Table & Vine

northyorksammy

Ontario (Canada)

3.7/5  rDev -17.4%
quality: 4 | service: 2.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

A must stop if you are passing through this large and modern lquor store sports a good long three rows of beer, with anything new in abundant supply. Lots of Alesmith, which the other stores were sparser in. Easy to find. Good selection of deli. Physical help is available, and staff was very friendly. Convenient to the highway though it was a bit tricky and took a couple of u-turns to find-the first time. Prices are average. I am glad this was the last stop on the tour, to fill in on beers I could not get elsewhere.

07-12-2007 03:32:38 | More by northyorksammy

cbutova

Massachusetts

3.46/5  rDev -22.8%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 2.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Table and Vine, a great beer store but one that has sort of let me down more and more since I started going 2 years ago (have stopped in at least weekly). A re-review, previously I had given this store a 4.7 A+.

Two summers ago, Table and Vine was a place where you could pretty much find anything you wanted. Sculpin and good Founders releases would sit on the shelves for a reasonable amount of time. Alesmith IPA was around regularly. 120 Minute IPA sat on the shelves for months at a time. Now, you can't find anything that has any hype, rarity or fame behind it, on the shelves at least. If you even want a sniff at a Cantillon, KBS or even fresh Alesmith, you have to know someone who works there or call and get put on a list. For example: Alesmith IPA came in a few weeks ago and it never even made it to the public, the entire allotment was bought by employees or the owners. KBS was $9 a SINGLE for the past release ($21 per 4 pack at other local stores).

Anyways... If you want a huge selection of beer, head to Table and Vine. If you want something that is limited in the least, either call far in advance or go somewhere else. The overall selection of regular release beers is great. It is probably the best in Western MA and one of the best in the state. Some breweries that I see everytime I go here (Allagash, Avery, DFH, Seirra Nevada, Hoppin Frog, Lost Abbey, Victory, Troegs, Founders, Stone, Chimay, St Bernardus, Rodenbach, Dieu Du Ciel, Unibroue, Long Trail, all the locals and many others). This is a great store to go to for freshness as well, compared to other area stores. You can usually trust the IPAs and other hop filled beers to be fresh, so good quality.

The service can be hit or miss here. Usually during the day it is best, especially on weekends. Other times, 10 employees will walk right past you and it is up to you to ask any questions or stop them for service. Some of the employees know craft beer but there are so many walking around. My friends and I have often answered customer questions for employees of the store (Do you have Russian River? Dark Lord? Pliny?).

All in all, expect a well-priced, massive craft selection but also to see empty shelves above labels like Alesmith IPA, Breakfast Stout, Backwoods Bastard, Cantillon and things like that. It is worth asking if they have any in the back because "sometimes we keep limited releases off the shelves so that true craft beer fans can buy them." I might look spoiled complaining about such a store, which is probably better than most, but I know many people who think this store has gone down hill in the last two years. It seems the employees are more geared to helping themselves get rare beer than getting any to the customers. I am also surprised that they have not taken on a discounted mix-a-six program, like many other stores around the state have.

06-30-2011 15:57:00 | More by cbutova

CliffBrake

New Hampshire

3.35/5  rDev -25.2%
quality: 2 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $

I shop here several times of year, stocking up on things that will probably never make it into New Hampshire. They have a huge selection - very impressive, but I think it is too big for their clientele, which is probably mostly interested in Bud, etc.

Last time I was in I left with only about 1/3 of what I was aiming for. They had the other 2/3 in stock, but it was dusty and of the breweries that age date the bottles, a lot of it was confirmed old and past prime. Many bottles with dates were 6 - 12 months old. Maybe a good place to shop for barleywine, or other cellar beers, but not if you are into IPA, or pilsner, for example.

Very little of the cooler space is taken up by craft beers and what craft beers were in there were often old. Wachusett Larry, high on my list was out of date in the cooler, but current on the shelves.

Service is hit or miss. The other day, I was in the craft beer isle for an hour and not an employee to be seen. Other times I have been offered friendly and knowledgeable help quite promptly.

Prices are great. If you can figure out what moves, or if you are willing to check for dust and dates (I used the fresh beer only website on my smart phone as I shopped) you can find some good stuff here.

01-07-2011 14:00:05 | More by CliffBrake

orford

New Hampshire

3.25/5  rDev -27.5%
quality: 4 | service: 2 | selection: 3.5 | $$$

After seeing all the hype on BA I thought I would pay this place a visit on my way back from a job interview in Boston despite it being a little out of the way. The location of T&V is great, right off of the interstate, perfect for people travelling on I91, and I will stop by again if I am in the area.

While their beer selection is impressive I don't believe it met up with all the hype. There were some obvious holes in their foreign beers, for instance I could not find a single Marzen/Octoberfest. I found few Doublebocks with the exception of Salvator. There also was a relative lack of English beers. That being said their selection of Belgians was fantastic, I picked up a couple of bottles of Rochefort 10.

The next aisle over is the domestic/six pack aisle. The selection here was somewhat more impressive with micros from around the country. I would like to note however that there were significant gaps in the selection here as well. They have Avery and Lefthand but no New Belgium.

While I would recommend this place to friends, and have quite frequently it is not all it is hyped up to be.

I almost forgot to mention that I was in there for at least 45 minutes to an hour and not a single person asked me if I needed and help. I saw one employee in the beer aisles and he was chatting with an off-duty employee...

01-05-2008 19:12:33 | More by orford