Kenwood Liquors

November 27, 2008
Kenwood is a love/hate place for me. The parking is horrendous no matter what the day and what the time. The cashiers are all horrid little monsters and the store is always wall-to-wall people. Luckily, the beer section, and Larry the beer guy make this place worth visiting. The beer section has a decent selection of beer available in Illinois (Three Floyds, Bells, Flossmoor, etc.) The prices are always beyond reasonable, and are typically several dollars cheaper than Archer Liquors. The best thing about their beer section is Larry the beer guy. He is always helpful and has no problem digging through a million boxes in the back room for what you want. Plus, he will go way out of his way to order anything you ask him to. His dedication to quality beer makes Kenwood worth going to. Parking is horrid, the cashiers need to be shot, the stockers are D-bags, the aisles are crowded as all hell...But the service in the beer section is what makes it worthwhile.

October 16, 2008
Stopped in today during break from work. Place had a bigger craft brewing section than I expected. Tons of 3 Floyds, Founder, DFH, Southern Tier, Flossmoor and decent selection of Belgains. Prices are dirt cheap compare to other liquors stores and especially compare to Binny’s. KBS was 8.98 compate to $13 at Binny’s. Found Flossmoor Station Ahtanumous IPA for $7.99 a bomber which might cheaper than what it was at Flossmoor itself. You won’t find anything rare but cannot beat the prices. I can’t stand the ladies that work the registers as one of them gave me a dirty look for wanting to buy such wierd beers. Fuck off.

March 19, 2008 [ Updated August 25, 2008 ]
Looking at the ratings for this place you can see that they’ve added alot of beers in the last couple fo years. Sure, when you enter there is a mountain of Bud and tubs full fo swill. But if you go to the last isle in the back corner there is quite a selection! 3Floyds, Lagunitas, Ska, Trappistes, Rogue, Dogfish Head, Founder’s, Avery, Unibroue and lots of others and they seem to add new ones frequently. Pretty big selection of wine, too.And the prices are better than anywhere. There is a scary amount of money pouring through the place everyday! They also take checks.... MORE: it just gets better.... more beers. We asked the beer guy to add Nogne and Fantome and Southern tier. He did in a big way!!

September 3, 2007
Recently stopped in to grab some Dogfish Head 90 minute. I was surprised by the new huge selection. I grabbed some Lagunitas Kill Ugly Radio and Dogfish Head Groch Fock too. You can’t find those anywhere. Service was helpful, prices very low. The place isn’t pretty, so don’t expect a gourmet cheese bar to compliment.

January 10, 2007
All Cash! Good picking for some special beer, always able to find some ABT. 12 plus a couple of other gems. Park on the side street, bring CASH and know what you want. The help really don’t know much about GOOD beer, only the basic crap (MGD, Lite, Bud, etc...) Go to the last aisle in the south end of the store, next to the soda.

February 21, 2006
Is the owner of Foremost on here bashing Kenwood Liquors to advertise his own place. Please... I’m pretty sure this page is about Kenwood not Foremost. Cheap Beer, Liquor and Wine. The place is an eyesore but I’ll buy my beer their any day for their prices.

January 26, 2006
I actually go to this store often I live a few minutes from it. Occasionally you walk in and find some gems in here, I’ve found Spaten Ur Marzen, and a good selection of beers from the baltic countries, the service sucks, the place smells like stale booze. It is what it is, a cheap place to buy beers, after discovering Foremost Liquors tonight, I’ll only be going back to buy there when I’m in a rush.

June 21, 2005
The other reviewers here obviously don’t get the point of Kenwood Liquors. The parking lot is packed because they offer the best deals on alcohol in the Chicago area. If you aren’t from the southside, you have NEVER heard of them and you commonly rave about the same trash like "Binny’s" or "Sam’s Wines" which offer great selection, but are a complete rip off. How does Kenwood do it? Cash. Most beer prices for "commodity beer" - only marked up a few cents per case. If you are looking for a microbrew from Sri Lanka, consider driving to the West Side. Looking for a great price for a case of Miller or Old Style, Kenwood is the place to go.

February 16, 2005 [ Updated July 29, 2005 ]
I was surprised to check out "Places" as see something listed in Oak Lawn, my burg. Now I’m curious as to why this was entered into the database. It’s just a neighborhood liquor store, not a special "beer place" that RateBeerians would be interested in.

February 14, 2005 [ Updated June 23, 2007 ]
This liquor store TRIES to be a "beer place" by stocking a tad more than the usual macros (Unibroue, Rogue, and a handful of others). Additionally, their prices are quite reasonable, however...

The parking lot is a nightmare, year-round... FORGET about it on a holiday weekend. Inside, there’s an ever-present sickly sweet odor... like broken cases of wine and overheated cases of beer never got cleaned up. Overstock crowds the aisles causing more havoc than the parking lot. The staff is composed of young punk kids stocking shelves led by unfriendly smart-ass middle-aged guys. The check-out staff is o.k... middle-aged ladies who joke and banter with each other and the customers (points for service). The selection of imported beers is weak. Plus I’ve gotten skunked beers on more than one occasion. If you don’t mind the drawbacks, make sure you have cash, because Kenwood doesn’t accept debit/credit cards.

I’m probably going to piss off some manager who will counter with a biased opinion that their reasonable pricing outweighs the rest of their flaws... not understanding that the purpose of this site is to steer afficianados towards a better beer-buying experience rather than to a place that simply sells cheap swill.