Good beer stores and rare beer finds, south suburbs

Hey LTH, I know my buddy was going to put this on BeerAdvocate so I thought I'd throw it out here for you guys too. We just went on a run around a couple of south suburban liquor stores and picked up some Bell's Batch 10000 and Goose Island Rare Bourbon County Stout.

Park Liquors in Merrionette Park had a case and a half of the Batch 10000 available and 10 bottles of Rare (4 of which were spoken for), and Korbake's Liquors in Blue Island had I think 8 bottles of the Rare (and a pretty good price on it). There's a possibility either place, if you called ahead, would let you reserve some.

And I guess just in general, these are good places to look for beer if you happen to find yourself in the area. Korbake's didn't have a huge 6-pack selection yet, though the manager I spoke to seems to want to expand in that area. Park has definitely been trying to build a following in the craft beer crowd for the last couple of years now. Sadly, the owner (& friend of mine) passed away earlier this year, but his brother has taken over and is continuing that policy.

Park Wine & Liquors
3335 W 115th St
Merrionette Park, IL 60803
(708) 293-8890

Korbakes Liquors
12747 Western Avenue
Blue Island, IL 60406-2141
(708) 385-3296

I have to applaud you for sharing your secrets--if my drinking buddies knew I spilled, they'd probably hurt me. I've got enough Rare to keep me happy, thankfully, so hopefully others take advantage of your generosity.

As much as I'd like to have secret sources of the rarest of local beers, I'd like even more for these stores to succeed, and especially I'd like them to realize that craft beer will be a lucrative seller for them, so that I can continue to patronize them in the future. Korbake's has kind of a Kenwood Liquors (108th and Cicero) feel in that people are constantly rolling through there, filling up on 30-packs of macrobrews and bottom shelf liquors, etc., and for them to try something new to serve a different type of audience is definitely something I feel should be rewarded. And Park Liquors has been doing so for some time, went out of their way to harass the distributor into getting them a case of the Rare and I want to make sure they can get it sold. The far south side is kind of a desert when it comes to this stuff.

Thanks for the information. I went to Park Wine & Liquors at lunch time today. I got 2 bottles of the Rare. I also picked up a bottle of Sam Adams Infinium. I don’t know anything about that one, but the sales guy thought I would find it interesting.

Actually I hope I don’t REALLY like it. It is a long way for me to drive and they had about 10 bottles left. If I liked it I would be tempted to make that drive again.

I think they still had a bottle of the Rare left. Anyway a big thanks on the notice as I have been trying to get the Rare for a few weeks with no luck.

D.

I had the same feeling about Korbake's when I drove past on my way to Maple Tree Inn two weeks back--another much-overlooked establishment for food, and more so for beer. Best beer bar south of, say, the U of C Pub.

I'd been hearing good things about Park, too, and as it's quite close, I really should check it out sometime. I'm typically pleased with Kenwood on Cicero, and between them, Binny's and Kimbark in Hyde Park, I cover a lot of my beer needs, but Park's quite close. Is there selection of six packs good? I find Kenwood does great with bombers, but sometimes their selection of sixers is underwhelming, and their selection of Germans is just plain poor. I won't fault them, because they do have some amazing beer dudes, and it's ultimately a function of shelf space. If they have any Batch 10,000, I might have to hit them up quickly--been digging that lately.

First things first: they had 5 six packs of the Bell’s 10,000 on the shelf at noon today.

Park’s selection is much smaller than Binny’s. They had a nice selection, but I don’t think they had the number of choices of normal brews. Maybe where they come in, is on brews like the Rare and the 10,000. My local Binny’s is sold out of the 10,000.

D.

Thanks for the comments, guys.

I'm told the Infinium is very champagne-like but haven't tried it.

I think the 6-pack selection at Park is pretty good, maybe not as good as the larger Binny's locations but well above most other places. YMMV obviously but check it out and see what you think.

I know two things about Infinium: approx 10% alcohol and very expensive (around $20 ea).

little500 wrote:I know two things about Infinium: approx 10% alcohol and very expensive (around $20 ea).

I just got one of those tonight at Kimbark Liquors in Hyde Park. It was just under $20, before tax. I'm not entirely sure how to describe the flavor of the beer though. It's a bit ... different. Very yeasty and a little buttery in the nose. Strong carbonation. Bit of citrus and perhaps pepper. Residual sweetness on the lips. The yeastiness and residual sweetness reminds me of a Belgian tripel -- if given a glass of this and no clue as to its provenance I would guess some type of Belgian-style ale -- but with something missing. It was fun to try, but not something I feel compelled to drink again.

My usual is the Liquor Stop in Highland, IN. They have a great selection of 6 packs and bombers. I picked up some Bells' Batch 10,000 today. If you're ever in the area (maybe stopping by Three Floyds) they're definately worth the stop.

Liquor Stop
9218 Indianapolis Boulevard
Highland, IN 46322
(219) 838-6884