Berman's Wine: Liquor Store Review
While there's lots of great beer to be found, sometimes that is the hardest part, finding it. We hunt out good liquor stores, bars and brewpubs and we thought it was about time we started sharing some of our favorites with you. We recently stumbled across Berman's Wine & Spirits in Lexington, MA after Matt Steinberg of Mayflower Brewing mentioned his beer was sold there. Our first visit was for an emergency beer buy(yes we realize that sounds ridiculous but we had to pair a beer for an event and only had no time to waste). While in the store I noticed one of the staff was helping a woman buy beer for a BBQ she was having. She wanted to pick up a fruit beer but didn't know what to get. The employee was extremely helpful and guided her through a series of good craft beer offerings while sharing his opinion of one's he'd personally tried and being honest about one's he had not. While lots of stores can stock a lot of beer, having good people at a store can be worth even more. Fortunately after a few visits to Berman's we've found that they have both selection and great staff. Oh, and lets not overlook their awesome discount policy where you get 10% off if you buy 4 or more bombers! That employee that helped that customer turned out to be Jesse Dooley, Berman's beer manager. We took a few minutes to talk to him a little bit about the store and what got him so interested in beer.
DCB: How long has the shop been around?
Dooley: We recently celebrated our 100th anniversary. We have been in business since 1909 and has been family run in Lexington ever since.
DCB: When did craft beer become a focus for the store?
Dooley: We have had the basics like the Sierra Nevada's and Longtrails for as long as I can remember but a real focus took place about 3 years ago when I took over the beer buying.
DCB:What got you in to craft beer, or beer in general?
Dooley: No one thing in particular. I made a decision to try and learn about beer and what made one style different from another. Beer pairings with food was another real big part of my interest as I have always been a bit of a foodie. I have personally put alot of time care, effort and drinking into this store. If anyone has questions please don't hesitate to ask me. I don't have an encyclopedic selection but what I do have is picked with love. Thanks Again!
While Jesse may not see the selection as encyclopedic we'd argue that it's better than most. As he mentions it's clearly picked with care. The wall of bombers and 750's tucked in the back left corner (go directly there when you go in) has Pretty Things full catalog, tons of Allagash offerings, as well as Port Brewing, Bear Republic, Southern Tier and many many others. The review could go on and on about the selection really including a great wall of Belgian offerings but we'll just put it simply. It would be nearly impossible to come to this store and not leave with some seriously tasty brew at a good price. This is undoubtedly one of our favorite stores now.
