Ray's Wine and Spirits

emerge077

Illinois

4.2/5  rDev -2.6%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $

Ray's is cool. The majority of the beer is in the coolers, a stack of seasonal cases is towards the end. There is a ton of glassware, a ton. Trappist, WI pints, etc. line the top of the coolers in the beer section.

Many import singles, Mikkeller, Cantillon, a few others. Current NG unplugged and a few other craft singles from Ale Asylum, Grand Teton, and others. Saint Somewhere, a couple Jolly Pumpkin, Cantillon, several others. Plently of Belgians paired with their glassware. Fancy vines over the wine area. Carpeting throughout the store, probably helps the bottles bounce. Imports are probably the strong suit here, but there was plenty in the way of local craft options.

Friendly checkout, the guy stocking the beer area answered my beer question easily. Recommended on the west side, but it doesn't hold a candle to Discount...

11-28-2009 07:28:37 | More by emerge077

crossovert

Wisconsin

4.1/5  rDev -4.9%
quality: 5 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $

It's no north avenue just down form the mall in a "downtownish" area. It has a nice decent sized parking lot.

Outside it looks like Discount, inside it is a bit nicer, witch carpeted floors. Most of the beer is in coolers which can be good and bad, they max out the shelf space, above there is an array of moderately priced glassware.

Some say there are more selections here than Discount, but that simply isn't true, while the selection in here is good, there are at least 300 more varieties that I would say Discount has. If you are on the North or West side, this might be your place, but discount is only minutes away anyways.

I didn't have anybody help me, but there was a guy patrolling the beer section who looked like he could be helpful.

02-06-2010 21:33:58 | More by crossovert

beerwolf77

Wisconsin

4/5  rDev -7.2%
quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

I finally got to Rays the other day and I must say it's a decent craft beer stop. The L shaped craft cooler stretches from the front of the store all the way to the back then cuts over about half way.A nice plus that most of their craft stuff is kept cold. They had a few North American crafts I've never seen before but all imports were standard. They have a shelf that is labled "Beer Geek" which I thought was cute if unneccessary.

The help was courteous. I beleive I was asked several times if I needed any help.

Overall all dates seemed within acceptable range and the selection was nice. The huge glassware selection was top notch for sure. It's a bit out of my way so I probably won't make this a regular stop since it really doesn't rival my usual haunts.

07-05-2010 20:28:39 | More by beerwolf77

BeerBelcher

Ohio

3.85/5  rDev -10.7%
quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$

I visited Ray's at the suggestion of a friend who is a long-time Milwaukee resident. It is a well-organized store with an extensive wine and beer selection. The import selection here is much more interesting than the craft beer selection, although there are many varieties of both. Selection of singles is mostly confined to imports...it seemed to me that most of the US crafts were sold in multipacks.

When I first walked through the door, I noticed most of the floor space is devoted to wine, with all beer in coolers along two walls of the store. The store staff greeted me, but didn't bother me as I scoured through the imported single serves.

Unlike some others, this store is clean and well-organized, and in a way, is a reflection of the rather yuppie-schic Wauwatosa neighborhood which houses it (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Overall, I thought the selection was good, but not great and the level of service seemed fine but not great. This is a nice place, but I feel that my mix of Milwaukee liquor stores satisfies my needs. When I want import selection, Discount; when I want US craft selection (stored in dark fridges), then Breeze-Thru; and when I want service, I drive up to Murray's. While this is a perfectly serviceable store, it just didn't identify a superlative that would bring me back to this store.

01-24-2007 19:14:15 | More by BeerBelcher

zeff80

Missouri

4/5  rDev -7.2%
quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

What a surprise! I stumbled upon this place while my father-in-law was getting the address of a place plugged into his Garmin. It is pretty big and has most of its beer in coolers along a wall and a half in the corner to your right as you enter the building. They have far more 12oz singles than Discount Liquor and had quite a few beers that I hadn't seen at other places in Milwaukee. The service was okay. It was very busy - New Year's Eve around noon. I didn't buy much because I already dropped a mint at Discount Liquor, however, what I bought was fresh and good. Overall, this place is a hidden gem in not far from downtown Milwaukee.

01-08-2010 03:29:51 | More by zeff80

mynie

Indiana

4.55/5  rDev +5.6%
quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $

Ran into this place out of nowhere. We stayed at a hotel across the street and from the look of its exterior I was thinking I would be lucky if I found any New Glarus (which is what I was looking for) aside from Spotted Cow.

Looks can be deceiving.

This is one of the biggest, freshest, and cheapest single bottle selections I have ever seen. Cooler after cooler full of crafts and imports, including a very good selection of rare and one-off beers. New Glarus unplugged, I just kept shoving more and more bottles into my box and before I knew it I was a little worried, thinking maybe I was spending too much. Of course that was a just plain silly thing to think, seeing as I was in Wisconsin where for some reason beer is all but free.

The decor wasn't too great. It was hot and sweaty in there and the beer isn't grouped together in any kind of logical order (not by style or country or even brewery, sometimes). The place overall had the feel of a dirty little liquor store. Still, the staff was friendly and the selection was great and those are the two most important things.

EDIT:

Upping scores. The place is cleaner now, and every last beer--EVERY LAST BEER--is sold in fresh singles, cold, from a tinted fridge. That's class.

08-01-2008 03:16:53 | More by mynie

botham

Illinois

4.35/5  rDev +0.9%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

I've been going to Ray's for a couple months now, and the selection and prices are close to unbeatable compared to the other liquer stores in my area (close to the UWM campus).

Ray's has a phenomenal selection of brews, which keeps me coming back. The store is decent size, and carries a sizable wine section. The staff is knowedgable, always friendly and glad to help.

Imports: great selection, mainly singles. some are pricey, but are well worth it.

MicroBrews: Good selection, would like to see more singles, but six packs are aplenty. (good singles section of Sprecher)

MacroBrews: Pushed to the back wall, taking nothing away from the micros and imports (the way it should be in my opinion).

Glassware: if you are looking for beer glassware, CHECK RAY'S OUT. pint glasses are one dollar ($.99!), and other glasses and mugs are VERY reasonably priced.

05-18-2007 03:44:55 | More by botham

BeerFMAndy

Wisconsin

3.8/5  rDev -11.8%
quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 5 | $$

Wow. I've heard much of this "Ray's" and it surely lived up to my expectations. Plenty to choose from and probably the best selection I've seen in Wisconsin, when I walked in around 5, it was already starting to get busy with people just off work looking for a relaxing bottle of wine or a cold beer.

I made my way to the beer section and was just stunned. I needed a dubble and a triple for one of my upcoming beer events but ended up looking for probably half an hour.

I was amazed at the selection of various brew they carried plus things I had never seen before and didn't know were available in Wisconsin!

The place was pretty stuffed with product so space was a bit cramped but it's well worth it. They had a section of a lot of Oktoberfests too. That was nice.

The cashiers were the only people working that I saw and it was typical service. Not great but not bad. Quick check-out and they put my armful of beers into a box for me while I payed.

Good prices on most things but I noticed a few bottles of this and that which could have been lower. Hop Juice was about $1.50 more than normal and some 12 oz singles seemed a bit pricier but I haven't seen a lot of them around.

Also, everything was in open faced coolers. Very nice.

For now, I'll keep the quality at average because I have yet to have any of the 5 beers that I picked up (although the 750 of La Fin du Monde is well within its best by date).

It all boils down to too much sun/fluorescent light ruining the beer? We'll see, but, as far out of the way as it is, this might be my go-to place from now on.

EDIT: I forgot to add in there that they also have a TON of glassware for sale. All above the coolers are glasses galore but mainly a large selection of American Tumbler Pints.

09-03-2009 02:36:32 | More by BeerFMAndy

sweemzander

Illinois

4.05/5  rDev -6%
quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I am glad I was finally able to visit Ray's.
Granted, a vast majority of the store is the huge wine selection, but I gotta say, their beer selection was top notch.
The store itself isnt much to look at from the outside, but going into it caught me off guard.
Ray's has a very good selection of local brew as well as a bunch of imports that I have not seen elsewhere. It also helps that just about all the beer is in open coolers keeping it all nice and cold. What really impressed me was their awesome selection and prices on specialty beer glasswear. I will definitely be going back to buy some Wisconsin beer and buy a few glasses.
If you are in the area, look up Ray's, you wont be disappointed.

05-19-2010 13:20:59 | More by sweemzander

Winter

Wisconsin

4.35/5  rDev +0.9%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5

I was impressed to see the wide variety of beers available here. According to their website they offer more than 600 different types of imports and domestics. The majority of the beers are displayed and stored in open air coolers to preserve freshness. They feature a very nice selection of local and domestic mircrobrews, Belgian ales and other imports in these coolers near the front of the store. Macros are stored along the back in closed door coolers. The wine selection here seemed pretty extensive too.

Prices were about on par with what you'd find at other stores in the Milwaukee area. Although I didn't approach the staff with a specific question regarding beer, they did seem knowledgable when approached by another customer regarding a wine selection from what I could over hear. The employees seem willilng to take the time to earnestly answer your questions. Located just a few minutes east of Mayfair Mall (for those of you in WI who know where that is), it's definitely worth a stop the next time you're out there.

10-27-2003 18:41:22 | More by Winter