Beer Store Organization (Seeking The Barley Decimal System)

Hello forum world, I come seeking worldly opinions.

In my neck of the woods, all of the retail locations that sell large varieties of beer have them organized by Country/State, then by brewery within Country/State.

I am curious if anyone has experience with a different organization scheme that they may have liked better. Was it by style, alphabetical, cost?

Please share your experiences for the betterment of beer shoppers everywhere!

There is one that I go to that is all by country and sub catagory by style.

I always chuckle at Ommegang being in with the Belgians (it's a geographical organization, kinda) at my Wegman's.

It depends. Like wine, some places have separate sections (full shelving units) for country, and within that, styles.
Only in the US section (since I'm in the US at least) do I see groupings based on producer.(sometimes) usually it's styles in that one too.

Local section
BMC section
US micro section
Imports by country

Very much like wine is laid out.
Hard booze is done by type no mater the location. Strange that its done differently.

Beer is different than wine in that people are looking for a brewery more than style. It's not "Pino Noir", it's "Southern Tier". There's so much variation within styles that they seem to be a mere suggestion sometimes.

I am interested if there's a way to please customers looking for "red ales", customers looking for "German Beers above 10%", and customers looking for "Clown Shoes"


I'm still holding out!

Most of the stores I'm familiar with categories either by style, or brewery. With usually a section on local/regional.

gerund said:

Beer is different than wine in that people are looking for a brewery more than style. It's not "Pino Noir", it's "Southern Tier". There's so much variation within styles that they seem to be a mere suggestion sometimes.

I am interested if there's a way to please customers looking for "red ales", customers looking for "German Beers above 10%", and customers looking for "Clown Shoes"


I'm still holding out!

Click to expand...

Why not put out a computer that someone can type the name of what they want in it and it tells them where in the store it is. (In addition to the organizing?) It could also collect what beers people are looking for, so you know what they want...

The place I go it is organized by; when a spot comes open, shove a new type up there.
They are pretty lazy, but I get a pretty good workout walking the aisles multiple times.

One place near me is organized by style from light to dark. Every where else is by place of origin. I tend to like place of origin better because a lot of times I am going to see what a certain brewery's beers are like.