Riverside Beverage Company

mactrail

California

3.05/5  rDev -18.7%
quality: 2 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $$

First I have to say that two out of several ales I bought on the high grav side of the store were spoiled: the Sue from Yazoo and the Atwater Voodoovator. They were happy to give me credit, but not a good batting average.

What I found odd was how few southeastern regional beers they have. Vermont, Michigan, New York, not to mention Avery from Colorado in abundance.

Still, it's a lot of different beers. Other thing I didn't like was on the low grav side the lighting is so bad, you have to take beers out of the cooler and find a patch where a bulb is shining to see what is what. A few singles available on the low grav side, very few on the high grav.

Beer guy was jolly. "Take your time, you got all day."

11-18-2010 03:28:10 | More by mactrail

Nuke77

Tennessee

3.66/5  rDev -2.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | $$$

This was my only real source of quality beer and spirits until my recent discovery of Beverage World just across the state line. This store is divided into two with beer on one side and wine and spirits on the other. There is a fair selection of microbrews and there are always some selections on tap for filling growlers. It is a shame that there is not a Founders or Bells to be found thanks to the distribution gods. I will continue to make purchases here but if I travel another 20 minutes I can be at Beverage World so Riverside will get my spirit dollar but not my beer dollar.

11-15-2011 18:31:33 | More by Nuke77

doopydoogle

Tennessee

3.61/5  rDev -3.7%
vibe: 2 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I went in here to check out some beers in the area. They do have growler fills available, which is quite nice, with a good representative selection of brews. Overall, their selection is pretty good. They have a good stock of beers from all over the states and a pretty good selection of imports as well. The place is just pretty funky and the beer area smelled like rotting beer and old yeast. Staff was not too helpful really, just pretty basic folks staffing a place. If you can get over the decor, its a decent place though.

09-02-2011 02:42:25 | More by doopydoogle

hippityhophead24

Tennessee

5/5  rDev +33.3%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | $$

Riverside Beverage Company is right down the road from Greenlife Grocery. They have two stores, one for beer and one for wine, liquor, and high gravity beers (TN's cap in a beer store is 6.3%). The wine side has a large selection of great liquors, wine, and champagnes for any lover of the spirits. They probably have the largest selection in town. They also have a great selection of higher gravity beers above 6.3%. I go there often to pick up some of those. The beer side of the store has everything ranging from Budweiser to small brew craft beers. The best part is the growler station. I believe they have about 10 brews on tap and they are reasonably priced. Great place

08-15-2011 21:01:56 | More by hippityhophead24

dsauter

Florida

3.5/5  rDev -6.7%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $$

Like other's have said, this is your best bet insude the Chattanooga city limits. The low ABV section in the beer store has a pretty good selection of what you'd expect for the SE: Terrapin, Sweetwater, Yazoo, BBC. They also carry Rogue, Victory, SN, Avery, Stoudt's, and a number of Europeans. The biggest knock on Riverside is that it's not Beverage World, but a couple noteworthy breweries that Riverside does carry are Caldera and Marble (great addition to their selection). They also have about a half dozen taps to fill growlers, and they rotate pretty well.

Tennessee is one of the states with goofy laws, so the higher ABV brews are next door in their wine store. Stone, Moylan's, and a decent selection of Belgians are there, but my experience is that freshness is an issue, so take a close look before buying a bottle.

Prices are pretty reasonable. Lighting is poor. I used to get excited about walking in and having a good conversation and getting solid recomendations, but it has not been the same since Trey left a month or two back. Nevertheless, I'll continue to buy at Riverside and encourage others to check it out.

07-09-2011 16:14:50 | More by dsauter

freakpower

Tennessee

4.5/5  rDev +20%
quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | $$

Hands down the best beer store in Chattanooga. Good selection, and the staff are beer geeks who know their stuff - they'll bring in just about any quality beer they can get their hands on.

The ten or so taps for growlers are, I think, unique to Chattanooga, and they rotate through the selection pretty regularly, so there's always something different. My only complaint is the flat $9 price. Works out for more expensive or otherwise unavailable beers, but isn't that great of a deal for beers that sell for under $10 a six-pack. On Friday afternoons, there's usually a promo with a discount and/or swag.

A huge plus is that they've recently expanded the high-gravity selection on the liquor side and hope to add even more. Used to be that you had to drive to Georgia for a big IPA, but not so much anymore. Again, if they can get it, I think you'll see it on the shelves.

01-28-2010 17:47:40 | More by freakpower

Likeburning

Tennessee

4.2/5  rDev +12%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

I was in town to visit a friend who is also a beer lover, and he took me to Riverside. First of all, I was pretty damn impressed at the growler filling option. I haven't been to very many beer stores (in the state of Tennessee at least) that have this option.
Despite our 6% law, this store had a really good selection. About a dozen taps, lots of different bottles organized by origin, and a decent number of bombers as well. I've heard this is the best beer store in town and I don't doubt it.
I've been spoiled a but by Bruisin Ales in Asheville, but they don't have the percentage handicap that we do in Tennessee. Working within these restraints they've put a great store together. The local AB distributor even had the Kona Brewing Company sales rep in today. I know it was just good timing on both of our parts, but it was still a nice touch to see one of those guys there.
Overall, I would recommend this store to friends, and I will shop here again when I'm back in town.

04-02-2009 21:09:00 | More by Likeburning

n00tz

Georgia

4.35/5  rDev +16%
quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

This review comes after two visitations within close succession.

Clean store, both sides (ridiculous TN law).

When I visited the high-gravity side (liquor, wine, hi-grav beers) there were two attendants, both were eager to assist in helping me find what I was looking for. I ended up buying a small bottle of vodka (Ciroc) that I had recently found to be quite enjoyable. Their high gravity beers were in desparate need of restocking with many holes on their shelves, but an obvious array of a selection available though limited in comparison with other stores I've been in.

The beer side had a seemingly wide selection, though needed some restocking when I passed through. I think the cases could use a little better lighting, but that's just me: maybe they were after that environment. Everything was labeled appropriately that I could tell. I bought a couple of select bottles and had a 1/2gal growler filled with one of the 6 selections available at the time. The cashier was unintrusive and filled my growler reasonably fast.

They've won me away from the liquor store I had been going to in service, though I will be making some price comparisons to know which to go to for what.

09-05-2008 01:51:42 | More by n00tz

ectomorph

Tennessee

3.66/5  rDev -2.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

Stopped by after work and was able to purchase a 1/2 gal glass screw top growler and have it filled with Highland Kashmir IPA for under $13. The guy working threw in a Big River pilsner glass free of charge, always nice...

They are adding additional taps for growler fills to the 6 (I think) they already offer. Today they had: Sweetwater 420, Highland Gaelic Ale and Kashmir IPA, UFO Hefe, Ft. Collins Rocky Mtn. IPA and Choc Stout.

I had previously visited Riverside Wine and Spirits (built in on the left) and was only 'meh' about the service/selection. Riverside Beverage (on the right) made up for it today. I will be back often.

08-21-2008 01:09:56 | More by ectomorph

tiger88

Alabama

2.9/5  rDev -22.7%
quality: 3.5 | service: 2 | selection: 3 | $$$

On the liquor/wine/high gravity side, you have one section of the back wall that houses a "little less than decent" selection of higher gravity stuff. The high point was they stocked 4 different Trappist beers: Chimay, Orval, Westmalle and Rochefort. All were a little pricey but for TN, that is to be expected. Also picked up some Duvel and a bomber of Stone Ruination. The beer side of the store had a decent selection of Rogue and New Belgium bombers as well as "growlers to go." The personnel did not come from behind the counter and were not very interested in the clientelle until they approached the counter. If you're in Chattanooga and you MUST stop for some beer, this is an OK place to stop. There are a couple places about 15 minutes south in Georgia that have a better selection and not as expensive.

08-14-2008 14:28:08 | More by tiger88