Ramsey Liquors

whitehouse50

New Jersey

4.65/5  rDev +9.9%
quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

this place is wonderful with an amazing selection, the best that i have seen in northern new jersey. this place will become my top spot for specialty beers since south plainfield is just a bit too far for me to make regular trips down there.

the assistance there is great too. they guy there recomneded a some beers i had never seen before and kind of got me into some trouble, i ended up spending $42 on 6 bottles only ranging from 11oz to 750 mL. not that this place is pricey but they have great stuff.

Ex: the hefe-weizen made by Brooklyn brewery and Schneider and Son, Aventinus (aged from 2004), great divide oak aged yeti imperial stout, JW Lees Port cask aged ale, a 10 year old porter, Deus, Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA. Smuttynose Very Old Brown Dog, Stone, Rogue, Unibroue, Chimay, St. Barnabus 12, and many more.

they also have some glasses for sale on top of the beer shelves. nothing too crazy, its hit or miss, they were dusty so i guess many people dont see them, i picked up a Aventinus Weiss glass $4.

i can easily see myself driving up to 45 minutes to get here. Definitly worth a stop.

08-15-2007 17:03:55 | More by whitehouse50

Kopp

New Jersey

4.65/5  rDev +9.9%
quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I love this place... I go to the nearby college so while at school, this is my liquor store of choice. It isn't much different in price compared to a Bottle King, is more convenient, and they have a whole big shelf of craft beers as well as a bunch of six packs, so a bunch of my friends started going there too. Decent wine selection too from what I could tell. Service was very good, I'm there pretty frequently and got to talking with a few of the people who work there, and they were all very helpful, even some of them suggesting what to try and telling me what they and what most of their beer enthusiasts were drinking. One even went in the back for me because they had a beer he told me I had to drink, so that gains points in my book. They also have some sales at times too, always a plus.

Overall it's a really good place, its convenient, clean, great staff of workers, really good selection, and well priced.

03-23-2009 14:06:09 | More by Kopp

r0nyn

New York

4.65/5  rDev +9.9%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | $$

Having worked in Mahwah before, I was surprised to find a quality brew store so close by. A few exits down off of Route 17, Ramsey Liquors is located right off of Main Street.

Doesn't look like much on the outside, but thankfully we don't rate stores based on their looks. Inside is, as expected full to the brim of wines and spirits. Everything is neatly organized with helpful signs and tags. The whole place, while actually of a decent size, has a very homey feel to it.

The craft beer section is tucked away in the back corner of the store right next to the coolers. I was a little apprehensive at first because all I saw were a couple of shelves, but there's a small passageway to the back stock room that's lined with craft as well. A store employee asked me if I needed help finding something within 10 minutes of my arrival there and answered my questions about KBS (a winter release, darn!) and a few other beers. A friendly and personable customer experience.

The quality of the brews is quite good, with everything having reasonably fresh dates. The few beers that did have some age and dust on them were the big imperial stouts, and that is certainly not a problem at all. The selection is really where this store shines. Each shelf is labeled with the country of origin and there are several excellent examples of region beers on them. A lot of great Belgian stuff, including Boon, Achouffe, Cantillon. Tons of American breweries as well, including Rogue, Stone, Victory, DFH, Avery, Founders, North Coast and more.

The value is very, very good at this store, with many of the brews being priced lower than across the border in NY. I was on a budget, and it was very hard to leave with only a few bottles since the pricing there was extremely reasonable.

All in all, this is an excellent craft brew store with great value and a top notch selection of beer. I will definitely be revisiting this place.

10-19-2010 20:42:02 | More by r0nyn

yen157

New Jersey

4.5/5  rDev +6.4%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 5

Wow, I am shocked that nobody has been inspired to write these guys un in BeerFly before. They are located on the main street in Ramsey (West Main actually) set back from the road in an unassuming strip mall. You walk in an know that these guys mean business. Even though I didn’t have a chance to look at the rest of the store, their wine and liquor displays look serious and well thought out. Besides the ubiquitous back-wall cooler, I wasn’t sure where to start my search for the beer. I ended up in the back left corner of the store face to face with a formidable bookcase of bottles of European pedigree. I thought, “wow this isn’t too bad”. I noticed some glassware sitting on the top shelf and turned the corner and found more quality singles. I pressed my luck, turned the corner again only to find even more good stuff only to exclaim “Holy crap” in approval. Right next to that is a large 2004 bigfoot display followed by a back room full of cases which I quickly informed was not part of the selling floor so I turned my attention to the cooler. Micros, they were all there, at least the quality ones one should find in a store with a great selection in NJ. These guys really went out on a limb to put together a nice collection. Some cold singles are available cold, too.

The service seemed good as the workers were very attentive. I could tell one gentleman I spoke with took a lot of pride in the selection. They only scored a "4" because I didn't really talk to them at all and attentiveness only takes you so far. I have a feeling though that they know their stuff. Next time I'm in and have more time I'll converse a bit and revise the rating.

I’m not sure about the freshness and turnover since that is always a concern when the selection is so good, but besides an ’02-’03 Flying Fish gift pack everything else looked OK. They did have some oddball stuff like Uerige, ‘t Smisje Calva Reserva, and Oerbier Reserva along with lot of other stuff you only run into a few places in the Garden State. If you are looking for new beer to try or to stock up on some old favorites and live in the area Ramsey Liquors is a must stop. If I loved anywhere in the area this would be my local liquor store without a doubt.

04-12-2004 12:21:48 | More by yen157

Yetiman420

Ohio

4.5/5  rDev +6.4%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I was in Jersey on business and had a morning to bounce around to some of the better beer stores according to BA.

I rolled the dice and headed a bit north out of my way in hopes of finding some Captain Lawrence since they were technically closer to NY.

I didn't find any Captain Lawrence, but I did find an outstanding collection of imports and domestic craft beers. They have pretty much every one of the great regional beers you'll find at the top rated BA beer stores in the area.

I picked up four bottles of Boaks Monster Mash Imperial stout for less than what Oak Tree (the benchmark for NJ beer stores) charges.

This place also has a ton of local, home-town charm and I think it would be a pleasure to make this your regular beer store. I chatted up the guys working there and they seemed to be very knowledgeable about beer (even giving me a "mmmm...tasty" comment when I put my four Boak's on the counter).

If I'm this far north again, I'll make sure to plan a return visit.

03-15-2009 02:21:34 | More by Yetiman420

soilworkkm

New York

4.5/5  rDev +6.4%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Went down here to snag some beers unavailable in New York and hit the jackpot. Convieniently located in a little strip mall, the place doesn't look like much from the outside but there were a number of treasures to be found within. Compared to NY prices, this place was a bargain bin though I am not sure how it stacks up against other NJ stores. There is a nice selection of bombers as well as a decent sized cooler with sixers including Founders, Terrapin, Allagash, Heavy Seas (had a number of the mutiny fleet series), Great Divide, The Bruery, Southern Tier, Captain Lawrence, Flying Fish, River Horse, Mikkeller, and Unibroue. In addition they had the usual suspects like Stone, Dogfish Head (they even had some more 'rare' releases like My Antonia and Namaste), and Sierra Nevada. Staff was very friendly and helpful, they also had a white board that listed new beer releases for the week. Will certainly be stopping back here!

08-09-2010 11:32:58 | More by soilworkkm

drewd0g

New York

4.5/5  rDev +6.4%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I love how in NJ you can buy beer at the liquor store....this place is great. Loaded with Wine, Liquor, and Beer. The beer section is a little tight space wise, it's at the back of the store. It's not really an issue, but when the store is crowded (holidays) it can put a strain on your browsing. But a minor problem if it is one. the quality of beers available covers a wide range, they have the usual BMC products, a cooler full of many different styles of beers. On the shelves they carry some good sour's (lambic, gueze, etc.) Cantillon, Boon, Etc... they have a very wide selection of the beers available. They also have several different magnum size bottle available (saw a gigantic double bastard for ~$90. didn't check the exact volume tho, but it was large) and every time i'm in there someone always asks me if i need help. The guy with the mustache seemed to know his stuff too. Good Store, Check it out if your driving through northern New Jersey. It's the Ramsey / Lake St. Exit off of hwy 17. stay on lake street until you cross the train tracks and it's in the shopping center on the right.

01-01-2011 22:43:03 | More by drewd0g

Billolick

New York

4.35/5  rDev +2.8%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5

The only thing I didnt like about this place were the Republican signs in the front window. Over looking that one obvious personality defect, this place is well worth a vist if youre in the general neighborhood. High quality brew, nice clean, well stocked store. Pleanty on the shelves and pleanty in the cooler. The help was helpful and the prices reasonable. Picked up my first ever Abbeye des Rocs, looking foward to popping that baby! They had tons of interesting and high quality brew. Also have what looks like a very well stocked selection of wine. But why would anybody want to drink that stuff?

10-31-2004 03:06:56 | More by Billolick

mltobin

Connecticut

4.35/5  rDev +2.8%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

A stones throw from the NJ Transit stop and the towns local Starbucks is Ramsey Liquors. To the back left side of the store is their beer selection. First thing you see is belgians from La Rulles, St. Bernardus, Duvel, De Dolle and others. Behind that is the us brews, uk brews, finnish, austrian and some other countries. New Holland, Capt. Lawrence, Founders, Elysian, Stone, Flying Fish, Long Trail, Hoppin` Frog were some of the US brewers that are represented here.
The staff is helpful and pleasant, ready to give their opinion on a beer that you may not have sampled yet. This shop was a half hour round trip detour for me the other day, but well worth it.

04-21-2010 23:01:55 | More by mltobin

ElGuapo

New Jersey

4.3/5  rDev +1.7%
quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 4

Nice little joint right off of Route 17. Plenty of parking to be found here. The store is clean and well organized. The high-end liquors and wines are quite numerous, but I was there for the beer. Lots of singles: Belgian, German, English. They had Celebrator, Aventinus, Sticke, Unibroue, Samuel Smith, De Dolle, Westy, Rochefort, Westmalle, Orval. Yah, they covered the basics. They had a few nice gift packs as well. Micros are decently represented. Troegs, Yards, Smutty, Dogfish Head, Victory, and a few others. Prices are a bit steep on some of the singles, but definitely pretty good on others.
The service is excellent. The guys were quick to strike up a conversation and pop open a Biere d'Art with me. Very cool. They let me know about the new stuff coming in, and I will have to make a second trip.

05-05-2004 18:53:59 | More by ElGuapo