Port Jefferson Beverage Center

RedDiamond

Oregon

3.8/5  rDev -10.8%
quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4

I can remember stopping in here with my dad in the late 1960's for full cases of Schmidts and Rheingold. At the time beer wasn't even sold in aluminum cans. Hard to believe this place is still selling beer and pop in good old Port Jeff, but there it is. In my mind it was (and is) known as "The Pop Shop". I never did catch a formal name.

Oddly enough it's not much different than it was 35 years ago. You can still get full cases of crappy beer or pop, and the guy behind the counter is still bitching about the Mets. But they have made overtures towards contemporary tastes and have enough beer choices to keep avid fans happy. There's a very respectable selection of beers from Germany, Belgium, England, and regional northeast brewers. The growlers of Blue Point are notable and I found a few unexpected offerings such as a beer from Israel called "Layla" featuring a mutant guitar on its label.

What makes this place unique among beer retailers is that it actually harks back to the days before mega-marts, strip malls, and one-stop-shopping when you went to a produce stand for your veggies, a butcher or fish mart for your meats, a drive-thru dairy barn for milk, and "the pop shop" for beer and pop. Modern conveniences and corporate franchises have long since supplanted whatever personal charms these mom'n'pop retailers may have once held. But the ethic of small-scale local character is what craft brewing is all about and the pop shop falls in line with this ideal at the retail level.

Places like this wrote the soundtrack for my adolescence and I know I shouldn't indulge my nostalgic leanings. But it's hard to believe the old pop shop has survived four or more decades of social and economic transformation. And check out the hand painted murals of "winged kegs" on the exterior walls. Nice touch.

09-01-2004 18:07:01 | More by RedDiamond

LilBeerDoctor

New York

3.65/5  rDev -14.3%
quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $$

This is my local beer store and while it does not have the selection of some of the bigger stores on LI, it is quite reliable for a local store. They carry a decent Belgian section (St. Bernardus, Chouffe, Corsendonk, Westmalle, Orval) and a good American section (Troegs, Brooklyn, Bear Republic, Southern Tier, Elysian, Southampton, HeBrew/Coney Island, Lagunitas, Allagash, DFH). You can always find something good here. Prices are comparable to other LI stores. Not a destination, but worth stopping by if you live in the area.

01-01-2009 17:10:12 | More by LilBeerDoctor

SkunkWorks

New York

4.15/5  rDev -2.6%
quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Just started giving this place a try over my usual haunts and figured it was time to BeerFly it.

So far I've had a few big beer hauls from these guys and so far everything has been fresh. There is a huge selection of Southern Tier, Stone, local New York offerings, one of the biggest selections of bombers I've seen on Long Island outside of Big Z. Their Belgian selection is a little small but given that I am not a big Belgian guy, that's not a huge problem for me.

They have a small growler bar but I haven't taken advantage of that yet.

The guys who own it are very knowledgeable about craft beer and very passionate about it. The kids who work there, however, are kind of annoying.

Another good thing about this place is the affordability of their selection. Bombers tend to be around 6.99 and sixers are under 10 for what I've gotten so far. That's a few dollars cheaper than anywhere else I've found.

I definitely recommend checking this place out. Cheers!

12-15-2010 20:26:41 | More by SkunkWorks

Stingray5

New York

4.15/5  rDev -2.6%
quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4

Moving to the area so I thought I'd stop in for a look. Left with some Stone Ruination and Bastard, a Rogue Brutal Bitter and a 2000 Samichlaus. Needless to say I'm happy this will be my local beverage center. A good selection of American micros as well as Belgians and English ales. Some strange things hanging around as well, such as a sixer of Hebrew Beer, which I will pick up next time around should it still be there. (something tells me it will.)

Service was fine - the younger gentleman behind the register promptly asked me if I needed help finding anything, to which I replied "I think I just found it". And at checkout we engaged in a quick chat about hops, and he asked my opinion of the Samichlaus, to which I responded, "I'll tell you the next time I come in".

09-23-2004 02:13:26 | More by Stingray5

vladimerjr

New York

4/5  rDev -6.1%
quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Went here after reading the rave reviws it got from other members. I just moved to the area 4 months ago and had been struggling with the places around me. This is by far the best place in the area.

The place was clean enough and well stocked with many of my favorite and enough things I have never tried to keep me for a while.

The service was fine but nothing exceptional but they seem knowledgable and nice enough.

I would not rave about it compared to the places by my old house but for the area you can't do much better as I can tell so far.

EDIT...
Since writing my original review this place has improved. The service is great and most of them now know me (even though I only go in about every other week). The beer selection while not the biggest does have a good rotation and I have never needed (still have though) to go elsewhere to find new beers.

06-25-2006 19:40:52 | More by vladimerjr

OnThenIn

Ohio

4.15/5  rDev -2.6%
quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I was surprised by the selection, especially considering the location. The very limited parking was somewhat annoying, but the workers at the store made up for it by being nice and helpful. I ended up finding a great deal of imports and craft beer including nugget nectar. I was also happy that everything seemed well stocked. They had every Sierra Nevada I was looking for and had some Dogfish Head I was hoping to pick up too. None of the beers seemed like they would be exposed to uv enough to get light struck, which made this place even better. It was obvious they new there beer. I did have an issue with how crowded the store was, which made it very hard to find everything the store had. Overall, it was a great experience and is probably one of the best stores around. It is definitely the best store in Port Jefferson.

03-21-2009 02:23:23 | More by OnThenIn

TychoNDC

New York

4.2/5  rDev -1.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$$

This is one of the better places to get beer along the north shore of L.I. The store has a really enjoyable atmosphere with a strong supply of decent craft brews and an always rotating growler bar. They also tend to get in a few of the rare, limited releases along the lines of KBS and others, though they run out very quickly! The shop owner is very nice and always in the mood to chat about beers or direct you to something new (or something very limited) and the rest of the staff have always been helpful. Their beer tends to be fresh and they are sensitive about their short-lifetime stock.

It's not perfect as the selection is still limited by the distributors who ship to LI, but they tend to carry pretty much everything they can get. Prices are comparable to other LI bottle shops, though they may be a bit pricey on some of the limited releases.

02-07-2013 19:04:22 | More by TychoNDC

scottmandia

New York

4.65/5  rDev +9.2%
quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

These guys are great! They have a very large selection of micro-brewed beers and always seem to introduce me to a new one. If they don't have what I am looking for they go out of their way to order it for me. For example, they ordered me a case of Victory's Storm King Imperial Porter when I bought their last 6 pack.

My brother-in-law is quite the beer aficianado and this is also his favorite place around here to get the hard-to-find beers.

I highly recommend stopping by if you live in the Western Suffolk County region. Best selection and service in this area IMHO.

03-23-2006 20:39:02 | More by scottmandia

Porkfist

New York

4.3/5  rDev +0.9%
quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 4

I might be biased on this review, because of I live in the area. This is definataly the best of the local places to buy beer. Nice selection of domestics and imports. Went to the place the first time today, never noticed it before since it's a little set back, and I'm a cop in that area! The owner, Bruce was fantastic, he was really helpful in helping pick out somthin for the week and knows his product. Made me feel very welcome. He was thrilled that he was listed on BA. If you live in the area or visiting Port Jeff via ferry, stop by and check it out.

04-27-2004 00:28:42 | More by Porkfist

finebeersonly

New York

4.65/5  rDev +9.2%
quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

After reading about this place on here, I decided to go. Nice experience, speaking to the owner he explained how the selection is a reflection of his clients, he continues to try and get people to try new beers. He actually had me walking out with a few different beers that wouldn't normally have been my first choice, after he explained the beer by comparing it to others that I have tried. He also gave me a little history on how distribution works in NY/LI - interesting history. Great guy, Great Place. Highly Recommend it.

05-21-2007 11:43:55 | More by finebeersonly