My plea to improve the craft beer scene in South Boston/South End

Discussion in 'New England' started by jdamaso84, May 22, 2013.

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  1. jdamaso84

    jdamaso84 Crusader (463) Aug 4, 2010 Colorado

    Someone, anyone - Craft Beer Cellar? - please expand into South Boston. The craft beer scene in central/southern Boston, especially when compared to what's available in smaller towns outside the city (Belmont, Winchester, Braintree, Weymouth, Westborough, Stoneham) is surprisingly awful.

    Sometimes you can find a place that has a few good bottles here and there, but as far as I can tell no liquor stores in Southie/South End are really embracing the booming craft beer scene. Sometimes Bayview Liquors will have some good but fairly common things like FBS, or in the South End Seiyo will have some decent surprises like Fantome or Mikkeller, but no one really stocks up like Redstone, Julio's or Granite does.

    This really surprises me because there are a LOT of craft beer nerds and heavy drinkers in the South Boston and South End region, but if you want something good you're looking at a minimum 25-30 minute drive (if traffic is light) to get to a place with a decent selection.

    If CBC continues their success, I would love to see them consider a South Boston location. The market is definitely there and they could probably find reasonably-priced commercial space.

    Anyone else from the area and notice the horrible lack of options, given the fact that there are significantly better options outside the city?
     
  2. omniscientcause

    omniscientcause Initiate (0) Jun 4, 2010 District of Columbia

    Yes south end isnt great I would welcome any new business.
     
  3. willbm3

    willbm3 Initiate (0) Feb 19, 2010 Massachusetts

    I feel like the South End and Southie are distinctly different places, but whatever. Downtown Boston really isn't great for liquor stores, but I'm surprised the South End has nothing considering that place is a hipster mecca. Cambridge (another hipster mecca) has much better liquor store options. I suspect the issue is mainly tied to real estate. It's just way too expensive in Boston so stores need to stay small, keep less inventory, and make sure they sell that inventory
     
  4. WeymouthMike

    WeymouthMike Savant (1,097) Jun 22, 2004 Massachusetts

    Social wines in Southie is a very good store, not up to Julios or Granite level but a notch below. They have a great social media presence, tastings, and are starting a rare beer customer list like some of the other stores you mentioned. I'm lucky enough to have Granite as my local shop but I could be content with Social Wines being my weekly stop. Now getting a decent beer on tap in Southie, I'm with you there.
     
  5. BearsOnAcid

    BearsOnAcid Pooh-Bah (2,239) Mar 17, 2009 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah

    Southie isn't so bad. I shop at Social wines and American Provisions (since they can carry beer and wine now) and the selections are good. I found a case of BCBS at a corner convenience store on broadway this year. Getting the obscure imports might be difficult but I guess you could ask SW or Bayview if they could order it for you.

    Local 149 has a very good tap list but my meals have been lousy. I'm upset about Lincoln blowing their potential. That bar is huge and most of the taps are filled with bro-craft.

    Keep in mind Belmont was a dry town before CBC. They are lucky they have anything.
     
  6. seanwhite

    seanwhite Initiate (0) Jan 31, 2008 Massachusetts

    Open one up + good luck! :wink:
     
  7. MattOC

    MattOC Pooh-Bah (2,100) Jan 13, 2013 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    In terms of South End, try Urban Grape. I frequent the Chestnut Hill shop and the one in SE has 4x the craft space apparently. They are really expanding their craft scene. Follow them @UrbanHops. The beer manager, Ben Bouton, is a good guy and he gets it. That's not my area, but you mentioned South End and that's what I know for that area.
     
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  8. omniscientcause

    omniscientcause Initiate (0) Jun 4, 2010 District of Columbia

    shhhhhh I just went there for the first time today. They dont have a ton but what they do have is worth taking a look at. Too bad I am switching offices to down town in a month this is literally 3 mins from my office.
     
    MattOC likes this.
  9. MattOC

    MattOC Pooh-Bah (2,100) Jan 13, 2013 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Ha. I know Mike. Same with the CH store. Not a ton of stock, but usually something that catches my eye. Today alone, Lunch, Love Child #3. It is sort of out of the way for me, but I'll check in at the Chestnut Hill every once and a while.
     
  10. benbking

    benbking Initiate (0) Dec 11, 2009 Rhode Island

    You know nothing of craft beer wastelands, living in the South End or South Boston.
    Try looking for craft beer, in East Boston.
     
  11. cbeer88

    cbeer88 Initiate (0) Sep 5, 2007 Massachusetts

    Not sure I agree with this, at least for the South End. You have two Wine Emporiums, Bauer walkable in the Back Bay, and even Wine Gallery isn't that far. BWX and others are easily T accessible. There are many places in the greater Boston area in much worse shape than that.

    Generally speaking, you should expect the better stores to live outside the city. Rent is cheaper outside the city, space is more readily available, and people have cars/houses to stockpile beer in, which drives up the average sale amount. City shops are more about buying a 6-pack or a couple of bottles at a time. At Julio's people are buying carts full of cases.

    Point being - I think a store needs to be a bit more general purpose to pay the bills in a city location. I could see Craft Beer Cellar succeeding, but I could also see them succeeding in any town they want to go into, and if they can do better in the burbs, there is little incentive to dealing with the hassles of downtown.
     
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  12. jdamaso84

    jdamaso84 Crusader (463) Aug 4, 2010 Colorado

    I forgot about Social Wines, which has an OK selection but nothing out of the ordinary. They're probably the best bet in town, though their prices are pretty ridiculous with a lot of the imported stuff.

    As for what's on tap in Southie...that's a whole different depressing discussion.
     
  13. jdamaso84

    jdamaso84 Crusader (463) Aug 4, 2010 Colorado

    You make several fair points about costs (though if antique shops, dry cleaners, and hole-in-the-wall bars can make it in Southie, I'm sure a quality beer store could), but I think you also make a good argument for a top-notch store in the area...public transit would draw craft beer geeks from all over the city, so target consumers could really extend beyond South Boston/South End.

    Also, I don't think a store would have to be only a craft specialty shop, I hope I didn't seem as if I were insinuating that. I think a store that sells a hefty portion of bro brews AND has an extensive, great craft beer selection could really be successful. I personally know a ton of people in the area that are fine with a BLL on a hot day, but would also undoubtedly take a day off from work and line up for a Westy 12 release. A store like Granite - that has the best of both worlds - would thrive in the area.

    Several people also mentioned places that exist that have small but somewhat decent selections. I don't deny those exist; I named a few of them. But no one seems to have an extensive selection. I was at Provisions yesterday and aside from their wayyyy overpriced groceries they mostly have local beers, FBS, and a couple relatively common Belgians (Delirium), but by no means do they have much, if anything, that you can't find at almost any other shop in Mass that has any kind of small craft beer display.

    I dunno, maybe this is much ado about nothing, but I've lived in the Boston area for a while now and I feel like the southern part of the city is really lacking, especially given the demographic (lots of big drinkers who love quality beers).
     
  14. jdamaso84

    jdamaso84 Crusader (463) Aug 4, 2010 Colorado

    I actually laughed out loud at that. :slight_smile:
     
  15. jamvt

    jamvt Savant (1,150) Aug 5, 2005 Massachusetts
    Trader

    My eyes are bleeding after reading your post. Why are you trying so hard?
     
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  16. willbm3

    willbm3 Initiate (0) Feb 19, 2010 Massachusetts

    Square footage. And I dunno about the drinking, I haven't seen too many beards in the South End, only mustaches.
     
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  17. kinopio

    kinopio Savant (1,037) Apr 30, 2009 Massachusetts

    With all the great restaurants and and all the fairly young people who live in the south end and have disposable income you'd figure the it would be a good beer neighborhood but it is merely an OK one with Picco being the only real destination spot. It is weird that great, hip restaurants like Toro and Coppa don't have any draft lines.

    You'd imagine that people in southie would tire of Bud and Jameson eventually but that doesn't seem to be the case. If you venture there expecting decent food or beverage you will likely be disappointed.
     
  18. lostsurf24

    lostsurf24 Initiate (0) Nov 13, 2007 Massachusetts

    Yea Southie has some pretty good food and of course Harpoon Brewery who's beer hall has a good selection of beer on tap now, and it's across from my office. But overall I don't know of any beer bars. I wish they would open up something down here as my office is down here and I'd love to have a cool beer bar to check out with my co workers or my lady in the evening. I work with a bunch of beer folks(here as Boston Beer Co.) and it would be great to have somewhere for all of us to head out to in the evening to share a few good pints! But this is very up and coming area and I think it has potential for something good!

    Cheers
     
  19. BearsOnAcid

    BearsOnAcid Pooh-Bah (2,239) Mar 17, 2009 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah

    I don't know many generic shops with tiny craft displays that have BA framinghammer, Six point, Founders or anything from Nightshift/Mystic. With what little space American Provisions has for the selection I think it is well curated. Seems you want the super duper rare brews bro or something
     
  20. BearsOnAcid

    BearsOnAcid Pooh-Bah (2,239) Mar 17, 2009 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah

    The Southend is much happier with a great wine selection than beer. Southie will never really change. There's the old school dive bar people and then all the yuppies that moved in just want to crush a case of BL during a game. Nothing too complicated. You can find some great food though. And they have Lee Chen. There arent too many places serving Mexican and Chinese food in the same place lol
     
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