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I'm moving to the Wheaton-Glenmont neighborhood in January 2014 for work.
I've only driven through the area briefly while finding an apartment but couldn't seem to find any stores that look like they had a large selection of specialty and craft beers for sale. I'm a huge beer nerd and love trying new beers and creating my own 6-packs. I did intern in Washington, DC for 3 months during the summer of 2013 and lived in Hyattsville (close to UMD) and the places I did find that sold beer in that area only sold the basic mass-produced stuff and carried only the most popular craft beers (Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, etc).
Any info you can give and places you can recommend would be much appreciated! I would prefer the stores to be located close to where I will be moving, but if need be I am willing to travel anywhere around the DC metro area.
Here's the sad fact about MoCo - all alcohol distribution is done through the county and beer/wine/liquor stores buy it from them. They also add an extravagant mark up, particularly to "special order" (read: everything other than macro brews) alcohol. The result is a lot of small beer stores with crap selections.
The best I knew of when I lived there was Grape Expectations, but don't expect anything amazing. You could find a fair number of the larger micro brews' standard fare there, but generally not the seasonals.
I did notice that the situation has been improving, but because of the county run monopoly, you'll always pay 20-50% more than you would in VA, and get 1/8th of the selection.
Thanks for the info! When I lived in Hyattsville, I did notice the price of even cheap macrobrews were significantly higher than anywhere I'd ever bought beer before, so I guess PG County has similar laws.
Do you know of any stores on the VA side of the area that offer a better selection?
My Fiance and I love beer and recently moved to that area so I can help you! There is a store called Quench! just off of New Hampshire Ave and near the Randolph Road intersection. They also make great sandwiches and recently opened up a taproom that carries some really unique microbrews. They're constantly rotating them and you can take most of them home in a growler. Granted, it is montgomery county and you will have to buy a growler specifically from them. The owner is also really awesome and he will special order beers for you. They dont have the best make your own 6 pack selection and for that I would recommend Total Wine or Perfect Pour. Both those stores also have larger selections but Quench is fine when you don't feel like making a long trip. Quench! - Silver Spring, MD .We previously lived in North Bethesda very close to Gillys. I loved that store and wanted to support them but man they are super expensive! I went to Old Line in Beltsville once and was very impressed with their selection. I've been meaning to go back but it's just a bit too out of my way.
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