Party Source

No Longer In Business

Just an ok spot in a city lacking for a great bottle shop. Got some decent locals and some good regionals and nationals. Some of the bottles were quite old.

Probably the worst place I have ever been, most prices are worse than Wegmans, selection is ok, if they were not expired. The only thing you can buy here at a good price, and still fresh, is Natrual Light. Really is a joke of a beer store.

This place gets a bit of a bad rap because the owner is a grump and they do let a lot of their beers go stale and then try to sell them at regular price. It does have the feeling of a tomb inside, usually with a lonely radio blaring sports talk shows. The service is usually of the "who-cares" variety, and sometimes -- even though I routinely spend $50 a trip there -- they give me crap about what a hassle it is to ring up singles. These things are all true, however there is a lot to like about it. It does have a very good selection of Euros and domestics. They have been doing a much better job of rotating their beers than in years past, especially their seasonal section. And the fact that you can buy a single bottle of any beer (at a marked up price, of course) is a great way to sample everything you want. Don’t expect some kind of beer utopia walking in (that would be Rochester’s Beers of the World), but don’t be afraid to go in and peek around for a bit.

This place is only a couple of miles away from me and it’s very good as far as selection goes. They have a great selection of regional micros that are available in singles as well. *Make sure to check BB Date on singles* DFH, Allagash, Lagunitas, Southern Tier.. A few Belgians as well...Orval, DuPont, Chouffe. They do sell glassware. Selection is the best in Syracuse. UPDATE March 5, 2008: They had a decent selection recently. Found some New Holland and FFF, Sprecher. Jerry (owner?) is a friendly guy and happy to help.

expired products every time I go here. mostly kids running the place and they don’t act like they care too much about the product. care more about chit chat with each other. selection used to be a whole helluva lot better 3 or 4 years ago. maybe more. I just called them to see if they had something and the kid acted like I was disturbing him from making out with his hand. avoid this place. don’t know about an alternative in the Syracuse area. I always drive a little extra to Marcy Beverage and they know what they are doing.

Party Source wasn’t too far from the downtown core and an easy drive on Erie Street. As mentioned by the others, this place is pretty no-frills. The small growler filling station didn’t look very clean. It reminded me of Costco. Interesting selection from all over, nothing that really made me stop and say wow, but plenty of west coast brews, good local rep and decent variety of imports. Some Beers in the coolers were not in the room temp section (Brooklyn Monster ale was one) so keep an eye out. Selection seemed pretty up to date, they had seasonals and one-offs that I wasn’t sure were available around here yet (Stone 7.7.7, DFH Festina Peche). Prices were pretty steep. No way was I going to pay 18$ for a 750ml of Allagash – but I’ve seen it elsewhere for the same price so I won’t blame them – and 6 bucks an Orval is an absolute rip-off. Most imports seemed overpriced to me compared to other stores I’ve been to recently, so I stuck with regionals that were more reasonable. Service was another issue. I wasn’t expecting them to bend over backwards for us, but it was lackluster even by convenience store standards. We bought for over 150 bucks worth of suds and we even had to beg for a box, forget about a discount, a glass or whatever. An ok place when you’re in the area, but they could use some improvement in every aspect of their game.

Very sad to see what has happened to this place. It once had such promise; owners with enthusiasm, a willingness to offer great beer. Now this joint is morbid. They don’t care about their customers, and appear to have lost any knowledge they had about the care of their beer out the front door. Come on Mark and Jerry, rotate your stock. I won’t buy beer with cobwebs on the bottle. And stop displaying the beer in front of the window already. Fresh beer (Stone) goes in the cooler and Belgians on the shelves at room temperature; not the other way around. Selection has hit an all time low, and I guess they lost interest in keeping a growler selection going (just as well, they seemed to have forgotten how to clean the beer lines when they did offer them). Overpriced, poor service, poor selection... such promise; truly a pity!

Generic looking building, ugly green. Declining selection I’m told. Nothing really impressive there, but I assume that in the Syracuse area, you have to go to come here if you don,t want to drive to Rochester. Nothing out of the legend anymore, only 5% of the floor surface is really dedicated to interesting stuff for beer geeks. ninspired service. Dull beer store.

Bit of a beer museum, with beers out past expiration. About a quarter of the beers were there in singles, they were touchy until I mentioned my reviewing, then somewhat more generous in breaking up sixes. Better than average place, and somehwere decent for a BA to go, some good Belgiums and other international. A few out of town that all seem to carry, Magic Hat, soem Rogues and Stones, but mostly the local fare.

Dec 2004. Recently painted lime green. The selection hasn’t changed since my last visit (not bad but could do better). Offers singles.
July 2006 update, place got cleaned up, all the bulk cases are gone from the left side, leaving that part of the store empty. Selction has gone up and included Southern Tier Black River series (Jah-Va and IS), Averies, Rogue, North Coast, Cisco, Wachussets, etc...The owner say they do their best, but Syracuse is not an easy town for beer stores.