Joy Wine and Spirits

Small spot, efficiently laid out, probably 3x the wine relative to beer. Some good stuff in the beer selection - it's well-curated - but not worth going out of your way for given all the amazing stuff in Denver.

Medium sized place not too far from the place we were staying at. I would say several hundred bottles. Half a dozen beer fridges, some more beers on shelves. Good selection of locals and out of state beers. Was looking for Consecration, but they didn't have it unfortunately. Friendly service. Worth checking out.

Smaller store but these guys get it. you’re bound to find something that you’ve never heard of and get help choosing a new beer or wine.

Small store on 6th. Mostly caters to the wine crowd, but a nice selection of craft and liquor. You won’t find anything too fancy, but they are beginning to focus more on beer. It’s close to me, so I like the ability to see what is new.

Six years ago, I lived about two blocks from Joy, and it was most certainly my regular spot. Back then, I was much more into wine, and Joy was always great at stocking an interesting selection and staffing passionate sales staff. I recently revisited, and I am happy to say the passion and selection has now extended to the beer section. I was really impressed with the breadth of selection a store this small had. I bought a bunch of Crooked Stave, Funkwerks and Renegade. Service was great, very comfortable store. Glad to see this place is still rocking it, miss the old neighborhood.

82 = ★★★½ (Solid place, near the top of the list for locals and visitors)

I only use the total score, not the component parts.

The easiest way to describe this place is boutique spirit shop. I really dig the vibe at this place for some reason and the guys are very helpful. I chatted it up with one for almost an hour about the sour selection. Not a huge retailer by any means, but if you drop by occasionally, you will find a few unique options you can’t find anywhere else. They also have beer tastings that you can find out about if you sign up for their email list.

Pretty nice wine shop with good service. The selection is small but pretty well chosen. A half dozen lambics, lots of locals, some regional micros. Maybe a good place to pick up something that sold out elsewhere but overall probably just a good place if you live in the neighborhood.

Shitters: n/a

It’s a block from Safeway, so I regularly stop in after grocery shopping to pick up beer for dinner. I’ll tell them what I’m cooking and they’ll walk me through the best options for pairing, taking into account my budget, tastes, and what I have and haven’t had.

(Update - in the past year or so, they have gotten slightly more serious about beer - they are pretty much THE place to shop in Denver if you want Funkwerks or Crooked Stave beers - they also get a lot of imports that are hard to find, like certain Fantome and Struise - again, not extensive, but if you show up on the right day, you may find something awesome - gradually becoming the Mondo Vino of Denver’s east side) I’ve been to this place a handful of times, mostly because it is right down the block from my favorite butcher shop in Denver - like most stores in the city, you aren’t going to find a gigantic selection - it is more of a local shop that happens to have a respectable beer selection - they have a solid selection of region craft brews, plus some fairly well-selected imports (some german brews here that I need to trek to the burbs to get) - as Mike has stated, this is not the place for an out-of-towner to stock up, but it is a great local shop, with a wonderful and attentive staff.

small boutique wine shop a block over from the esquire theater and walkable to table 6. selection is nearly all local and regional craft beer. good prices typical of wine-focused shop; good selection of local bottle-conditioned artisan ales, but more of a neighborhood place and not somewhere you would probably enjoy going if you’re driving through town and want to pick up a lot of wild stuff that may be in the area.