Village Beer Merchant

No Longer In Business

Have stopped here a couple times in the past several years and am always pleasantly surprised with the wide selection of brews available: some local, some imported, stuff in-between. Staff is friendly enough, they usually leave you to it. Prices are reasonable for what they have and where they are. Would recommend a visit if you’re in the area (Blue Monk, Cole’s, and Mr. Goodbar are just up the street!), but it may depend when you go.

A large and airy store, more space for this kind of shop I have ever seen. Rustic and charming. Service is great, thy offered to break up any sixer for me. Selection is good with some beers I haven’t seen anywhere else. Good but not great. Prices are inline with a specialty store. A good stop.

Stopped in during Brew Tour ’13’. 1st step in the store looked like, small place, poor selection. After I to the back corner, I saw the much better variety of beers and some hard to find ones. I picked up some Evil twin and acouple others I have not seen yet in Rochester. Good service since we were about the only ones in the store.

Made a stop after Blue Monk to check out their selection. Dude at the counter immediately apologized for them not having more of a selection at that moment due to some renevations. Still a pretty solid bottle selection and some good taps as well. Lots of imports, particularly some Scandinavian beers I’d never seen. Service was solid. Worth a stop.

Very pleased with the store. It had more than I was looking for, although it is a little steep. But I suppose they have to cover rent.

Two Village Beer Merchants in the city; one in North Buffalo on Hertel, one downtown on elmwood. Both have similar selections, Elmwood being a bit bigger and well stocked. Good selection of Mikkeller/Evil Twin brews, along with a lot of good domestics. It’s usually likely you can score some rare stuff here, but expect to pay at least $1-$2 more than any other store. Employees are pretty nice. I’m glad it’s in town.

stopped in for a quick look .. some really interesting brews for sale .. prices were good for the area .. really nice guys working there. . right down the street from the blue monk so stop here!!

Worth a stop if it’s not far out of your way. I like the selection for the small size of the shop. The beer pricing can make the place seem a little too precious for its own good. I feel slightly uncertain about stock turnover and how long a pricey IPA may have been lingering at the store. But you can compare around other places... so perhaps make time to do that. I’ll be honest - when I look in at VBM I rarely buy beer given the competitive options. But curiosity brings me back, and VBM is a damn nice ’boutique’ option if lower Elmwood’s the way you’re passing through Buffalo. I guarantee you WILL get some nice beer.

Small bottle shop located near blue monk. Decent selection: nothing that can not be found elsewhere. Maybe a good bet for limited releases.

Unfortunately for them I stopped in after Prestige. Pretty good selection, ton of Great Divide stuff, but nothing truly exceptional, and essentially all of their stock was also sitting on the shelves at Prestige. Great place to go if you are in the area and need a beer fix, however. Also had a 20 tap growler fill station.