Its overwhelming how much beer they have here. I guess its not that surprising considering the overall size of the store. I would hate getting groceries here, its just too big. Helpful hint: the beer is in the front, to the right.
Great for picking up a six pack of something new for yourself, or a 30 pack of Bud to take to a party. They’ve got your Pyramids, your Pete’s Wicked Ales, a couple Redhooks (IPA and ESB), some Widmer, some Gordon Biersch.
Glad to see they’ve got Firestone Double Barrel and Pale Ale. It’s also nice to see beers like Anchor Steam and Shiner Bock hitting the mainstream here in LA.
ALSO, in addition to the cans, they have Modelo in the bottle. I am a huge fan of Negra Modelo, and obviously la Negra es mucha mejor, but still, I don’t know where else you can find Modelo Especial in bottles. (UPDATE: Nevermind, I’m seeing it all over town now)
More interesting 6 packs: Lost Coast’s Downtown Brown and Great White, Deschutes’s Mirror Pond and Black Butte, Oregon Honey, Karl Strauss, Flying Dog’s Old Scratch and Road Dog, Mendocino Red Nectar, North Coast’s Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, Spatin Pils and Oktoberfest, and Warsteiner.
Not a bad place for 12 packs, either. Blue Moon, at least 4 types of Sam Adams; Boston Lager, Light, Black Lager & Winter, plus all the other stuff you’d expect – Newcastle, Guinness, Heineken, Sierra Nevada. They’ve even got a little love for Canadians, with twelvers of Molson and Moosehead (Moosehead? When was the last time I saw this stuff?)
Single Bottles: A little disappointing, but to their credit, they have Franziskaner, Chimay Premiere (red) and Grand Reserve (blue), and Fischer Amber.
While they don’t score huge on obscurity points, they’ve got several beers you’ve probably never heard of, dozens that you’ve probably never tried, and a ton of your favorite go-to beers. Definitely check this place out.
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on Apr 20th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
I bought a six pack of Lost Coast Brewery’s Downtown Brown from Cost Plus and liked it, recently. I spent some time up in Arcata and Eureka and really enjoyed some of the local breweries up there. There was one in particular, called Mad River Brew Co., that had an intensely good pale ale. I’ve searched for it here and apparently it doesn’t ship to Southern California. It was a great beer. Downtown Brown is a decent substitute.
on Apr 20th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Library has Mad River’s Jamaica Red on tap, but I haven’t seen their pale ale. I’ve been meaning to do a Downtown Brown review for a week or two now. I prefer Lost Coast’s Great White, which they have on tap at Father’s.
on Jul 23rd, 2007 at 10:07 pm
[...] I searched everywhere; Whole Foods on Wilshire, Fireside Cellars on Montana, the Co-Op on Broadway, Star Liquor and Surf Liquor on Main, even BevMo! in West Hollywood. I couldn’t even find a good English Brown Ale (besides the obvious Newcastle). I resigned myself to play it safe and go with Lost Coast’s Downtown Brown, which is widely available, even at the local grocery. [...]
on Mar 3rd, 2008 at 11:39 am
UPDATE- I Just realized this is a VONS and not a Ralph’s.
Whoops.