Bottle shopping in San Jose, CA

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masonsjax

masonsjax

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I'm in the San Jose/Mountain View area of CA for a work trip. I would like to buy some bottles that I can't find at home. I would love to get some Russian River Pliny the Elder, and some Three Floyds stuff. I went so some random liquor store, and to a BevMo. BevMo had a decent selection, and I got some Hop Stoopid, some Deschutes and couple Belgians, but they don't carry Pliny :( Any locals care to point me in the right direction?
 
Three Floyds doesn't get distributed to California. Bevmo is probably your best bet. Russian River is about 1.5-2 hours North of San Jose...I'd make a quick trip if you had the time (they have lots of awesome beers that don't make it into bottles).
 
I've purchased Pliny before... can't recall where, but I swear it was at Bevmo. The only other place you could try is Whole Foods; there is one on El Camino just north of Rengstorff, near the Mt. View/Los Altos border.
 
I heard from a BevMo employee that Russian River pulled Pliny, etc. from BevMo because they couldn't make enough of it to stock shelves and also meet their other contract obligations.

I don't live up in that area, but around here I basically just wander into random bottle shops and check out their selection. I have come across a few places that stock good stuff that way.
 
Bevmo will never carry Russian River's beers due to Vinnie's stipulation that all distibuters of his beer store it chilled in a walk-in refrigerator. Bevmo once carried it a few years back but when Vinnie went shopping for beer and found his brew to be on the shelf at room temperature, he yanked Bevmo's account.

Here is a list from Russian River's website of places in the South Bay you can find it:

Customer Name City Phone Number
Andronico's Market Los altos 650.948.6648
Andronico's Market Palo Alto 415.327.5505
Bobby's Liquors & Grocery Santa Clara 415.984.1120
Century Wines & Spirits Palo Alto 408.266.0550
Cosentino's # 3 San Jose 408.270.1561
Firehouse Grill & Brewery Sunnyvale 408.358.1731
JBC Liquors Santa Clara 408.265.9101
Lunardi's Supermarket # 3 Los Gatos 408.377.9356
Lunardi's Supermarket # 4 San Jose 408.736.3822
Maplewood Market & Liquor San Jose 650.327.7673
Murphy's Law Sunnyvale 408.773.9500
Rose & Crown Palo Alto 408.371.5000
The Britiania Arms San Jose 408.358.4434
U Save Liquors Los Gatos 650.326.8687
Whole Foods Market - Campbell Campbell 650.559.0300
Whole Foods Market - Cupertino Cupertino 650.494.3640
Whole Foods Market - Los Altos Los Altos 408.260.0103
Whole Foods Market - Los Gatos Los Gatos 408.257.7000
Whole Foods Market - Palo Alto Palo Alto 408.823.6218
Wine Affairs San Jose 408.977.0111
 
If you have a car, or can get a ride, come up to Concord (about an hour away from you, North) to a place called Monument liquors. They have everything there, from hard-to-find belgians, to local craft beers, to RR stuff - plus a GREAT selection of bourbons/whiskeys, etc ... Highly recommended.
 
My fiance's parents live in Cupertino, so we go up that way quite often. And, seeing how Pliny is a favorite of mine, I usually stock up on 5 or 6 of them every trip.

I go to Whole Foods in Cupertino on Stevens Creek Blvd, right by Target. I'm not sure which one you went to, but they usually have a couple cases there (usually sitting on the floor at room temp though).
 
Its a little ways away by car, but if you head up to Redwood City there is a K&L wines there that carries pliny, blind pig, damnation, and a couple other russian river beers and several other quality beers. They just got some firestone walker 13th anniversary too.
 
Whole Foods in Los Altos stocks Pliny. It's 2 minutes from the More Beer retail location ( combine a trip :rockin: ).
The Sunnyvale BevMo has the best selection ( of the BevMo's ) that I have found around the South Bay. They do carry Rodenbach , but no Russian River products.
K&L in Redwood City is another good choice.
 
Whole Foods in Los Altos stocks Pliny
Click to expand...

That's the one I went to, it's right near my hotel, so I'll swing by there again.

Some work mates are taking me to check out a place called Refuge that has a bunch of Belgians on tap, and a very fine Reuben sandwich I hear. That should be cool.
 
masonsjax said:
That's the one I went to, it's right near my hotel, so I'll swing by there again.

Some work mates are taking me to check out a place called Refuge that has a bunch of Belgians on tap, and a very fine Reuben sandwich I hear. That should be cool.
Click to expand...

Man, what a combination Belgian beer and Reubens...is this heaven or
what?!?!?!? :D
 
I'm right in that area, and I've never seen any Pliney :(

Edit: Just read that the Whole Foods carries it, I'll be swinging by there tomorrow :D
 
Refuge was amazing! Best Reuben outside of NYC, and some excellent Belgians on tap. Even the french fries are good. A++ would purchase again great seller!!
 
Went back to Whole Foods and finally found Pliny, so I grabbed a few bottles, still on sale! I'm enjoying some hoppy goodness right now. I love this stuff. Grabbed a sixer of Jubalale too. Thanks to all for the help in tracking it down.
 
I've never seen Pliny the Elder in Whole Foods before. One of the best selections of beer I have ever seen are at City Beer in San Francisco and Beer Revolution in Oakland. Pliny and Blind Pig are at these locations. I was in San Diego because my sister lives down there. I went to 4 liquor stores while I was there 3 of them carried Russian River and Pliny. Also at Stone Brewery north of San Diego about an hour, the coolest brewery I've ever been to, they had Pliny the Younger on tap. Russian River comes out with it in January, but they had it in April. Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa is pretty cool. Horrible service, but that's only because it is packed day in and day out.
 
dougmaher434 said:
I've never seen Pliny the Elder in Whole Foods before. One of the best selections of beer I have ever seen are at City Beer in San Francisco and Beer Revolution in Oakland. Pliny and Blind Pig are at these locations. I was in San Diego because my sister lives down there. I went to 4 liquor stores while I was there 3 of them carried Russian River and Pliny. Also at Stone Brewery north of San Diego about an hour, the coolest brewery I've ever been to, they had Pliny the Younger on tap. Russian River comes out with it in January, but they had it in April. Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa is pretty cool. Horrible service, but that's only because it is packed day in and day out.
Click to expand...

I've seen it off and on at Whole Foods, they sell out quickly. I think the availability of it in SoCal but not NorCal is ridiculous. I think vinnie's plan to not expand the brewery is annoying as hell, but make sense. PtE is not some super amazing IPA. it isn't bad, but it ain't no godsend. It is the mystical inability to get it that makes people go crazy for it! It is definitely not worth the effort of finding it.
 
Maybe it depends on the Whole Foods location, but I think it's been on the shelves every time I've looked in the Oakland location. They're basically my neighborhood grocery, so I'm in there fairly regularly, although I can't say I look for it specifically all that often.

I've been working down in Santa Clara lately and have really discovered what a beer desert it is compared to SF and Oakland, though. Maybe the distributer down there has a hard time getting Pliny?
 
Ya DBI is the distributor they get a low amount of cases. And they distribute them to independents very rarely. I do the beer section at AJs Market in Santa Cruz County, and we can't even get Dogfish Head because our distributor has such low amounts of it that they only give it to the big accounts. Both San Jose and Santa Cruz have very little for options when considering distributors. We definitely can't get Pliny. And by the way Pliny the Elder is probably in my top 5 for beers. Its damn good, but I really like IPAs.

San Diego has Stone Distribution which has Pliny and Russian River products, huge asset to have that distributor down there. I have never seen 60 minute IPA Dogfish Head in Nor Cal anywhere but I saw it and 120 IPA down in San diego as well.
 
dougmaher434 said:
Ya DBI is the distributor they get a low amount of cases. And they distribute them to independents very rarely. I do the beer section at AJs Market in Santa Cruz County, and we can't even get Dogfish Head because our distributor has such low amounts of it that they only give it to the big accounts. Both San Jose and Santa Cruz have very little for options when considering distributors. We definitely can't get Pliny. And by the way Pliny the Elder is probably in my top 5 for beers. Its damn good, but I really like IPAs.

San Diego has Stone Distribution which has Pliny and Russian River products, huge asset to have that distributor down there. I have never seen 60 minute IPA Dogfish Head in Nor Cal anywhere but I saw it and 120 IPA down in San diego as well.
Click to expand...

Now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever seen 60 minute IPA in Oakland either, but I can pretty reliably find 90 minute anytime I want. It used to be that I could only find the 6-pack and 4-pack Dogfish Head stuff (90 minute, Palo Santo, Aprihop, etc), but since Beer Revolution opened, I've been able to find the bombers, too. I didn't realize until now that Russian River doesn't self-distribute to the south bay. That must explain the difference between there and Oakland, because we seem to get a good supply of pretty much everything they produce.
 
You need to find out what day of the month that particular Whole Foods gets their Russian River delivery, and then hit it that day for some Pliny Goodness. Several months ago I hit the Whole Foods in Palo Alto, and the beer section looked like they were getting ready for a photo shoot. Every beer was fully stocked, neat little rows like little soldiers from front to back, not a single beer was missing. Except, that one spot up right, where there was a gaping hole all the way back to the wall. Yeah, that was the Pliny. The early bird gets the hops!

And yes, The Refuge is amazing. The Reuben is insane! As are the Belgian's on tap.
 
dougmaher434 said:
Ya DBI is the distributor they get a low amount of cases. And they distribute them to independents very rarely. I do the beer section at AJs Market in Santa Cruz County, and we can't even get Dogfish Head because our distributor has such low amounts of it that they only give it to the big accounts. Both San Jose and Santa Cruz have very little for options when considering distributors. We definitely can't get Pliny. And by the way Pliny the Elder is probably in my top 5 for beers. Its damn good, but I really like IPAs.

San Diego has Stone Distribution which has Pliny and Russian River products, huge asset to have that distributor down there. I have never seen 60 minute IPA Dogfish Head in Nor Cal anywhere but I saw it and 120 IPA down in San diego as well.
Click to expand...

I have seen PtE in Whole Foods in Cupertino (three cases, no less) and in Mountain View. I also saw two bottles at Lunardi's in Campbell (the former Cosentino's store at Union & Bascom).

There is another place that I've seen it, but I can't recall where right now...
 
Brewpatrol said:
Bevmo will never carry Russian River's beers due to Vinnie's stipulation that all distibuters of his beer store it chilled in a walk-in refrigerator. Bevmo once carried it a few years back but when Vinnie went shopping for beer and found his brew to be on the shelf at room temperature, he yanked Bevmo's account.

Here is a list from Russian River's website of places in the South Bay you can find it:

Customer Name City Phone Number
Andronico's Market Los altos 650.948.6648
Andronico's Market Palo Alto 415.327.5505
Bobby's Liquors & Grocery Santa Clara 415.984.1120
Century Wines & Spirits Palo Alto 408.266.0550
Cosentino's # 3 San Jose 408.270.1561
Firehouse Grill & Brewery Sunnyvale 408.358.1731
JBC Liquors Santa Clara 408.265.9101
Lunardi's Supermarket # 3 Los Gatos 408.377.9356
Lunardi's Supermarket # 4 San Jose 408.736.3822
Maplewood Market & Liquor San Jose 650.327.7673
Murphy's Law Sunnyvale 408.773.9500
Rose & Crown Palo Alto 408.371.5000
The Britiania Arms San Jose 408.358.4434
U Save Liquors Los Gatos 650.326.8687
Whole Foods Market - Campbell Campbell 650.559.0300
Whole Foods Market - Cupertino Cupertino 650.494.3640
Whole Foods Market - Los Altos Los Altos 408.260.0103
Whole Foods Market - Los Gatos Los Gatos 408.257.7000
Whole Foods Market - Palo Alto Palo Alto 408.823.6218
Wine Affairs San Jose 408.977.0111
Click to expand...

This list must be a bit old. Because there are a few mom and pop liqour stores in San Jose I know that get fresh Pliny regularly that are not on this list.
 

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