Whole
foods: Bringing beer into focus
I hope that no-one takes that the
wrong way......its merely a mater of fact. Whole foods is expensive.
Their food, groceries, and home supplies all cost more than their
competitors (Trader Joes, Costco, Publix, Wallmart, etc). Can't fault
me for saying that, and its pretty obvious that no-one goes to Whole
Foods to save money.....besides me I suppose (I obviously like to
bargain hunt). However, if your a beer fans, you should give them a
shot, because against all conventional wisdom, whole foods often
undercuts their competitors by quite a bit on beer prices.
No lie. I first thought that was a
fluke when I found the two leading Ballast point stouts marked down
so much, but when I started working on this list, I was surprised to
continue seeing the trend for lower priced beer. I cant find every
point where they have a better price than competitors, but I will
point out when I notice that they beat the rest on certain items.
However, their surprisingly
lower-prices is not why I find this place to be fantastic for beer.
Its also not because of their occasional stocks of rare white whale
level beers, and its certainly not the free samples (but Ill admit,
those help a lot)............no its because you can drink in the
store! And not just at the bar, you can drink the RETAIL single
bottles (after you pay for them that is). That's just crazy to me.
You can pick up a bottle, open it, and drink it. Anywhere in the
store.
Finally, the concept of buying a single
bottle makes sense to me!
Its just amazing. Its pretty much makes
them the cheapest pesudo bar in town, and can make for a great stroll
around the store, a good chill-spot at the cafe, or a good place to
take friends out to have a few nice cold ones. And common, who
doesn't want a beer when they are shopping for organic goodness? With
free samples? That's just a match made in heaven.
And to add to that, the place is
expanding the beer selection. The expansion will allow for more
single beer purchases, a greater variety of beers, and a larger
percentage of the refrigerated shelf space. Currently they are
planned to take effect by next week (as of today, 1\5\14).
As a final point of interest, I personalty know that at least 2 of the staff are experienced homebrewers, and are more than happy to talk home-brew with you if they have the time and if you bring it up! This is a serious plus for me.
If you haven't already gone and enjoyed
what their offering, your missing out. I highly recommended it.
The Brew List:
Bombers\singles
- Avery brewery
- the beast grand cru, 9.99, 12 oz
- style: Belgian dark strong ale 16.83%
- rating: ratebeer (98\100), beer advocate (86\100)
- personal rating: 83\100. This is a remarkably furious beer.....but that's just the problem. Its too furious. Its flavor too strong, its body too thick. Its a beer that ozzes out 'too much”. But that's just the way we like it, isn't it? A good example of extreme beer, and well worth trying one just to say that you did, but really, in may ways it just goes too far.
- Ballast point
- Victory at sea coffee vanilla porter, 7.49
- style: Imperial porter, 10%
- rating: ratebeer (100\100), beer advocate (98\100)
- personal rating: n\a, yet............
- Sea monster, 7.49
- style: Imperial stout, 10%
- rating: ratebeer (98\100), beer advocate (90\100)
- personal rating: n\a.....yet
- Samuel Smith
- Organic chocolate stout, 4.99
- style: sweet stout, 5%
- rating: ratebeer (97\100), beer advocate (94\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Eel river brewing
- Trippel exultation, 5.99
- style: old ale, 9.7%
- rating: ratebeer (96\100), beer advocate (85\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Stone
- Old Guardian, 7.99
- style: American barleywine, 12%
- rating: ratebeer (96\100), beer advocate (89\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Sierra Nevada
- Brux domesticated wild ale, 14.99
- style: American wild ale, 8.3%
- rating: ratebeer (96\100), beer advocate (86\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Legacy brewing
- Hoptimus prime, 6.99
- style: Imperial ipa, 9%
- rating: ratebeer (93\100), beer advocate (90\100)
- personal rating: n\a
4\6
packs
- Brasserie d'Achouffe
- La Chouffe, 11.99\4
- style: Belgian strong ale, 8%
- rating: ratebeer (98\100), beer advocate (94\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Houblon Chouffee
- style: Belgian IPA, 11.99\4
- rating: ratebeer (99\100), beer advocate (94\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Wells and Young
- Banana bread beer, 9.44\4
- style: fruit beer, 5.2%
- rating: ratebeer (42\100), beer advocate (79\100)
- personal rating: 94\100. This stuff tastes like banana bread. Its mission is accomplished. And it tastes delicious. Give it a shot. You wont be disappointed. Unless you don't like banana bread, then you will be disappointed
- Coronado brewing co.
- Islander IPA, 12.99\6
- style: American ipa, 7%
- rating: ratebeer (95\100), beer advocate (85\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Holy Mackerel
- Panic attack, 9.99\4
- style: Belgian strong ale, 10%
- rating: ratebeer (61\100), beer advocate (77\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Lagunitas
- Brown sugga, 10.99\6
- style: American strong ale, 9.99%
- rating: ratebeer (97\100), beer advocate (90\100)
- personal rating: 95\100
- Ipa,
- style: American IPA
- rating: ratebeer (94\100), beer advocate (87\100)
- personal rating: 85\100
- Founders
- dirty bastard, 11.49\6
- style: Scotch ale, 8.5%
- rating: ratebeer (98\100), beer advocate (91\100)
- personal rating: 93\100. One of the best scotch ales on the market.
- Centenial, 11.49\6
- style: IPA, 7.2%
- rating: ratebeer (99\100), beer advocate (93\100)
- personal rating: 87\100
- World brews
- 4 in hand IPA, 4.99\4 pints
- style: American ipa, 6.3%
- rating: ratebeer (24\100), beer advocate (73\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- St cloud, 4.99\4 pints
- style: Witbier, 5.4%
- rating: ratebeer (22\100), beer advocate (66\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Narragansett brewery
- Narragansett lager, 6.99\6 pints
- style: American adjunct lager, 5%
- rating: ratebeer (12\100), beer advocate (77\100)
- personal rating: 83\100. In terms of the American adjunct lager style, this is simply the best there is. It is my go too choice when friends want to drink something that their familiar with (and I don't feel like drinking bud). A high recommendation for anyone who says that you cant make a good American adjunct lager.
- Joseph James brewery
- Red fox Russian Imperial stout, 10.99\6
- style: Russian imperial stout, 9%
- rating: ratebeer (80\100), beer advocate (79\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Fat head
- Holly Jolly, 12.99\6
- style: herb\spice beer, 7.4%
- rating: ratebeer (76\100), beer advocate (85\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Hinderland
- pale ale, 10.99\6
- style: English pale ale, 5.3%
- rating: ratebeer (63\100), beer advocate (76\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Victory
- headwaters pale ale, 10.99\6
- style: American pale ale, 5.2%
- rating: ratebeer (94\100), beer advocate (89\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Red Brick
- Hoplanta, 9.99\6
- style: American ipa, 6.7%
- rating: ratebeer (64\100), beer advocate (84\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- La Rossa
- Birra Moretti, 8.99\6
- style: Doppelbock, 7.2%
- rating: ratebeer (74\100), beer advocate (83\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- left hand brewery
- Nitro milk stout, ?\6
- style: milk stout, 6%
- rating: ratebeer (96\100), beer advocate (89\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Siera Nevada brewery
- Narwhal, 9.99\4
- style: Russian Imperial stout, 10.2%
- rating: ratebeer (99\100), beer advocate (92\100)
- personal rating: 98\100. I flat out love this beer. Its easily one of the best stouts on the market, easily the best in the store right now (unless a surprise bomber comes around)
- Southern Tier
- 2xmas, 9.99\6
- style: herb\spice beer, 8%
- rating: ratebeer (93\100), beer advocate (84\100)
- personal rating: 97\100. I thought that it was a perfect spiced beer, at the time anyway. Are-review might be necessary, but yea. I liked it a lot.
- 2xIpa, 10.99\6
- style: Double ipa, 8.2%
- rating: ratebeer (97\100), beer advocate (91\100)
- personal rating: 98\100. Its my go-to big ipa. Enough said. I love this stuff.
- 6 point
- crisp, 9.99\4 pints
- style: German pilsener, 5.4%
- rating: ratebeer (59\100), beer advocate (88\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Bengali tiger, 9.99\4 pints
- style: American ipa, 6.4%
- rating: ratebeer (94\100), beer advocate (88\100)
- personal rating: 90\100. This beer is my prime choice for a nice, crisp, hoppy American IPA. Its large container also adds a lot to what makes this beer great. Highly recommended beer for starting your night, before you really break out the big guns. I also recommend it as a picknick or sport event beer. Not exactly sessionable, but highly portable and large can size make it useful for such events. Highly recommended.
- Sweet action, 9.99\4 pints
- style: cream ale, 5.2%
- rating: ratebeer (79\100), beer advocate (88\100)
- personal rating: 85\100
- Fullers
- London porter, 11.99\6
- style: English porter, 5.4%
- rating: ratebeer (100\100), beer advocate (94\100)
- personal rating: I had this one at the store. A great, highly malt forward brew, and a hard one to resist when I'm shopping at whole foods. A good go-to porter, and a proven classic. 95\100
- Lexington brewery
- Bourbon barrel ale, 12.99\4
- style: English strong ale, 8.19%
- rating: ratebeer (61\100), beer advocate (83\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Bourbon stout, 13.99\4
- style: Imperial stout, 8%
- rating: ratebeer (88\100), beer advocate (81\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Julius Echter
- Heff-weiss hell, 11.99\6
- style: Hefewisen, 4.9%
- rating: ratebeer (85\100), beer advocate (89\100)
- personal rating: n\a
Bulk, 12 packs - Oscar Blues
- multipack, 18.99
- dales pale ale, 6.5%
- style: American pale ale
- rating: ratebeer (98\100), beer advocate (88\100)
- personal rating: I hate this one. I think that it tastes like cheesy socks. But its a classic to many, soo ehh. 2.5\5
- Old Chub
- style: Scotch ale, 8%
- rating: ratebeer (97\100), beer advocate (90\100)
- personal rating: I love this beer, and its my former go-to scotch ale (right now its after Dirty bastard), but I still love this ale. 87\100
- Mama'a little yella Pills,
- style: Czech pilsener, 5.3%
- rating: ratebeer (52\100), beer advocate (81\100)
- personal rating: 73\100
- Average pack score: ratebeer(82\100), beer advocate(86\100)
- Overall impression: The only place in town to get this one. It looks like a GREAT bulk purchase of craft if you and some friends are curious about the original canning craft brewers, Oscar blues. And for what you get, the price is quite nice. If its ever on sale it should be an immediate purchase!
- P.S. For the money, this one also has a high concentration of alcohol! Just saying :p
- Magic hat
- Winterland variety pack, 14.99
- Number 9 not quite pale ale
- style: Fruit Beer, 5.1%
- rating: ratebeer (45\100), beer advocate (77\100)
- personal rating: I'm not a terrible fan of this beer, But I think that my old review of it is a bit off. I find that I can finish the beer and enjoy it for what it is. Its nothing special, but I find this beers apricot flavor to work in the short run. I cant drink more than one of them, but I think that it can work for a single severing durring the winter. 70\100
- Heart of darkness
- style: English stout, 5.7%
- rating: ratebeer (91\100), beer advocate (88\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Encore ipa
- style: American IPA, 6.4%
- rating: ratebeer (n\a), beer advocate (82\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- G-thing ginger spice ale
- style: herb\spice beer, 5.7%
- rating: ratebeer (46\100), beer advocate (77\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Average pack score: ratebeer(60\100), beer advocate (81\100)
- Overall Impression: I honestly did not know that this was a variety pack until I did the list. I think that its diversity of style can make it a good choice to spice things up, but I still really don't have much of an opinion of the box set. A good one for magic hat fans is what I would say, or for a good purchase for the money, its a solid buy. Not sure if it would be so those two factors are not important to you.
- Boston Brewery
- Winter lagger, 14.99
- style: spiced bock, 5.6%
- rating: ratebeer (64\100), beer advocate (82\100)
- personal rating: I found this beer to be highly refreshing, crisp, and lively winter offering. Perfect in quality for price, this bulk order is a must try for anyone interested in seeing Sam Adams when they get things right. 84\100
- New Belgium
- Sunshine wheat, 17.99
- style: American pale wheat ale, 4.8%
- rating: ratebeer (48\100), beer advocate (79\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Siera Nevada
- Torpedo extra, 15.99
- style: American ipa, 7.2%
- rating: ratebeer (98\100), beer advocate (93\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- P.S. For the money, this is the best craft beer ABV (booz) return per dollar. Just saying.......
- Pale ale, 15.99
- style: American pale ale, 5.6%
- rating: ratebeer (96\100), beer advocate (91\100)
- personal rating: n\a
- Celebration, 15.99
- style: American IPA, 6.8%
- rating: ratebeer (98\100), beer advocate (93\100)
- personal rating: I found this to be a great hop forward brew, but not nearly as hoppy as the torpedo. A good choice for less hop-forward friends looking to get a buzz going and enjoy a decent brew at a great price. 90\100
- Innis\gunn
- box set, 9.99, 3 pack + glass:
- Original
- style: Scottish ale, 6.6%
- Stats: ratebeer (64\100), beer advocate (84\100)
- personal rating:70\100
- Bourbon Stout
- style: Scottish stout, 7.4%
- Stats: ratebeer (63\100), beer advocate (85\100)
- personal rating:Anyone looking at this one, be advised: its quite sweet. A lot of this sweetness comes from its bourbon aging (giving it a hot and estery\fruity character), and the rest from its Scottish-style yeast. Their is not nearly enough chocolate\roast to back it and balance out the bourbon sweetness. I think that this beer would had tasted better if it had a stronger hop bitterness or a dose of smoked\roasted malt barley to curve its sweetness. However, as you drink it, it grows on you a lot, and because of that I give it a 75\100. Easily worth trying once.
- Treacle Porter,
- style: Scottish porter 7.4%
- Stats: rate beer (n\a), beer advocate (78\100)
- personal rating: 80\100
- box average rating: ratebeer (64\100), beer advocate(82\100)
- Box overall impression: Now this one is quite interesting. Besides having a box that, in my opinion, is worth getting just for the art (Innis and Gunn have always had a sense of style), its a great chance to try a good chunk of the brewery’s main offerings. I also love the glass that it comes with (which is perfect, obviously, for Scottish style beer), and the glass was one of the primary reasons why I picked it up in the first place. Overall I give the box set a score of 85\100, with an extra 5 points added because of the glass.
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