Spec’s Liquor - Austin (HW 290)

A huge liquor store with a bit more focus on beers than in the average liquor store. Nice selection of Texas and Austin craft beers. Singles selection is also pretty decent. Friendly service. It’s a bit hard to find with the address... at least it was hard for my GPS.

Overall mostly average in the terms of liquor stores go. It’s no Binny’s (Chicago) or Julio’s Liquors. (Massachusetts) The beer selection is decent. I like the selection simply from being out of state but if you lived here I’m not sure how often you would visit. The hard liquor and wine has most of the store.

A typical massive specs. Great selection of everything alcohol wise. Parking was surprisingly tight all things considered. Prices were quite decent. An absolutely cavernous store. Didn’t really speak to anyone there, so I am not too sure how beer knowledgable the employees are.

Stopped in. This is more of a giant wine store with a sizable gourmet food section and giant humidor. Beer selection isnt that great, yes they have a number of bottles bust most of them I can get at home and the texas stuff they did have was mostly out of stock or unappealing. Was quite disappointed. They do get points for cash discounts though, which is cool.

Visited October 2011.

This is a large store in a large shopping center right off the freeway. Stopping here during rush hour helped me get out of traffic at least. Despite the high ratings and the size of the store they don’t have a whole ton of beer, at least compared to all the liquor and wine. After you walk a ways through the aisles you’ll find the beer in the back, most of it being in the fridges. Plenty of TX locals (and by that I mean all over TX), some national brands, and some Belgian imports. I also saw some Mikkeller there. I enjoyed the BBQ sauce/rub section as much as the beer aisle. Definitely not a bad stop but I have to believe that there are better stores in the area.

Knowledgable staff and a great selection of beers.

A typical Spec’s liquor store. Large warehouse style building with all sorts of wine, beer and liquor. Service was as to be expected. Selection was pretty similar to the Houston location, but was hoping to see a bit more of the local Austin beers. Prices were quite competitive. A nice store overall.

A massive liquor and beer store housed in what used to be an Academy. A huge selection of beer, liquor and wine, but probably not quite as good as the flagship location in downtown Houston. Still, I think this is the best selection of the Specs in Central Texas. Also has a ton of cheese, cigars, other groceries, etc...

A very good bottle store in southwest Austin-has all your Jester king bottles that are avalible as well as some other rare brews (i got the ever elusive Rayon Vert from Green Flash while here). Staff is very friendly and willing to answer questions.

Pretty big place. You have to look around to find the gems that are hidden. Most likely they don’t know what they got, since it seems they just take the shotgun approach to buying to stock the shelves - whatever their distributor can get they’ll take. Much more BMC beers than I like to see, but it is a liquor store after all. Decent selection of food stuff, and cigars.