Cardinal Wine & Spirits

A zirconia in the rough... sort of an odd, musty 70’s era liquor store anchoring the corner of a strip mall next to an Indian/Pakistani restaurant. One wall has the requsite dark wood paneling with retro olde-english script detailing "Champagne" "Wines" etc. The beer was to the left past the checkout area. What seems like the remnants of a good selection lies within, plenty of import singles, Okocim Palone for $1.89 for instance. Chapeau Lambics, German Hefes, Ommegang 750s, and 2 Bros Hop Juice even. What bugs me is looking at the label dates, stuff here is old. One lonely Great Lakes Eliot Ness sixer from ’07. A few other bombers were years old as well. Buyer beware. The upside to this was the Belgian selection, maybe 10-15 total, with a couple gems like Achelse Kluis and Rose de Gambrinus. Not much craft in the cooler though, mostly macro junk. Pick and choose carefully, if you shop here at all. With Binnys down the street, there’s really no contest for a place like this.

This place is pretty much a big zero...nothing interesting to be found...just regular grocery store type selection...I also am pretty sure that the bottles had been sitting around...I did pick up some 01 Cantillion Rose de Gambrinus...

bought a new computer at the tiger direct store also in the strip mall. i knew id need ’fuel’ to put my new toy together so i stopped in this place. would have been content with some mainstream imports (of which they have many in their vast cooler array) but i was pleasantly surprised to find a large display of un-chilled american crafts! ended up scoring a 6 pack of flying dog in heat wheat and a 6 pack of three floyds pride and joy. HOWEVER.........(and i am so glad to read zeswafts review) the pride and joy was somehow spoiled or otherwise undrinkable. all 6 bottles gushed violently when i opened then, even the nexrt day. never figured out if this was just a bad batch, or was cardinal liquors somehow to blame?? the flying dog seemed alright, as did the 12 pack of stella i also picked up.

Stopped in while waiting for an oil change down the street. Your average booze store. Lots of macros and the occasional seasonal. If you have to choose between any place along Golf Road make it Binnys.

Not a bad selection for a shop overly filled with the BMCs. I enjoyed this place (although I can’t honestly rate it high) because, when I was buying some South Korean beers and two malt liquors (both new to me), half of the staff came out to look. With a Binny’s under five minutes from here, there’s not much point in stopping back... unless they have some more "fun" brews for me.

They do sell old beer, but they have a pretty decent selection and the prices are low. I don’t think location or low-income clientele have anything to do with it. The people hitting this place just wanna try fancy beers and don’t know that beer can be (and is often) old. lots of liquors. anyways, i’d say a better than normal selection of micros, but none of the crazy rare beers.

A standard liquor store that has a large selection of booze and fairly decent selection of beer. BUYER BEWARE. Though they have some good beers, eg. Three Floyds, Victory, Great Lakes, Sierra Nevada, and Bells the inventory is EXTREMELY OLD. Time and time again I bought old three floyds or bells stuff there. I’ve seen Great Lakes products that were about a year expired and same with Victory stuff. I attribute this to its location and lower-income clientel. Prices are pretty cheap if you can find something not expired. They have very few good imports. Some Chimay, Delirium, Unibroue, etc. Most people buy sixers of Strohs there. Hopefully, somebody will tell them to change inventory. If you’re going to Binny’s in Schaumburg stop by here I guess, It’s less than a mile away.