AJ’s Fine Foods (Central and Camelback)

July 10, 2008
not a bad aj’s overall. you’re better off at jonpol’s in glendale but... i guess if you are in the neighborhood. they do have some good sales on seasonal (read out of season and we need to get rid of them) beer and they are only a block from sonora/brewer’s den.

January 17, 2008
Well, this was a good stop, perhaps the best I’ve seen in Arizona so far. However, relative to what I can find at home at statelineliquors.com, I was a bit disappointed. Sure, they have a good import selection and relative to what you can get in the area, this is great. But, I wanted a larger selection. Oh, and where in the world were the AleSmiths? Gone? C’mon, now. Very helpful service, good quality of selection.

February 8, 2007
I visited this store based on the feedback I read on this site. It was partly because I was traveling from a different part of the country I think (it doesn’t look like a beer shelf in Milwaukee), but also because there is a plentiful single-serve selection with some rather attentive help. When I first walked into the store (having never been to an AJ’s before), I thought I’d walked into an over-sized Hallmark store. Once I got into the beer & wine aisle, I realized my initial assessment was off. There was a long aisle of singles, focusing on CA and CO beers. The wine steward stopped by to speak with me, which I appreciated. Pricing was reasonable. I’d recommend this place as a beer store to visit when in Phoenix.

August 12, 2006
Fancy high end gourmet grocery store. Very clean and fancy with clerks wearing black ties. The service was great especially considering I was wearing denim shorts and tie dyed beer shirt. The beer selection was very good with a lot of single bottles available. Not as big of selection as Papago but veery good.

March 22, 2006
aj’s has got a great selection especially if your lookn for local beers. the food here is awesome as well.

March 8, 2006 [ Updated March 11, 2006 ]
The best thing about this place is the single bottles. Virtually everthing they carry is available in single bottles. Finally, a place that recognizes that people don’t want to plunk down $8.00 for a 6-pack of a beer that might suck. And why not? Still, I saw a couple of employees restocking the singles shelf and they didn’t appear to be rotating the stock. That’s a huge no-no. Prices seemed very reasonable, but even so, at 1.38 per brew, I was still paying close to $9.00 per 6-pack. But at least I was getting a variety of what I wanted. AJ’s carries some DFH (Raison D’etre and Indian Brown) some Stone (Arrogant Bastard, Ruination, 9th anniversary, IPA), some local stuff, (Oak Creek Pale Ale being solid), Green Flash IPA, and lots of Belgians and other imports. The staff was eager to help, and helpful if not deeply knowledgeable. They broke up a 6-pack of Abita Restoration Ale for me and provided some suggestions on local ales. Recommended.

February 7, 2006
Yuppie supermarket with a vast beer selection. Tons of singles to be had, at a slightly higher-than-usual price. Mostly euros, but some decent micros can be found.

June 18, 2005
Used to be my local beer store. Decent selection and ability to buy singles is huge.

June 11, 2005
Have been to the AJ’s in Chandler a few times. Great selection of micros. Definitely worth taking a look at to see if there’s something hey have that you normally can’t get.

December 22, 2004 [ Updated December 28, 2004 ]
Wow, never have I seen a store like this but then again I don’t have much experience with American beer shopping. WAY better than the LCBO back in Ontario. Tons of micros mainly from California, Arizona, Oregon, and Colorado. But there were also other states represented. Most were reasonably priced except for some of the more "limited" releases like Old Numbskull and Avery the Beast. Import selection was fairly strong though most of them were quite pricey especially the Belgians. Awesome place.