BevMo! — Restaurant in Emeryville

This is one of my favorite BevMo's. If you love love love a really great beer, you may just find a new one to fall in love with. They stock my staple beers (Abita Turbodog and North Coast Brewery's Old Rasputin), and they always have a decent stockpile of really great bombers of breweries that mostly don't get any notice out here in the land of the cascade hop (sorry, ick). Unibroue is a great example, but also keep your eyes peeled for interesting offering from the bigger breweries. It's often unspoken, but those guys making Bud Light actually have the knowledge, resources, and means to make some really good craft brews, and if it's being made, this place has it. One unhappy discovery was the fact that they no longer keep any shelved Advocaat that isn't awful (and expensive). I tried the stuff they had, and that's a $20 bottle of bye-bye. Not a fan of any cream-of-wheat grain textures in anything I drink. I wish they'd carry the stock brand they used to; I think it was Bols. And in general, the liqueur section used to be chock-full of interesting stuff, from all over the world. It's definitely a lot less substantial now, and adding insult to my Advocaat injury was the fact that I did not see any of my favorite Apple Pie liqueur, nor did they have any of the green tea liqueur that probably sells a lot better than the million bottles of equally pricey (and available at Safeway) ginger liqueur. The vodka section was tough to navigate, and I really had expected more stock there. That said, this was a Friday and July 1... I'm guessing they were selling out on a bunch of items. Their mixer offerings are second to none here, don't skip that aisle! The bitters alone will make you reconsider your entire purchase, and that's not a bad thing. Wine is a bit of a toughie, but it's there, and it's densely populated. I actually stumbled into a new favorite port at this store and their prices for wine are typically ridiculously low. Overall, this one's a no-brainer. It may look intimidating to anyone who never really stocked a bar before, but the staff is almost always happy to answer any questions asked. Always a pleasure to shop there.

Pssst, BevMo... Please get some good Advocaat for me! The old stuff you all stocked was too good, and I was so disappointed to see it absent from...

Enormous variety and helpful, friendly workers. If you’re looking for something special or specific, this is a great place to start. My partner cannot have gluten and this location has a pretty sizable variety of gluten-free beers! Usually fairly reasonably priced.

I would say that if you’re looking for something that is fairly common (say, something you could buy at Target), you may want to quickly check the going rate for your item. I was surprised to find that a 750ml bottle of liquor I wanted to buy was about $15 more at BevMo than Target!

With that one caveat, I highly recommend...

This store has the most fantastic employees. They are incredibly helpful and genuinely friendly and knowledgeable. And if one employee isn't sure about something, they right away get someone who is. There is one manager there, in particular, who stands out. I''ll get his name next time. Also, whoever is delivering -- well, they are the best. I've only done delivery twice because I can't walk for a month or more and? Nicest delivery folks...