Lena's Beverage & Cigarette

Photekut

Azerbaijan

4.25/5  rDev +5.5%
quality: 5 | service: 2.5 | selection: 5 | $$

Linas is a great place to visit. This review is a little late....

Quality- As others note it does look like a dive from the outside, but the slection inside is amazing and that is really what counts. This was the first place I found Stone RIS when I found this website! They have just about anything you could want. Everything was in coolers and out of the sunlight. At the time I was more worried about getting a case of Stone than to inquire if they broke 6 packs.

Service- In person, Id give a 5.0 the one time I was able to actually visit the store, but I think I was snowed about the overall service picture. The guy that was there at the time gave me several good beer recomendations to try, and even pulled a few from the back for me that were not on the shelves. I really appreciated his help since I was just starting out with selecting better beers.

On the phone, Id give a 0 if I could, so the 2.5 averages it out.

The reason being a few months later, I looked up the # on this site and called to ask about the St Bernardus 60th that was due to come out. I wanted to see if I could have some set aside, or at least to let someone know to pick some up for me.

I could hardly understand the person they had answer the phone
( not the same guy that helped in the store ), I asked if they knew when or if they were getting the St Bernardus 60th and I had to spell it out for him. He had no idea what I was talking about, but instead of asking someone with a brain in their head, or at least that knew something about the products they offer, he finally just said no, we no get that... or something to that effect and hung up.

I ended up getting it elsewhere in trade ( my first trade ), and I called another store in ohio and was able to get a few more bottles.

Selection- As I mentioned, the selection is excellent. FFF, St Bernardus, Stone etc. The stuff I would die to have in TN. They probably even had the 60th at one point, but there is no way to know.

Stop in and enjoy if you know what you are looking for.

03-19-2007 16:23:49 | More by Photekut

Callenak

California

4.25/5  rDev +5.5%
quality: 5 | service: 2.5 | selection: 5 | $$

Was in Painesville and Cleveland on a business trip and had to stop by after seeing the reviews. My work took me within a mile of this place. Very lucky.

This place has an amazing selection. Not many mid-west beers are distributed out to CA so I was happy to load up. Lots of Bells, Founders, Three Floyds, Great Lakes, etc. I didn't look over the imports much since I can get most of those in CA, but I did notice an extensive selection.

ALL the beers are in coolers which is freaking great. Makes you feel a lot more secure about your purchase. My only complaint is that large majority of their American beers are sold in 6 packs and they won't break em up. I told the guy that I would probably drop a hundred bucks right now and I was shipping the beer to myself to see if he would cut me a break on a couple singles, but it was a no go.

It's about 30 miles outside of Cleveland, but if you are in Cleveland and have some time to kill. This is spot is a must.

10-30-2006 22:31:01 | More by Callenak

Dithyramb

Maryland

4.35/5  rDev +7.9%
quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 5 | $$

Yet another surprise from the mid-Western liquor stores. This place looks like any old scary discount liquor joint in the middle of blue collar suburbia, even more than the Blue Stop in NC. Broken down cars parked outside, folks smoking Newports and buying cheap liquor, oodles of BMC paraphenalia frontin, etc. Needless to say, I was hoping that beerfly didn't steer me wrong

It didn't. The quality and selection were top notch. Bells, Founders, and every quality micro available in the area were set up in sixers and multi twelve packs. Three or four coolers strong of imports , including just massive amounts of German, British and Belgians. They had four or five offerings from Cantillion alone. I wandered around with an open jaw, attempting to find out what I could possibly fit into my carryon without getting beat up by homeland security.

Help was very friendly, even went in the back to get some warm ones. Overly joyful and showing me around. Had little to no info about "them microbrews," but was a nice guy nonetheless. Someone who works there must have a clue of what they are getting. Considering what I saw, they are the only game in town, and a quality one at that. If you happen to be in the Painesville area--and I will be every few months for the next year--this is a worthy stop.

07-16-2005 01:28:28 | More by Dithyramb

northyorksammy

Ontario (Canada)

4.05/5  rDev +0.5%
quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Thanks to BA, I found this place on the way down to Cleveland. Shockingly large selection of hard to gets. Service was almost a negative, throwing me some boxes, bit the assistant could not count and told me wrongly that I can select single bottles. Everything is kept a bit too cold which was a concern. There was a great selection of Avery, Great Divide, Old Dominion, Founders, Alesmiths, Three Floyds, all stuff I was looking for but could not handle 6 paks of everything. A worthy stop, and not that much out of the way.

06-16-2005 04:52:52 | More by northyorksammy

drifter

Ohio

4.05/5  rDev +0.5%
quality: 4.5 | service: 2.5 | selection: 5

This unassuming beer/wine store is located in Painseville, Ohio. Driving by it, you would not think it offered anything more than the normal beverage outlet. However, through word of mouth this place is slowly becoming discovered and the selection is more than impressive, at least for this area. Hundreds of American miscobrews are offered as well as hundreds of imports from Belgium, Germany, and the rest of the world. The best part is, all of the beers are kept in coolers. The store is not any bigger than a normal size convenient store, and the isles and selection are snug and compact, but it is well worth visiting if you are in the area.

04-08-2004 23:41:44 | More by drifter

Bones54

Ohio

4.05/5  rDev +0.5%
quality: 4.5 | service: 2.5 | selection: 5

This store has a really excellent selection of microbrews and European beers as well. It offers way over fifty or so American Micros and at least that many Europeans. This area is not known for a great beer selection so I was very surprised to stumble in to this place. All of the beer is kept in coolers, which I was very impressed to see, and is also nice if you can't wait to chill your beer before you try it. The store also offers a very wide selection of wine as well as the normal convenient stop food and drinks. You can do your grocery shopping and pick up a hard to find micro in one stop!

04-08-2004 23:39:45 | More by Bones54