Acme Fresh Market - Hudson

Liquor store tucked into the corner of a grocery store. Clean, but not an employee to be seen. I have to assume that they wouldn’t be much help if I did find one. Not a huge selection of beers, but what’s there seeems to be well chosen. Prices seem decent. Good selection from the larger local micros.

Ambiance: Well for a grocery store, it’s pretty nice. It’s separated from the rest of the store in the corner, with a tasting bar on the side and a full liquor selection behind it. So rating it based on a grocery store it’s cool because it’s like a store within a store. Service: I don’t know how other people rate service, but out of the 15-20 times I’ve been here, I have maybe seen an employee in the area maybe twice, and somebody at the tasting area, once. So service is pretty much non-existent. Chances are they can’t help me anyway because I know what I’m looking at, but still- nothing. So I’ll give it a 5, just because I haven’t experienced good or bad. Selection: Again, for a grocery store, selection is good, but it’s not crazy. It’s mostly local stuff that you can find at good bottle shops, but if you live in Hudson or work near it and are grocery shopping- it’s one of the best places to pick up beer, unless you want to drive to Kent, Chagrin, or further. Value: I’ve found grocery store prices are always better than bottle shops- pretty much every time. So for what they have, you probably can’t beat the price. Overall: I give it an 18 relative to other grocery stores. Heinen’s beats it every time because they typically have a broader selection and sometimes rarer stuff and more imports. Obviously they don’t have the selection and service of a beer-only shop, but compared to other grocery stores it’s pretty good.

Typical grocery store although this one also has a liquor section. Lots of BMC but also a number of regional and national craft selections. They have, despite the numbers, a pretty solid pick six section. You also get a 10% if you buy six. And typical of small towns, everyone was really nice.

I hate going to Acme and would rather go to Heinen’s or North End Market any day rather than Acme, or as it is known in our household Smacme. It’s a very average big grocery store but I was surprised to find the beer selection to have more variety than Heinen’s. However, Acme has many more six packs and more variety within these packs than they do singles which is something I think Heinen’s does much better. The selection includes Great Lakes, Lakefront, Avery, Lagunitas, BBC (bourbon barrel stout), Southern Tier variety packs and singles, Flying Dog, Magic Hat, Victory Brewing Co., Thirsty Dog, Goose Island, Bell’s, Stone, Dogfish Head, The Firehouse Brewing Co., a pumpkin ale by Brooklyn Brewing and Heavy Seas. An interesting selection but I wish they had more singles.

Hudson Wine and Spirits never really held a candle to Acme’s beer selection, but now that Acme had to switch over a lot of it’s shelf space to liquor the beer selection really looked like it took a hit. The wide array of samplers that used to have their own wall, now take up space that used to belong to Founder’s Breakfast Stout, GI BCS, and other assorted gems. I always stop in there when I’m in town visiting my parents, but the last time there I left dissapointed. It was usually good for at least a couple nice finds, but sadly that seems to no longer be the case.

Mostly a liquor store. Not much in the way of beer, just 2 small coolers. While what they do have is decent, its not worth going out of the way for. You probably won’t find what you are looking for if its is something out of the ordinary. I think Old Speckled Hen was about the best thing they had....

It’s a smaller store with most of the selection being wine and liquor, but they do have a good selection of beers in sixers and singles. They will also special order. Check w/ Steve while your there, he may not have all his inventory on the floor, so you may find a few surprises.