Corkscrew

June 1, 2007
A very clean, well-kept shop. While the selection of beers is not overwhelming, it certainly is diverse and I was able to purchase quite a few brews that I haven’t seen around town (although I don’t venture out as much as some of you other guys). Our checker was a young, helpful beerophile who made banter in regards to many of our purchases. A pleasant shopping experience in close proximity to a nice beer bar.

May 20, 2007
As others have noted, this is primarily a wine store. In the back cooler, however, is a good number of apparently carefully selected quality beers. I’m told there’s a decent turnover of the beers that they carry. The staff is attentive and helpful. I’d definitely stop back when in the area again.

April 3, 2007
The Corkscrew is a small liquor store, that focuses on wines, but also carries a small selection of bottles beers (all for purchase as singles), whiskys, and a few other high end liquors. Their beer selection is small, but always rotating new brews in, to make their selection seem larger. Unlike larger chain stores, the workers are VERY friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. If you go in when Drew is in, he’s tried all the beers in the cooler and can give you lots of tasting notes as well as an exorbitant amount of details about the beer’s history. Also, because it’s a small, local shop, they make an effort to get beers that aren’t available at the larger stores in the area. So, while the selection is smaller, it’s also more varied, if you’ve just come from Piccadilly or Friar Tuck. Every town should have a store like this one!

January 7, 2007
A wine and spirits store, but the beer fridge is worth checking out. Seems to me the beer fridge has been declining lately though from what it was a couple years ago. No more FFF hard-to-finds, not much in the way of Founders stuff either. A few weeks ago Piccadilly and Friar Tuck in the CU area got a couple cases of Breakfast stout and Corkscrew had not. Not too much in the way of DFH either. I’ll check this place out occasionally, but if I’m looking for something in particular I’ll call first because chances are if its rare, they probably won’t have it.

July 17, 2006 [ Updated September 11, 2007 ]
Whenever I come home to CU, this is one of the three stores I hit. What they do not have in quantity, they make up in quality. They get some of the rare beers that no one else gets, (ie Panil, Founders Kentucky Breakfast, Peche Mortel, etc.). The problem is that they do not get much of those, and the boys in the CU beer club snatch them up quickly. If you have the time, worth a quick peek. UPDATE 2007: I will echo what the others have said. It has gone downhill a bit. I would only swing by if you are in the area. Otherwise a Friar Tuck and Picadilly stop will suffice. This store is really focused on the wine these days.

January 2, 2006
The Corkscrew is a wine store but hidden along the back wall is a beer fridge. This beer fridge is the premier place in Champaign-Urbana to go to get good hard-to-find and unique beers from micro and foreign brewers. The staff is exceptional: both with service and knowledge of beers (and wine). The beer and wine samplings are the best around. Drew is always willing and trying to bring in more hard to get beers.

October 2, 2005
Make no mistake, this is about 98% a wine store with the remaining 2% devoted to single bottles of beer you won’t find at your average liquor store. Prices were good and the staff was helpful even though there was a wine tasting going on. Selection was best for Avery, Rogue, DFH and Bear Republic. Everything else was hit & miss.

August 6, 2005 [ Updated July 23, 2007 ]
The beer selection focuses on the unique, so you won’t find many products from brewers like Rogue or Bells, but you will find gems like Thomas Hardy Ale and J.W. Lees on occassion. UPDATE 2007: Store has gone downhill markedly with the disappearance of their manager and their former staff. Beer selection is still okay, but the tastings aren’t of the same caliber.

June 16, 2005
Well, I walked in and only saw wine. However, they had a single, three door glass fridge full oh individual beer bottles. Let me tell you what, they have a really good selection. They have about 200+ beers total. A handful of Rogue, Victory, Dogfish Head, Founders, Great Divide, and Avery. Some but not too many foreign beers. They seemed to have an unusual amount of Imperial stouts and barley wines. They had 12 oz bottles of stuff that I’d only seen in bombers, eg. Left Hand Imperial stout and Rogue I2PA. I still spent about 15 minutes trying to pick out a few beers. The prices are pretty cheap too. 12 oz bottles of the likes Storm King and 90 minute were $2 and change. Bombers cheap too. 0 cheap beer and you can’t buy by the six pack. They have a shit ton of wine. Individual bottles were cheaper than Piccadily.

March 26, 2004
The Corkscrew is a bit different than any of the other beer/wine/liquor stores in the Champaign-Urbana area. In addition to having top-notch wine and liquor, they have quite a beer selection. What sets them apart is that they only carry craft brews, currently they have no less than 6 of the Cantillon including Fou Fonne, Lou Pepe, and the amazing St. Lamvinus. They have a thoughtful selection of Belgians and Germans, arguably the best representation of British beers, and a hearty handful of American and Canadian Craft beer. The employees of the store have always been helpful, and every one I've ever dealt with knows their stuff. My only possible complaint about their service is that they don't have very many employees so at first it may seem as if no one is there to help you but I've found it's very difficult to fly in under the radar. They conduct tastings nearly every Sunday, fee is usually around $2, which is a steal since you get to try on average 10 different brews. The last two that I went to were IPAs, which included Dreadnaught and 120 min, and Lambics, which included Cantillon Kriek and Gueuze and an 8 year old Liefman's Frambozenbier. The only complain on the selection is that they are limited in space, so what they have is great, but its only sold by the bottle to give more facings.