April 27, 2011
wen to this place twice and the one time one of the managers followed me to the beer aisle and talked about the brews and the selection. pretty good service. i live pretty close and never really knew this place existed. a decent selection for a relatively small place that’s easy to miss. and only 2 blocks away from maloneys!

March 4, 2010 [ Updated July 13, 2010 ]
Not bad--impressive for a random liquor store in a working-class Bayshore town (though I went to this place due to rb, not randomly :)) Prices a bit high, but discount cards exist. Similar beers to Oak Tree but far fewer of them; it IS stronger in the East European selection--they have the complete line of Latvia’s major beers--but weaker than most other places in the area; perhaps the Poles have moved away since the earlier rater visited in 2005?

June 19, 2009
stopped in one day, staff was happy to see i was buying some of their beer. A very nice selection, but be careful of the shelf life, i saw some beers that hadn’t been brewed in three years still on shelf. all in all a good selection... staff didn’t seem knowledgeable of the selection but who is

December 28, 2006
Small store, but can find some decent micros. Victory, DFH, Rogue, Stone bombers. Glad that my parents live around the block from this place, can usually find some decent stuff to drink while I am visiting.

August 17, 2006
small but varied selection with some rare finds. picked up dogfish head 120 minute, which is rare in this area

December 8, 2005
Like the other two JR stores, this one has a small but worthy selection of craft beers and harder to find macro-micros. While many brands are represented, the selection within each brand is meager. The beers are kept mostly at room temp in a tight aisle that’s appropriately lit. Unlike the other two JR stores, this one has an odd focus on European pale lagers, especially Polish. Must be a big local Polish population in Matawan.

I still can’t figure why each of these stores has such a unique selection from the other two, but it’s nice to feel as though you’ll always come across a couple of harder to find goodies no matter which JR store you venture to visit. On this trip, I picked up Meantime’s IPA and Porter for $10/750. I had no idea these were even in the state.
Staff was friendly if uneager to help. I got the feeling they were keeping an eye on me at all times.