Windy City Liquor

August 11, 2008
A bit of a scary place with check cashing available, but lots of local stuff and older vintages. I got a bottle of Green Flash 3rd Anniversary, Stone XI, Stone 7-7-7, and Deschutes XX Black Butte. Not bad. Just ignore the shirtless guys with missing teeth buying cases of Bud.

December 3, 2007
Good place to stock up on local stuff - they carry more local selections than most and they buy in mass quantities - meaning they often have anniverary and special release beers from 2 or 3 years ago. Friendly and reasonably knowledgeable staff. Import selection is good but I haven’t seen anything really special in that department. Lots of large format bottles. I wish my neighborhood liquor store was close to this good.

September 14, 2007
Very nice place with friendly and helpful staff. Really nice people. Everything was neat and tiddy with the majority of the brews in cold storage. Pretty big selection of west coast brews at very competitive prices. They have (as of Aug. 2007) Stone’s 06 and 07 Vertical, Double Bastard, Old Guardian and Imp. Stout. They also have bunches of the Stone’s 10th in the huge 3L bottles. This is a refreshing alternative to Keg and Bottle #2 just a few miles west of here.

September 4, 2007
Big selection, but you can get a lot of these beers elsewhere, and cheaper. They do have a good amount of locals, including Alpine. Some have been around for a while. I will agree, this is one of the best places in El Cajon.

July 31, 2007
Only above average selection, but one of the largest selection of locals in the San Diego area. Other stores tend to sell out, but they are here for a longer period of time, especially Stone. It was the last store to have Stone 9th anniversary, 2006 Barleywine. I talked to the owner, who is very friendly. He ordered as much Reaper beers before they went out of business. He also orders odd things as soon as he finds out about them. I bought a 2005 Samiclaus, when everyone else has 2006. Everything is refrigerated.

April 15, 2007
I have only been there once, but will probably make the trek just to get the alpine line-up, even though I can get it windmill farms. The beer selection isn’t amazing, but it is a ll stored well and has some hidden treasures. They still had plenty of sierra celebration and displays full of stone 06.06.06 and the 10th anniversary. The owner is very personable and wants to please. He seems proud of the selection and rightfully so. In east san diego, there is no where else that has this selection.

April 2, 2007 [ Updated June 5, 2007 ]
Emil was great. I called him on the phone a few times to get an order together. He took the time and walked with the phone in his ear. He worked with me for almost 40 minutes and he never made me feel rushed. This guy has a decent collection of local stuff not to mention other regionals. He’ll buy enough of the Stone, Sierra Nevada, etc. seasonals to keep him supplied for many months. He still had some Stone Anniversary Ale 9, and 10. Great for a collector. I ended up w/ a case of bombers and he wrapped it up to accommodate my traveling back to AZ (* revised later*/ three of the bottles were over the hill). I sent my wife and kids to pick up the case and Emil was very polite and offered them all a complimentary beverage for the long ride home. This place is very easy to get to from I8 so if you’re headed East on 8 through El Cajon stop by. Among others, I got all four of the available Alpine brews. Overall: well lets face it. I got three bad beers and no 12oz bottles available.

April 1, 2007
Nice selection of beer. Some hard to find as well as some popular local choices. Alesmith, Stone, Ballast point, Lost abbey.

November 13, 2005
Not a bad little place. Same with their sister store in Santee. Currently, the owner is trying to phase out Stone (Trying to make some sort of point with Stone Brewing) which seems silly to me, but still plenty of other interesting things.

June 24, 2005
This place has quite a few local beers. There are also a few beers here that I have not seen elsewhere. Some of the bottles look like they have been in the cooler for years. Prices are about average.