Warehouse Liquor Store

MarcatGSB

Michigan

3.44/5  rDev -15.7%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $$

Like previous reviewers had mentioned, beware of bottle dates...You can find some nice stuff sitting on the shelf, but there is plenty that is passed it's prime. I found a 2009 Goose Island Christmas Ale sitting on the bottle shelf. Might not be good anymore, but for 7 dollars, I will give it a try.

I also stopped in for some Borealis beer, and they had plenty. I loaded up and scoped out the shelves, which is where mostly all their beer lies, on warm shelves. That doesn't bother me at all. They have a nice lay out, with many singles available both in 12 oz. format and many bombers/750 ml bottles. Quite a good selection of Belgians and imports...some Orval from 2010.

I will definitely stop by again when visiting the Duluth area.

10-11-2012 21:10:57 | More by MarcatGSB

jera1350

Minnesota

3.58/5  rDev -12.3%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$$

Stopped by here looking for some Borealis beer which I was happy to find. Based on reviews, looks like this is the best craft store in Duluth. They do have a huge selection, however nearly all of it is on warm shelves and some of it seems to have been there for a long time. I found an Arcadia bomber with a 2006 vintage date sitting on the shelf so buyer beware of dates. Prices were a couple of dollars more per sixer/bomber when compared to prices in the Twin Cities. About every available brewery in the state is represented here with the addition of South Shore which is not distributed down to the TC area. The guy at the counter was very friendly and helpful. A good overall beer store.

05-23-2012 20:52:56 | More by jera1350

uwmgdman

Wisconsin

3.65/5  rDev -10.5%
quality: 2 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | $$

I stopped in while in Duluth this past October to get some brews I couldn't find locally.

The clerk, perhaps the owner (?), was very pleasant, good homebrew and overall beer talk. Very knowledgeable and very nice guy.

The selection is tremendous, hundreds of beers available.

The prices are about average.

My biggest complaint and this shouldn't be taken lightly, many beers I have tried from the store are obviously past their prime and spent too much time in the fluorescent lighting. A better turnover would greatly help the store.

I would return because of the selection and service were great, but I would be very careful in looking for any dating on bottles.

12-07-2007 03:58:53 | More by uwmgdman

zeff80

Missouri

3.8/5  rDev -6.9%
quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

This is a pretty good beer store in Northern Minnesota. The prices are pretty good considering the prices for beer as you continue north to the Boundary Waters. The selection was really impressive. Tons of local brews plus good stuff from Colorado and the coasts. Since I struggle to find Arcadia in MO, I grabbed up some of their beer. There were quite a few imports that I had never heard of and a good collection of big bottles, too. The staff seemed knowledgable about beer, although, I didn't ask them any questions. I would have to say this is a very good beer store.

01-06-2007 20:11:12 | More by zeff80

Chaz

Minnesota

3.91/5  rDev -4.2%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$$

Finally visited this place after hearing about it for the last twenty five years (yeah, I'm lazy and a late effin' bloomer) and made the trip especially to get my hands on a few bottles from Borealis Fermentery out of Knife River, MN.

My first impression -- outside the front door:
"This itty-bitty place has the best selection in the Arrowhead Region?"

My second impression -- upon entry:
"Man, this place should be featured on T.V.'s 'Hoarders'!"

Indeed, this place is not in the least bit large as far as retailers go these days, not the least because he claims (the sign on the outside) to have 700 unique beer SKUs crammed inside. Well, I get inside and the place is packed like a beer trader's basement, with cases stacked in the back half of the store almost as if he has no proper warehouse space (the basement? offsite?), but it doesn't seem to matter: there are hundreds of foreign singles, dozens of floor-stackers, a coldbox in the far back end of the store, a few display coolers and rack after rack of specialty and craft multi-packs. It looked like what I'd expect to see happen to Pilney's Blue Max if Jim Sebring were ever allowed to become a ticker/trader . . . just whacky! So, the sign said there were 700 beers? My cautious guess would up that number to 850, my less-cautious/too much to dream last night/"still hungover from Carmody and a night in Soup Town" guess is closer to 1,100 beers. No shit.

Still, I already wasted precious time at the Vinyl Cave and hadn't done any romantic stuff (walk along the shore/Canal Park/Skyline Drive) with the fairer sex in-tow, so I didn't spend too much more time here; just picked up a handful of individually-priced singles (I didn't see a mix-a-six price and wasn't really looking to get that many, anyway) along with the Borealis brands while my friendly-girl grabbed a couple of others.

Paid in cash, and away we go! Down to Canal Park to wait for that silly new similarly-named brewpub to open... and waited some more (what, they can't answer the telephone?) before just saying 'fuggit!' and going to pick up lunch at Old Chicago, and --that's--when I looked at my itemized receipt from Warehouse Liquors and "OH MY GOSH! I've been Gypped! I didn't get an entire sixer of 'Old Busted Hymen', just a single!"

Flashback: I was chatting-up the owner at Warehouse somethin' fierce, really givin' him the old chin-wag and shmooveville routine. Well, he was also checking in with one of his wholesale (beer) sales guys and another guy, selecting him a few bottles of $2 Tisdale wine. And, well: when he finally got around to ringing me up from all of this other multitasking he ended up scanning a couple of barcodes in error. (No problem, though, because he made a point of clearly pointing-out the itemized receipt and I got that all squared-away later that afternoon, with another employee. She was totally cool and credited me in cash, making careful note on her register's Z roll, just to square the books.)

Back to the store. It is a literal goldmine for rare-r imports from Belgium and New Zealand and India and everywhere, really, the sort of place you don't find very often outside of the Twin Cities or Milwaukee (or Chicago, on occasion) and I did indeed find a few veins of gold, but also some fool's gold in a handful of past-code packages and brands brought in during the unhinged days of Vino Source/Uncorked. But ya know what? Shit like that happens, and a guy like this who's passionate enough about beer (and may need to grouse about those date codes with his sales guys) shouldn't be held to task for too much of this nit-picky stuff. But I am a nit picker, and so I mention it anyway... SIGH. Can't win for losin' eh?

Half of the prices here were good-to-fair, but a few were kinda nutso in a crazy grandma antique mall sorta-way, so those were enough (plus the Minnesota Craft beer(TM) singles being priced between $2 and $2.50? "I'm used to lower in the Cities"...) to make me think of that old Latin phrase "caveat emptor" and all that jazz.

In the end Warehouse Liquor is not a bad spot at all, but a VERY GOOD one, and very much worth a visit if you happen to be nearby and looking for something out of the ordinary.

Just don't let your enthusiasm trump your common sense, as can happen, and you'll be golden. Also: might want to grab your miner's lamp and a copy of your personalized Excel spreadsheet for tickin': getting all the way through this place might take a while...

11-20-2012 00:54:08 | More by Chaz

Never2Dark

Minnesota

3.93/5  rDev -3.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 2.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

This was Duluth’s first true beer destination store and will always be near and dear to my heart. In the barren waste land of BMC macro garbage, Warehouse was the only place to go to get real beer. If only they kept their beer cool...

Atmosphere: A dark carpeted room packed full of beer, with some liquors and wines. Almost hard to walk the isles, there’s so much beer.

Quality: Half their selection is macro, but the other half is a vast expanse of micro brews most of which I have never heard of and will almost never get the chance to try. Really, I’m not sure where they get most of these beers. There’s even a huge selection of foreign beers. Huge. 200+

Here’s what needs to be said: The number of skunked, nasty beers I’ve had from here is unreasonable. Warehouse is the only place in town to get Avery brews and Great Divide brews, but every single one I’ve had has been nasty, and I lived in Boulder, CO, and know what it’s supposed to taste like. Most of the beers here ARE NOT REFRIGERATED and have been on the shelves for quite a while. This is no good. The shop would do well to turn THE ENTIRE STORE into a walk-in refrigerator, because so many of their beers end up skunky. This is too bad.

Service: There are two sides here. First of all, the staff is super friendly and committed to helping and almost appear excited to talk to you about beer. Second, each conversation I’ve had has exposed a complete lack of understanding of beer. Good and bad.

Selection: The Best. The best in Duluth. The Beer Cave at Woodland Bottle Shoppe is the only competition. This is the most extensive selection of Beer in Duluth. On the other hand, I haven’t heard of half of the beers and wonder where they came from and why there are here. If I tried them all, would they will all be good? Sometimes, quantity does not mean quality.

12-30-2011 01:11:31 | More by Never2Dark

gatornation

Minnesota

3.94/5  rDev -3.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

located on the south side and a the beginning of miller trunk highway sits this un assuming store from the outside it does not look like much with a small parking lot. but if you read the banners on the wall you will find many many craft brews.. as the banner says they have over 600 brews... when you walk in a whole wall greets you with lots of singles of domestic and imports with friendly service many to choose from bells surly founders rogue,lake Superior,deschutes,lots of belgian ales.UK and imports...this is a must stop if your in duluth and need some beer for the motel room,great selection good service,reasonable prices

09-18-2011 18:51:18 | More by gatornation

tempest

Pennsylvania

3.95/5  rDev -3.2%
quality: 3.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

This is the place to shop for beer in Duluth. It's just up the hill from downtown by a couple miles before the Murray Hill Mall. All the good beer is up front when you walk in and there's a nice two-sided shelf of singles for sale. But beware, and this is my only problem with this shop, some of the singles are well past their prime.

Aside from getting a couple old beers, the service was fantastic. The guys working there have a passion for beer and were incredibly friendly. The selection was as good as it gets in Northern MN with about 400 different beers. I grabbed a couple WI beers unavailable in the cities from Ashland (South Shore) and Black River Falls (Sandy Creek).

Check it out if you're in the area.

05-30-2007 00:10:16 | More by tempest

johanvond

Wisconsin

3.95/5  rDev -3.2%
quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

It wasn't difficult to find this place. I took N.6th E up the hill and It turns in to Central Entrance. It's also a nice drive up the hill. The place is like 10 min out of downtown and it kind of looks like a dump. The Picture dose it justice. Like the old addage says don't judge a book by it's cover. Inside it's packed. They have used every amount of space availible, and have a realy great amount of singles. I ended up coming back for a second trip, and chatted with one of the clerks, maybe the owner, he was nice and realy willing to help. My only gripe is the obvously have old beer, possably last years Bells ocktoberfest, and some other pumpkin beers, but most glraingly were some christmas ales. Now there wern't alot don't get me wrong, but make sure you check the bottles for dates and dust. There was also a suspect basket of singles. All in all there is a realy good slection of beer and keep your eyes peeled for the "Famous Fat Cat Beer."

08-14-2008 19:53:04 | More by johanvond

Tamarack22

Minnesota

3.98/5  rDev -2.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Warehouse Liquor has one of the best craft beer selections I've seen around the Duluth area. I assume they sell the majority of craft beer labels distributed to Duluth. There are a lot of single bottles from all over the world, lots of Midwest brews. I always check the bottle dates, some beer is fresh, some can be quite old. I always enjoy looking around, it takes me at least 20 minutes to make my choices. The owner always seems to be working when I visit. He's always answered my questions and seems to know his product quite well.

10-06-2011 21:12:48 | More by Tamarack22