Beer in Ogdensburg NY

TMex · Post by **TMex** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 11:29 am

I am going to be in Eastern Ontario and crossing over to the US at the Johnstown bridge (Odgensburg-Prescott).

Anyone know of a store that has a good selection of beer in that area?

iguenard · Post by **iguenard** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 1:21 pm

Closest I know of is in Canton, NY, nearly 10 minutes from the Prescott crossing. Called Bessettes. Its an okay selection, but sometimes has some nice Dogfish, Stone, Green Flash seasonals making it worth the trip.

Also has a liquor store attached for 15$ 1.14 litre Evan Williams bourbon and the likes.

Look it up on Ratebeer.

iguenard · Post by **iguenard** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 1:22 pm

If you do find better stuff, please post it here cause I like doing the 45 minutes trip from Ottawa once in a while.

cfrancis · Post by **cfrancis** » Tue Aug 24, 2010 11:49 pm

It's really limited around Ogdensburg. You can go to the Price Chopper which is about 5 mins from the border and find Sierra Nevada, Saranac, Blue Moon, etc.

TMex · Post by **TMex** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 12:09 pm

I made it to Bessetes in Canton and here is the rundown.

Tiny place with limited selection but for those used to the LCBO there is alot to choose from. Mostly American micros.

Picked up:

Flying Dog IPA
Dog Fish Head Bitches Brew
Heavy Seas Peg Leg
Smutty Nose Robust Porter
Magic Hat Blind Faith IPA
Agunitas Wilco, Tango, Foxtrot
Bear Republic Black Stout
Saranac Double IPA
Rocky Mountain IPA
Great Lakes Commodore Perry
Bear Reopublic Hop Rod Rye
Smittynose Gravitation
Sly Fox IPA

Lots of other stuff I would of picked up but was trying to keep number down so not to interest the border guards in charging me duty. But Johnston is not a busy bridge so I got dinged by customs. Should of broke the order in two so I had two credit card receipts and paid duty on half. They still would of thought me crazy for paying so much when I could of got 24 bud for 12 bucks.

iguenard · Post by **iguenard** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 1:14 pm

Bah, for the 12$ a case, its a limited fee to benefit from the best, most accomodating beer and whiskey distribution network in the US.

I'll gladly pay my dues to our Border buddies.

Good for you the selection looks like it was up there. According to the manager, the shelves are mostly best filled when school is in session. The busy University/college crowd keeps em pretty busy apparently.

Zuma · Post by **Zuma** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 3:08 pm

I agree Ian, that lineup is the most diverse I have heard of from that little store.

I will be heading through there this Friday for a camping trip. Hopefully, the shelves stay equally stacked.

...no mention of any Stone products though. I don't know if that is because Tmex did not bother to pick any up or if they were out. It will be unfortunate if there is none, as I find the go well with the BBQ food I cook up on the campsite.

iguenard · Post by **iguenard** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 11:55 pm

Dont want to side track this discussion, but speaking of Stone... the bottles of Stone Smoked POrter BBQ Sauce and especially the Ruination IPA curried mustard I brought back from Cincy are the shizzit. I'll be bringing them down when we do our stout tasting (if we).

Ralphus · Post by **Ralphus** » Mon Oct 11, 2010 6:42 pm

Made it to Bessette's in Canton on the way to Lake Placid, NY this weekend. Hell of a selection for such a tiny town.. and considering its about 20 min from Ogdensburg - this should be a regular destination for anyone living in Ottawa. Lots of regular offerings plus seasonals (pumpkin and harvest) from the following:

Southern Tier
Dogfish
Great Lakes (Cleveland)
Flying Dog
Magic Hat
Stone
Sierra Nevada
Smuttynose
Saranac
and others

My wife and screaming 5 month old were waiting in the car so it was all a blur as I ran around.. but the shelves were stocked full of craft beer. Mostly sixes but there was a rack of singles close to the cash that I nearly missed in my haste. I commented that the selection was fantastic and the lady behind the cash seemed delighted.

I wasn't too concerned about prices but for comparison's sake a 6 of Stone IPA was going for $12.99 USD and a bottle of Dogfish Sah'tea was $11.99.

Lubiere · Post by **Lubiere** » Tue Oct 12, 2010 6:18 pm

If you dont mind going a further 15 min from Canton, in Potsdam, there is also a decent beer store, CJs at 145 market St, and Maxfields, at 5 Market St.

http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/State/Ci ... dam/32.htm

There is also the Potsdam coop if you want good cheeses from NY and VT.

http://www.potsdamcoop.org/

There's an IGA in front of the Coop that sells cheap mix packs of Saranac.

sala33 · Post by **sala33** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:14 am

I went to Bessette's in Canton after reading this thread on my way to ottawa. it was great! the people were super nice and we picked up a bunch of beers. but who wouldn't be nice to 2 people who walk out with $500 worth of beers in about 20 minutes.
For the selection and convenience it was worth the drive to canton

.

JesseMcG · Post by **JesseMcG** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 1:04 pm

sala33 wrote:I went to Bessette's in Canton after reading this thread on my way to ottawa. it was great! the people were super nice and we picked up a bunch of beers. but who wouldn't be nice to 2 people who walk out with $500 worth of beers in about 20 minutes.
For the selection and convenience it was worth the drive to canton .

I'm heading that way in a few weeks as well... but it sounds like you cleaned them out!

Kel Varnsen · Post by **Kel Varnsen** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 1:17 pm

sala33 wrote:I went to Bessette's in Canton after reading this thread on my way to ottawa. it was great! the people were super nice and we picked up a bunch of beers. but who wouldn't be nice to 2 people who walk out with $500 worth of beers in about 20 minutes.
For the selection and convenience it was worth the drive to canton .

How were the bottling dates of the beers you picked up. Last time I was there (January 2011) I picked up three 6-packs. Goose Island Honkers Ale which was bottled April 2010, Great Lakes Nosferatu (althought that was a 4 pack) which was best before December 2010 and Great Lakes Grail Ale, which had no bottling date. It kind of turned me off that two out of the three beers I had were past their prime (although I had never had either of the 3 before so I didn't really have anything to compare them to). Although Nosferatu was 8% so I figured/hoped that the higher alcohol content would make it last longer then the best before date.

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Mon Aug 29, 2011 10:12 pm

Not sure if I'm too late for this, but I've definately found the best place either in Canton or Potsdam was the IGA (formerly Big M) on Elm st (?)

Growler fillups. Fresh beer comes in every Thursday. Prices ok. Really nice manager named Rick. Brought him a couple cans of Crazy Canuck and Square Nail and he slid me a bottle ST Back Burner. If you facebook Potsdam IGA he usually has updates on what he has. Worth the 30 mins from Ogdensburg IMO. Plus it's a nice drive...I like that part of NY.

Kel Varnsen · Post by **Kel Varnsen** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 9:02 am

JeffPorter wrote:Not sure if I'm too late for this, but I've definately found the best place either in Canton or Potsdam was the IGA (formerly Big M) on Elm st (?)

Growler fillups. Fresh beer comes in every Thursday. Prices ok. Really nice manager named Rick. Brought him a couple cans of Crazy Canuck and Square Nail and he slid me a bottle ST Back Burner. If you facebook Potsdam IGA he usually has updates on what he has. Worth the 30 mins from Ogdensburg IMO. Plus it's a nice drive...I like that part of NY.

That place is awesome, and the facbook page provides great regular updates. Plus if you need to buy anything else while you are down there, the Walmart in Potsdam is way bigger and way newer looking than the one in Ogdensburg.