Argonaut Liquors

March 14, 2008
I live a few blocks from this place. (I’m not off-put by the neighborhood either :) For all the hype - mostly from wine and hard liquor drinkers - I was a bit disappointed. The first time I went, they were wiped out of a lot of decent beer. But, I broke a bottle of Kameliet and they didn’t yell at me, so I decided to go back. I’ve hit the store on some good days and found some mid- to higher-range stuff. There are better beer stores in a half-hour radius. Total Beverage in Westminster is pretty phenomenal.

October 18, 2006
I’d read about the Argonaut before visiting Denver. Denver is the home of the Great American Beer Fest, has a brewer for a mayor, and (I think) only sells beer stronger than 3.2% ABV in liquor stores. With all that said, I expected Denver liquor stores to be amazing, and I was disappointed. I wasn’t off-put by the neighborhood, but I was at the store around 11am on a Saturday. The store had its own lot (so you don’t have to park on the street), and I was impressed when I walked in; it seemed clean and pretty big ~ 3000 sq ft. Unfortunately, that space wasn’t filled with beer. The store seemed very wine- and liquor-centric. A few macro-beers, but very little in the way of craft. I was visiting from the mid-west and was hoping to find not just CO micros, but also beers from CA, OR, & WA that I couldn’t get back home. Other than the presence of craft beers located nearby (Breckenridge, Odell, Avery) in the cooler, I was disappointed. On a positive note, Tom’s Diner (across the street on Colfax) was good and cheap breakfast eats though.

October 12, 2006
If this qualifies as a good beer store then Florida must be beer freaking Mecca cause I can think of at least 6 stores within an hour of me with vastly better selections. Anyway, I was staying at the Ramada Inn 2 blocks away so I rolled in with cash in hand ready to fill up the 12 bottle shipper I brought with me. I quickly found there were precious few singles and the 750/Bomber section was relegated to a measily TWO cooler doors and no shelf space. Are you freaking kidding me? They have most of the local stuff and it’s a better selection than any other liquor store I found near downtown, but this is 100% not a place to go out of your way for. I walked out with most of my beer money unpsent and only 4 bottles...2 750’s of Goosinator (a very nice find and I got the last 2) and 2 Bombers of Boulder GABF 25th Anniversary. At best the selection was average and it was a real disappointment, but fortunately it was practically next door to my hotel so I didn’t waste any time getting theere.

October 3, 2006
Stopped here during the GABF on a whim as I was driving my rental car back to the hotel and saw the store and decided to see what they had inside. A decent selection of local beer, they don’t allow you to break sixes so I ended up picking up mostly bombers and a couple of avery 12 ouncers(the beast and samuale). From what I heard this is the best you get in Denver, and that is not much. For a city that calls itself "The Napa Valley of Beer" they need a good bottle shop!

October 2, 2006
stopped in with Chuck. So-so on the singles. They allowed us to order a case of La Folie, which, they got in the following day. Couldn’t find a damned taxi when I needed to take that case back to the hotel. Ended up hiking 1.5 miles carrying a 50 lb box... :( Not really a whole lot else exciting.

October 2, 2006
I guess the closes thing to a bottle shop downtown denver has to offer. They have an ok selection of singles w/ a few things I can’t get in my area and a great selection of the local micros.