May 5, 2012
Elephant in the room: a lot of the beer is 3-4 years old. On the other hand they have amazing stuff. Mikeller, Ommegang, Alesmith, bells, Founders, lost abbey, port brewing. It’s a selection you don’t expect to find in this part of the state. Yes it’s old but they aren’t exactly make vertical epic 08 these days. Could be worth a gamble.

September 5, 2011
Stopped in and was nicely surprised by the offerings. Lots of Lost Abbey, Port Brewing, Founders and a host of other big names. Lots of belgians. Freshness could be an issue as most of the stock is covered in dust...however I think that is more a product of the environment. Bottles I picked up were bottled in July 2011 and were coated with dust. Will be back when in the area. Pricing was decent.

September 5, 2011
My parents live literally around the corner from this place. I was shocked to find one of the highest rated bottle shops in NEPA nearby in Jessup, so I was excited to come here. It pretty much represents how stupid the beer laws are in Pennsylvania. I guess you can only sell singles (or any quantity less than a case) if you serve food or drink. As you walk in the front door, there’s a dive bar to the right and a bottle shop connected if you walk straight through. It’s funny, because it seems the bar showcases mostly BMC to the local crowd, yet the shop is loaded with great craft beer. It’s a small shop, but they make the most of their space. There’s some cold storage in the back, but most of the bottles are scattered haphazardly across the shelves. I found some winners in here including some Cigar City, Expedition, Southern Tier. Good selection of Alesmith and Lost Abbey surprisingly. My only worry is that it seems stuff sits on the shelves here for quite a while. Freshness is an issue here. The service was passable. The girl behind the counter didn’t know much about the beer, but she looked in the back for some stuff I asked about without giving me attitude, so she gets points for that. The prices seemed fair. Overall, this seems to be the only real bottle shop in an area that makes it really hard to even HAVE a bottle shop. If you’re in the Scranton area and looking for some out of the ordinary beers that they don’t have at Wegmans, give this place a shot. Just check the bottle dates.

February 23, 2011
Very interesting assortment of West coast beers that are not readily available on the East coast. Some aged beers as well. Brooklyn Black OPS and a nice selection of Lost Abbey made this place a winner.

December 28, 2009
Not much on the ambiance (they still allow people to smoke indoors in PA???) but a pretty damn good selection. I stopped in here when driving through in December of 2008. I was excited to see a bunch of stuff we can’t get in Buffalo: Lost Abbey, Port, Founders, Hair of the Dog, Bells, Pretty Things & a whole bunch more. The guy behind the counter seemed pretty knowledgable. Next time I’m driving through I’ll be sure to stop.

April 27, 2009
I’ve been looking for a decent bottle shop in NEPA for a number of years now, and I’ve finally found a good one. The place itself is a bit out of the way and you will definitely need the map to locate it if you are not familiar with the area. The shop itself is nestled among a small group of stores and would easily be mistaken for a hole-in-the-wall distributor based upon its appearance. The inside is nothing to look at and there was a bit of residual cigarette smoke in the air, but beyond that there is a very good selection of beers that are not generally available at home (which for me is Long Island, NY). There were several different beers each from Founders, Bells, Lost Abbey, Port Brewing, Victory, Mikkeller, and Brewdog. The bottles were arranged a little haphazardly and it took a bit longer to search through everything. One plus is that more than half of the inventory is under refrigeration in big, glass door refrigerators. Prices were reasonable and I will be back!

July 15, 2008 [ Updated July 26, 2009 ]
This is def the place to go for bottles in NEPA. Big selection, but most importantly, a quality selection. Some brands include: Lost Abbey/Port Brrewing, Dogfish Head, Bells, Avery, Rochefort, Chimay, Stone, Rogue, Flying Dog, Brew Dog etc... Chuck is a good dude and will make an attempt to get what you want. The best in the area.

September 27, 2007
This place gets cases from Ace Beverage in Eynon, PA, and sells singles and sixers. I picked up Southampton Abbot 12 for $11 along with some other goodies. They have over 400 varieties. The exterior makes it look like your standard macro place but walk inside and you’re treated to Southampton, Left Hand, Victory, Troegs, Stone (11th and vertical), Brooklyn Local One, Smuttynose, Unibroue and too much more to list. I was short on time and didn’t ask about the bar. Its located near a pizza joint on a small plaza. The staff are willing to help you locate whatever you are seeking there. They had a stack of cases which haven’t been stocked. This is the future of Pennsylvania: stores which split cases from big distribution centers. Chuck asks customers for beer recommendations so he knows what to stock next. There is a place called Purv’s down the road in Peckville which apparently has a great selection as well with $5.50 bottles of Stone 11th Anniversary. I’ll review that one next!