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Belgian wrote:Wow. You really ARE living in condo-land. Would you like one of those glass pedestrian overpasses as well, so you never have to go outside?
Yes that would be nice too. In fact make it have a waist high conveyer belt coming back into the condo for easier hauling of cases. It's tough being tall (as you know), the knees and back aren't like they used to be.
The five floors would make a perfect LCBO. Think of the selection. Floor one contains the usual suspects of everything for easy grab and go. After that each floor would be one of beer, wine, spirits and Vintages. Awesome!
Keele & St Clair (Stockyards) - Good store, pretty large, generally has all seasonals (though no DDC feature). Has a decent selection of OCB & US micro stuff, some of which is even refrigerated. Also a pretty good vintages section, if you're into that sort of thing. Beer appears to turn over relatively quickly, and the seasonals appear to sell well (except the Chapeau crap that doesn't sell anywhere). Staff here are relatively useless regarding beer.
Dundas & Jane - Small store that punches above its weight. Poorly organized in a small space, but get just about all of the seasonals and has a decent OCB & US micro selection. Vintages section is tiny. Seasonal released don't seem to sell very well here, making it a good place to pick up older releases that have sold out elsewhere (same for some Vintages wines). Staff here are relatively useless regarding beer.
Bloor & Dundas - Brand new store (opened August 2010), pretty large. I've only been in here once, but they appeared to have some seasonals. Poor selection of micros (hopefully that'll change as they continue to stock up). Good Vintages section. No experience with staff here yet.
Bloor & Runnymede - Tiny store, no beer to speak of. Haven't been there in a while, but I don't think I've ever seen any seasonals there. No Vintages.
Bloor & Royal York (Kingsway) - Large store, good selection of seasonals here. I generally don't shop here for beer, but I think they've got the full seasonal program and a good seleciton of micros. Excellent Vintages section, generally has all products and a very good selection of previously released products (only downside is that highly sought-after wine will sometimes sell out very early on release-day here).
@ detritus: if you're willing to go as far as the Bloor & Royal York store (which is normally v. good), you might want to give the Cloverdale outlet a go -- the beer there is always a tad more inclusive than the Royal York store, and the lighting isn't as bright.
skaghevn wrote:@ detritus: if you're willing to go as far as the Bloor & Royal York store (which is normally v. good), you might want to give the Cloverdale outlet a go -- the beer there is always a tad more inclusive than the Royal York store, and the lighting isn't as bright.
Thanks.
I generally only go to the Bloor & Royal York store for wine, I can get pretty much all the beer I want/need at the Keele & St Clair store.
In London the two best stores are Wellington & Bradley in the far south end and Richmond & Fanshawe in the north. Wellington is my preference since it refrigerates a decent amount of craft beer and most of the seasonals. But Fanshawe has acquired a bunch of special releases (Mill Street, DDC!) that you can't get at Wellington, so I go there pretty often as well. My local store - Wonderland & Southdale - is also a seasonal outlet but the general list selection is not that great, and only a few crafts are refrigerated (Kellerbier, Dead Elephant, Nickel Brook Ale).
Aside from these three, the only other stores worth visiting are Clarke & Dundas in the east and York & Ridout downtown. The former doesn't get seasonal releases and the latter has the worst hours imaginable (closing at 6 on most days). However, both stores have a respectable range of general list beers.
Kitchener-Waterloo (aka Kitcherloo or Waterner):
Uptown Waterloo: Generally it's the best store in our area for selection and lay-out. Staff are friendly most of the time. Some issues, it services a large area with a ton of students from WLU/UW, so it's the most crowded store by far in my experiences. Also, though they carry a huge selection of products, they inexplicably get seasonals and special releases long after they've been available elsewhere in KW. Beer guy is very kind and personable, quite interested in beer, but isn't quite a 'beer geek'.
Kind and Northfield: Selection that rivals Uptown, biggest drawback here is location/store layout. Up in the very north end of Waterloo, just south of St. Jacobs. Very unfriendly area for pedestrian's, and the parking lot can be a pain to negotiate. The store itself always feels crammed and poorly maintained, but someone clearly cares about beer as they tend to get seasonals first and carry a number of products not available anywhere else in the area.
Highland and Westmount: Great selection, like Northfield they often get seasonals in before anyone else. Decent layout, but the beer area is pretty small and cramped-feeling. Service tends to be apathetic, and it's a pain to get here. Heavy traffic area, large parking-lot of bad drivers, and busses can be unreliable. Tends to be worth the trip though.
Alpine and Ottawa: My local, very large location. Okay selection, they recently expanded the OCB section significantly, and they sometimes get a seasonal or two. Great place if you love Euro lagers. Craft stuff does not sell very well so really pay attention to best before/brewed on dates. Reliable for certain imports (Aventinus, Duvel, Sinha Stout). Service ranges from friendly to give-me-the-money-and-get-the-hell-out kind of vibe. I put up with it for the convenience.
Ottawa and River: Wins the award for least accessible location in all KW. East Kitchener is practically a self-sustaining autonomous region. Bussing here is a pain in the ass, driving here is alright, but a longish drive with typically crowded parking. Selection used to be worth the trip, but within the past two years they apparently stopped caring that beer exists. No seasonals, no special releases. Very sad and pathetic. Fits in well with the bleak suburban character of this part of town.
Those are the only locations I really find worth mentioning at the moment. Laurelwood is decent apparently but I've never been there as it's extremely out of the way for me.
It's tough being tall (as you know), the knees and back aren't like they used to be.
