July 8, 2009
Found lots of good beer and they were all in the cold counter - ready to drink :) Bought Dogfish Head Aprihop (12 oz), Lagunitas 2009 Correction Ale (1 pint 6 oz), Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout (12 oz), New Belgium Mothership Wit (1 pint 6 oz), Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale (1 pint 6 oz), Stone Imperial Russian Sout (1 pint 6 oz), Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron (12 oz), Russian River Pliny the Elder (500 ml) and Schneider/Brooklyn Hopfen Weisse (500 ml) - all 9 for a total of 38 USD. That’s a real good value for a Dane like me. Lots of staff in beer and wine section and they knew about their selection.

January 2, 2008
Visited the California Street location and picked up 8 mainly local beers. Pretty good selection of the more easy-to-find beers in a nice display. I give them a big thumbs up for allowing me to split sixers, which increased my choices greatly.

August 29, 2007
I gave them a 5 for ambiance only because there is free parking, which is HUGE in this city. The bottle selection is good, but nothing amazing. Typical (but good) Belgians with a mostly West Coast selection. Nothing overly exciting though, I think I picked up 3 new bottles and none are going to be superhyped rare beers. Worth stopping if you’re in the area, not worth seeking out. Some of the finds I see below are pretty impressive, definitely nothing like that during my visit.

April 24, 2007
Whole Foods on the West Coast cannot let you down! The 4th street location had the fix I needed. Majority of the beers available were all local SanFran beers. Russian River, Speakeasy, and a case stack of Anchor. Good prices, and not a very far walk from Union Square! I’ll be back!

November 24, 2006
The California St. location has a reasonable selection of Belgian and domestic microbrewery beers. However, the selection at the 4th St. location is considerably better. The offerings change constantly, but one will usually find the best brews from Stone, Rogue, Drake and a few other California micros, as well as some of the better Belgians, like Chouffe Houblon, Brasserie des Rocs Triple Imperiale, etc. As a bonus, you will find some great cheeses and deli items (take away or to eat on premises). Free parking at both locations (that’s a real plus in S.F.).

November 22, 2006 [ Updated May 6, 2008 ]
Walked to the 4th street location from Union Square when I was here for business back in 2005. I was referred to Whole Foods by ElGaucho. It did not disaapoint. Many Stone products I can’t get back home, as well as North Coast, Bear Republic, Speakeasy, Russian River, to name a few. I also got my hands on a bottle of La Folie for $12.99, which I found out later is a really decent price. One other thing to mention is that the beer guy there was extremely helpful for a ratebeer newbie that I was at the time.

July 6, 2006
Assuming this is the Fourth Street location, which rocked my world. Beautiful store with a long beer cooler that’s an aisle long. Inside of this you’ll find some really good shit for really good prices. My trip rendered La Folie ($12.99), Russian River Salvation ($5.99) and Farmhouse Saison 7 ($2.99). I got some other stuff there too, but their names are escaping me. This is definitely one of the best bottle stops I’ve ever made.

February 2, 2005
I’ve been to two Whole Foods Markets (the other in Winter Park, FL) and they both were chaotically busy. I was there to find Stone Beers, and although I found a couple plus got my introduction to Bear Republic brews, the selection was pretty poor. The only beer I saw was in a cooler. The Winter Park location had most of it’s selection on non-refrigerated shelves. It is possible the SF location did as well, but I didn’t see it and it wasn’t with the cooler beer. They have convenient, although very cramped, parking in a garage below the store.