Pace-Hi Beer & Wine Shop

AleWatcher

Illinois

3.16/5  rDev -20.4%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 2.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$$

The outside of this place looked really sketchy. It honestly felt I was about to walk inside of the most ghetto shop in the worst part of a burned out town.
I fully expected the car to be on cinder blocks when we exited.

Surprisingly, the inside of the store was kept really clean which helped me feel a bit better.
Beer is to the right upon entering, and it has the vibe like the shop used to be half the size and they knocked down a wall to expand it.
This was the first of the 3 Columbus shops we hit up... And as it turns out, my least favorite.

The prices were higher than the other 2 places at which we stopped, and the selection was missing many beers that the other 2 had-- although this place did have several bottles of Old Raspy XIV.

When I asked about Rivertowne Lambic I was shown Lindemans Framboise. Ok, half credit for knowing the word Lambic...

Overall-- there are far better shops around than this, but if I lived locally I would swing in here once a month or so as it seems many limited beers may linger on shelves a bit longer.

01-23-2012 00:39:36 | More by AleWatcher

zimm421

Ohio

3.94/5  rDev -0.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$$

I used this shop quite often at the beginning to middle of this past year, realizing I had a decent option close to campus and not far our of my way.

Walking in, it seems to just be a little hole in the wall carryout, and it isn't exactly inviting. When you turn the corner to the right though, things change and the beer selection is pretty impressive. I have found quite a few things here that I couldn't locate at other shops.

The service isn't great, they won't say anything to you unless you ask, but if you ask, they'll do everything they can to answer your question. I ran across a rare find because I asked about a similar brew, and even had the manager call the distributor because he wasn't sure about the timing of one release.

If you're around campus, definitely swing by. Don't be put off by the outward appearance, you may run across something you'll be glad you found.

12-04-2011 20:18:25 | More by zimm421

hyprlt

Ohio

4.08/5  rDev +2.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Yes, this absolutely looks like your normal piece of garbage carryout on High St, or any main street. Upon entering, you can't help but gaze at the impressive beer can collection on display along the top of the wall. The layout has four main sections divided into two "rooms." The entrance is in the left room and most of the booze in the right. The left room has some high end features and the cash register in the front and the soft drinks in the rear. The right room has the beer packaged in coolers along the back wall, some expensive big bottles and special feature packages in the front next to a cooler full of single beers for a MYO 6-pack. The wine is in shelves SURROUNDED by the beer. The owner takes great pride in having a clean store and wonderful selection. He himself appears to appreciate good beer, but may not drink it himself. The best part is that he owns a regular convenience store across the street.

08-29-2011 13:22:46 | More by hyprlt

orourkebr

Ohio

3.98/5  rDev +0.3%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 5 | $$

This has become my favorite bottle shop in Columbus recently. It basically just looks like a regular shitty convenience store from the outside, and even on the inside until you turn to the right. They have a lot of great beer. Lots of beer in coolers and lots of bombers on the shelves. The selection is really really good here and just as good as Weiland's. Service is fine, they stay out of your way, which is the way I like it.
I really love this place, though, for the singles selection though. They'll basically single out any beer for you. Great prices too.

06-19-2011 00:53:22 | More by orourkebr

Spider889

Ohio

4.45/5  rDev +12.1%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | $$

Somehow I never really managed to get out to this place in all my years around Columbus. Man was I missing out.

Essentially a little convenience store, mostly alcohol forward. There were a few racks of wine, and possibly liquor, but I didn't really have a ton of time to explore the non-beer part of the store.

I came here because I needed to pick up some singles for a trade, and I had heard they are great about singles.

Almost every 12oz beer was sold in single form, and whatever is not can be broken into singles. The manager/owner was very quick to accommodate my request to break a sixer of Columbus Summerteeth into singles, and he in fact remarked that he was surprised it wasn't already available as singles.

There were tons of little gems sitting around, ranging from nice Ohio stuff, to harder to find seasonal releases, as well as some really interesting import offerings from Belgium and Germany. There were several Ohio breweries represented that I have not seen sold anywhere else in town.

There are some shelves, but I'd say that about 70% of all beer is in a cooler. The sheer size is smaller than Kenny Road, but the selection in the cooler makes this a better stopping point than Kenny Road imo.

Once I have some spare cash I want to stop back again to pick up some fun new ticks!

05-18-2011 05:35:18 | More by Spider889

superspak

Michigan

4.3/5  rDev +8.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Was down in Columbus this weekend, so I made sure to write down a handful of places to visit and scope out some selections. I am really glad I decided to go here. This ended up being where a majority of my haul today came from.

As I walked in and looked to my right, I was pretty much overwhelmed by the selection that lay before me. On the inner wall, and the shelves nearest to the front window, are a wide variety of Bombers and 750's unchilled. On the inner wall there is also a nice little selection of pint glasses, and tulips (DFH, Sam Adams, Bells, Lagunitas, Founders, Lindemins) I got myself a founders glass for 2.99. There was Alesmith, some Jolly Pumpkin, Rochefort, a strong Unibroue selection, Lagunitas, Great Divide, Dark Horse, Left Hand, Weyerbacher, Stoudts, Dogfish Head, Columbus, some of the Bruery(I grabbed the last 3 french hens!) and some other belgians/german beers I havent even seen before. I even saw Mississippi Mud sitting on the shelves.

On the back wall is the micro coolers, in the first 3-4 doors is where all of the singles are located, pretty well representing the huge number of 4/6 packs that fill the rest of the fridge. You can also enter in the side door to find chilled bombers/750s(which is where i found the 3 french hens).

Overall a very awesome experience, the man at the counter didn't ask if I needed any help, but he did mark down the Nogne O beer I purchased, which surprised me. I will definitely be hitting this place up again when I am back down there.

03-06-2011 08:51:15 | More by superspak

SaCkErZ9

Florida

3.7/5  rDev -6.8%
quality: 4 | service: 2.5 | selection: 4.5 | $

Today was a free day for me so I decided to do some beer store hunting. This was my first stop of the day. From the outside, this place didnt look very nice. But on the inside, the beer was plenty and varied. They had just about everything within reason. Bruery, Buckeye, CBC, Alesmith, and a really nice selection of Belgians. I have no access to Alesmith in NC so I was excited to get a couple of bottles of those.

Prices were very reasoable. The Bruery beers were around $10 which is about $5 cheaper than NC. THe Alesmith beers were also around $10.

Service was nonexistent as the guy working the counter was on the phone the whole time jabbering away. A great selection saves this place.

01-18-2011 16:02:05 | More by SaCkErZ9

jimbus

Ohio

4.85/5  rDev +22.2%
quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

This place is literally about 5 minutes away from me up Indianola Ave. yet today was my first time visiting, thanks to checking out the reviews here on BA. Really wish I would have known about this gem the past few years, as I will be moving from Columbus back to Cincinnati in August.

As far as beer selection goes, it is at the top of the list with regards to selection and service for me in Columbus. The owner, Kalpesh, was super friendly and helpful. Took me a while to browse through the selection, which included an extensive selection of local brews, Belgians, and some my other favorites such as Founders, Great Lakes, DFH, Alesmith, etc. You can make your own 6 pack and Kalpesh broke up a sixer of GL Lake Erie Monster so that I could add one too my grab bag. Also picked up an Alesmith IPA, Breckenridge Small Batch 471 DIPA, Two Brothers Resistance IPA, Weyerbacher Hop Infusion, Troegs HopBack, and a Southern Tier IPA. Best surprise was being able to snag a couple KBS's!

I look forward to frequenting this store in the future.

06-01-2010 23:40:25 | More by jimbus

MbpBugeye

Ohio

4.3/5  rDev +8.3%
quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

This is now one of my go to places, especially if I want to make my own 6- pack.

Pace-Hi is a nondescript mini-mart on N. High just south of North Broadway. It is basically split into two halves. The half with the counter has typical mini-mart stuff, Coolers of pop, snacks and this place has lots of wine accessories.

The second half is where all the beer and wine is. Like most places its more wine than beer, but the beer here is of good stock. 2 Full cooler doors of singles for mixing and matching. Plenty of Ohio stuff like Columbus Brewing and Thirsty Dog is represented in the first cooler. Lots of Bell's and Founder's and DFH are in the second cooler. They will break up packs of beer that are typically not sold as singles. DFH Burton Baton, HopSlam, Thirsty Dog Cerberus etc.

The rest of the coolers are all 6 and 4 packs, leaving one shelf for bombers and magnums divided by country.

There always is a great selection of Hoppin Frog.

The owner is a really helpful guy. He really appreciates the people who come to his shop often. Because of this I was able to purchase a pack of Nemesis and KBS from him which he keeps in the back room.

03-27-2010 21:29:45 | More by MbpBugeye

Socekim12

Ohio

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

Pace-Hi is becoming my new favorite place in Columbus. I just started going in here after 5 years of living in Columbus. First thing I notice is it is really bright and clean in here, only downside to that is there are very big windows in the front of the store that let in a lot of light towards the beer section but its not like it is direct sunlight so I'm not too worried about it.

Great selection of beers, on par with any other store around, about 10 cooler doors absolutely packed with six and four packs and about 2 dedicated to bombers. Nice little selection of cold singles, last time I was in i noticed that they added an addition cooler door of singles, plus I'm pretty sure that they will break most things into singles if you ask. Which brings me to the service, most of the time when I am in here I'm not really looking for help but whenever I have a question about whether they have something they always do everything they can to help (recently scored some Nemesis that was not on the shelf).

Basically, Pace-Hi is my new go-to place especially when I'm in the area, along with Palmers and Kenny Road Market, but Pace-Hi has been top of the list for me recently.

03-03-2010 03:54:28 | More by Socekim12