The Wine Specialist

No Longer In Business

rerate. selection has shrunk since I used to frequent this place in 2008. single format shelf still had a few things that I didn’t see elsewhere in town, and in some cases the price for certain imports seems lower than I would expect.

Great selection, including a few hard to find items. Very knowledgeable and helpful staff. 10 minute walk from Birreria Paradiso, where the beer manager is roommates with the owner of Wine Specialist.

While Chevy Chase might have a larger selection due to filling up in the ranges of lots of average breweries, The Wine Specialist has it beat in overall quality of selection. Lots of good stuff from Denmark, Scotland, Belgium, Germany, and limited releases from American brewers. The service is great and the beer manager Tim is passionate and knowledgeable and will talk about any beer with you and get you what you need. Sadly, they had to stop selling single bottles due to the new city ordinance, but they should get an exemption soon and be back in the game full time.

My second time visiting this place, and I found it as rewarding as the first. Tim, the beer guy, is really awesome. Smart, committed to the scene, and goes out of his way to really think about recommendations. Sure, he’s a Giants fan but that’s forgivable. Great range of out of the norm Germans and English beers along with the usual suspects (Stone, Troegs, Bells, Southern Tier, Clipper City). Nice sleeper Italians and Swiss (e.g. BFM), some Brewdog and Mikkeller and Nogne, and a nice representation of locals (still some Brewers Art Canard and Ozzy, Williamsburg Rapadou Porter, Legacy Hoptimus Prime). Good shop!

Just popped in here because I heard they had a decent beer selection, I really didn’t know what to expect. I was really impressed by a wide and eclectic selection crammed into a relatively narrow space. Staff were helpful. Maybe a bit disorganized, but that made it more fun to hunt.

Web order. Mostly very good results. It shipped and arrived rapidly. DC to California arriving on the 10th day from order (which was a Monday, so it may have arrived at local Fed Ex even earlier). Down side is I didn’t seem to get shipping notice to track, so I ended up driving 20 miles to pick the order up. Other than that the result was fantastic. De Glazen Toren, Southampton, Brewers Art and Dogfish Head. Items hard to find within a decent driving distance for me. Even across the country shipping costs may be cheaper than driving 90 miles each way to a good beer store - that would not usually have any of the items purchased. I’d do this again for items I really wanted.