Divide, Fish Brewing, and Rogue. Next comes a pretty good selection of Belgians: several St. Bernardus, Rochefort, etc. This wall of singles ends with the biggest and best selection of German beers I've seen. All the standards, and plenty of rareties. If continue along this aisle, there are some six and four packs of imports.

Crossing over to the other side of the aisle, you will see a pretty good selection of local beers in six packs. This is followed by a great selection of domestic singles, and you can make your own six pack for $7.50. I've sampled a lot of tasty beers from this cooler that I might not have tried otherwise, like Arcadia London Porter, several Founder's beers, and several beers from Lakefront. This wall ends with a good selection of non-local American beers in six packs. Lots of Bells, Great Lakes, Dogfish Head, Great Divide, and many more. If you continue along the back wall, there are a few Sampler packs from good breweries, but most of the rest of the beer here is crap.

Service is fine. They leave me alone for the most part, which is fine by me. As I said earlier, prices are generally better than any other place in Madison. For beer stores in Madison, I pretty much get everything I need between Woodman's, Steve's, and Riley's

12-01-2005 01:53:07 | More by beveragecaptain

DaPeculierDane

Wisconsin

4.2/5  rDev +4.2%
quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | $

Best Grocery Store for beer period. They have it all, but surprisingly their prices aren't always better then some of the little neighborhood shops so I go to them more often than Woodman’s.

Huge selection and they seem to sell enough that their beers aren’t ever expired. They also tend to put beers that are about to expire, on ridiculously cheap specials.

With a few rare exceptions (real high end Belgians mainly) if it’s available in Madison, Woodman’s has it and for a competitive price.

I also dig all the mega huge selections of Huber/Reinlander/PBR/Highlife/etc… cases for super cheap.

At Woodman’s, I feel like a kid in a candy store.

***The westside Woodman's has a better singles selection than the eastside.***

WARNING: You will not find Lake Louie or Central Waters Beers here!!!

11-04-2005 19:17:15 | More by DaPeculierDane

dirtylou

Washington

4.2/5  rDev +4.2%
quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | $

Ok, for what it is, Woodmans has BY FAR the best selection for a grocery store that i have ever seen...this makes every whole foods i have been to look like freaking amateurs

woodmans is a huge grocery store on the west side(havent been to the east side location) with a seperate liquor store...the beer selection is pretty mind boggling.

a grocery store loaded with belgians, rogues, avery bombers, great divide bombers, etc. they have all the locals you would expect to find anywhere else(except lake louie, i think?) and on top of that they have tons of local singles at great prices....They have all the Fish brewing company beers at the downtown stores, at better prices...batch 7000 6 packs...a bunch of seasonals I had not seen (okt/pumpkin)...just a ridiuclous amount of beer for a grocer

they are 0/3 on ringing up my mixed 6 packs correctly as well, all in my favor

10-25-2005 03:17:24 | More by dirtylou

Golden2wenty1

Wisconsin

3.85/5  rDev -4.5%
quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | $

Two locations here in Madison, West Side on Gammon Rd. and East Side on Milwaukee St. For being a grocery store liquor department, it is truly a sight to behold. The place is simply enormous with a gigantic selection of liquor and wine and tons of beer as well. The whole perimeter of the store is beer, with hundreds of feet of cold cases of mostly swill beer but a very solid selection of the good stuff too. Just about every Wisconsin micro available, a solid representation from regional micros and a few coastals. Have a very nice singles cooler as well, mostly imports, but a few domestic crafts as well, i.e. Rogue, Bear Rep. About 10 brands of mini-kegs which can be fun. The prices are without a doubt the lowest around for beer and liquor alike. If only there were a campus location, I'd go broke. Perhaps it's better that way. Defintitely give it a look if you're in town, along with Riley's and Steve's for the harder to find singles.

07-30-2005 17:58:48 | More by Golden2wenty1

Sixpoint

New York

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

There are a lot of people who claim this is the best selection in Madison, but I can't agree. I think Steve's Liquor on Mineral Point is the best, even though the volume of beer is not as impressive as Woodman's.

Woodman's West struggles because 80-90% of the beer is stuff you would never want to drink. They carry just about every brand of macrobrew imaginable, and it occupies most of there shelf space.

There is one long continuous aisle of domestics, but for the most part, many of them are not that impressive. They have stuff like New Glarus, Flying Dog, Summit, and Goose lsland... but in the Midwest, you can get those anywhere.

Their imports are lengthy, but once again, they're not that impressive. They have the traditional Belgian Ales (like Chimay, Youngs, etc.), but the last time I was there, nothing extraordinary.

You can always count on them having an ample supply though, and the beers seem to be kept cold and are rotated regularly. Overally, you probably won't be disappointed, unless you are snobby like me.

02-23-2005 04:20:26 | More by Sixpoint

daledeee

Iowa

3.7/5  rDev -8.2%
quality: 4 | service: 2 | selection: 5

I love going to Madison. My wife goes for quilt fabric so I get to go for beer! Fair tradeoff huh?

This is one huge grocery store with one huge liquor/beer department. They have a great selection of American micro, macro and imported.

Unfortunately, they help was nonexistant, the checker was grouchy and would not greet me and I bought some skunky beer.
I bought 8 kinds of beer but one bad one is too many.

10-23-2003 20:35:35 | More by daledeee

ethosx19

Wisconsin

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

Woodman's has the best prices in Madison on food, and more importantly, beer. I get a mixed six pack every time I come in. Selection is good for imports and regional beers. The staff can't always answer my questions, but the low prices are what keep me coming back.

12-23-2002 08:42:28 | More by ethosx19

cokes

Wisconsin

3.85/5  rDev -4.5%
quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | $

Best selection in Madison, hands down. The mix and match six packs are an incredible deal (assuming the cooler is well stocked). Best prices too.
Most anything from the region. And a good survey of brews from across the nation. Just tons of stuff. It would literally take years to get through it all. New stuff all the time.
It is a grocery store, so staff is only present to ring things up. Friendly and accomodating, but far from scholarly when it comes to beer. Still, the little things shine, like encouraging oktoberfest face-offs with the aforemention mix and match deals.
The Import (vintage) beer cooler is impressive as well. Load of Belgians and other stronger brews, domestic and otherwise.
Great place.
But the policy is cash or check, only....it is a good thing because it tends to limit my spending.

11-04-2002 21:17:46 | More by cokes