Blanchards - Allston

Great selections. Everything I need I can find there. Friendly staffs. Free parking. Reasonable priced. They really ID me. I'm flattered. I really don't look so young anymore. Update: I went there to get small trial bottles of whiskey. But those bottles are only available in the counters behind cashier. I was treated like criminal and asked to leave that area. If you don't want people to check that area, then you should put those bottles in the accessible area. I'm removing one star.

They do a great job. In the store, you'll find great deals on a regular basis. When you don't have time, they will deliver to you. You can place your order with a free account online or via their app. They use a 3rd party to deliver, so that can be a little nutty once in a blue moon, but if any issue, they still make it right. Overall, this is an excellent establishment with top-notch service and a huge variety of beverages for all tastes.

This review is solely based on a cashier’s disposition.. I live locally and frequent Blanchards quite often spending $50-$80 easily each transaction. I went in yesterday Sat 12/21 and the cashier had her head down like she was sleeping on the counter and was visibly annoyed when my husband and I approached her. No hello no do you need a bag nothing. This is not the first time that a cashier at this establishment has had a terrible attitude. The manager sits up on his perch, just looking over not saying anything. Useless. How do you allow your staff to put their head down and sleep on the counter where patrons are served? Also that is disgusting. If you don’t want to be working on a Saturday, perhaps get a better job. I don’t expect anyone to be overly cheerful, but at least hello do you need a bag? Have a good day that’s all that I would expect as a customer. Complaining to the manager will get you nowhere so take it to the Internet and write a review!

After renting a keg from Blanchards, it was stolen from us. The thief returned it to the store and, without any ID check, Blanchards gave them our deposit—in cash. When we reported the theft, the staff couldn’t describe who returned it and treated the situation as a joke. Their current return policy makes it easy for someone to steal a keg and get the deposit with no accountability. We also tried returning the tap separately but were denied a full refund because both items weren’t returned at the same time—even though the keg was returned without our consent. This rule wasn’t stated in the rental agreement, and staff only brought it up after the fact. Overall, the process was disorganized, and the staff showed no concern for what happened. I wouldn’t recommend renting a keg from here.

Beware of this place! They don’t make money from selling alcohol; they make it from towing cars. Even if you step away for just a minute, there’s a high risk your car will be towed. You might just want to buy a bottle of alcohol, but you could end up paying a $200 towing fee—even if you were genuinely there to make a purchase. Feels like a scam! Stay away!

Blanchards has a way of making me feel at home. You can just tell when you walk in that it’s a family establishment. Whenever I go in for a quick bottle of red, I get the best recommendations from their wine expert. My husband raves about the beer selection. Wish I could give them ten stars!

This is a great liquor store! The place is clean, well organized, and has a huge variety of products. Their prices are very reasonable - I have compared the prices of many products here and at other Boston stores and these guys are always in the standard range or cheaper. There are also sale bins of wine where you can find some really good bargains. Friendly employees asked if I needed assistance. And of course, there is a parking lot, which is a great bonus in the crowded neighborhood. In my opinion, it's the best liquor store in Allston/Brighton.

Blanchards is well designed and arranged. Each area is designated with Signs, written in large print, making it easy to find items. If you still need assistance, Blanchards employ a lot of Staff, who are Happy to Help. The establishment is well stocked, with a variety of Snacks, Ice, Beverages, and Novelty Items; and is very Clean. The Store hours are very accommodating, and the prices are competitive. I Like Blanchards! I give it 4 stars! Thank You! 💋❤👄

Have large and great priced wines! Large and great selection of sakes. It is the best liquor store around for me that does not own a car. They always have wines on discount to go treasure hunting for! Love it! Staff is helpful. Long hours!

Good selection but weird with out of state IDs. Manager couldn't tell that my friends real ID was in fact not a fake and relied on his scanner which wasn't working. Refused to sell to her (whatever, within his rights) but basically said he was doing us a favor by not confiscating it. Never had that happen before and kind of surprised the manager of a liquor store can't spot a real ID. Still convenient enough that I'll visit again

What I liked: -free parking -good craft beer selection, reasonable prices. - reasonable prices. My only complaint is how tightly the ales are making navigation of the store more stressful.

Good selection, a little overpriced but this is Boston and they will gouge people as long as they choose to do business there. Some stuff can be hard to find but they have most things you could think of.

DO NOT SHOP HERE UNLESS YOU WANT YOUR CAR TOWED! Purchased liquor at the store, went to a nearby store for 5 minutes to use the restroom and came back to my car being towed.. Spoke to manager and associates who offered no help, although I was a paying customer. Had to Uber to tow yard and pay $170 to retrieve car.

Great wine selection . Airy space, nice help. Also great liquor selection. They also deliver

Terrible service. Parked at the store and walked to a store next door before going inside. Literally less than 15 minutes they towed the car. No warning. Plus the towing company price gauges their fees. Never come here.

PRICE GAUGERS! Apparently they did not learn their lesson through the pandemic and probably sold hand sanitizers for $50 a bottle too. Is it really the best business to try to price gauge your loyal customers and make more money on a few bottles rather than keep them happy by not trying to screw them and coming back for more and not writing reviews like this? Please go elsewhere... There are many ethical stores that actually value their customers... This is not one if them.

They call to tow customer of their store, we were in the store when we saw a tow truck trying to take our car. Do not stop here.

Blanchards is the one stop shop for alcohol, especially for college kids. It has a great selection and it is easy to buy in bulk here. A few years ago, this was the only liquor store that sold soju and they had a the whole range of flavored soju as well. I have noticed that other liquor stores have started to carry soju, but often times there is a markup. The last time I visited Blanchards, flavored soju was still $8/bottle (vs. $9-10 I have seen at other stores). Also, for a few years this was the only store that carried my favorite beer, Delirium Tremens, so Blanchards holds a special place in my heart.

quick, easy, and reasonable prices! cashiers will ask for ID, so don't try to pull a fast one!

Friendly, knowledge staff and a wide variety of drinks. Open late too! I popped in this summer to try some local drinks. There were lots of great options. Weeks later, I stopped in for some German beers and found an impressive array. This fall, I got invited to a Columbian friend's house for dinner. The manager came down to the sales floor and talked me through my options. I was a hero at the dinner for bringing the authentic goods. Best in the area, to my knowledge. Being new in town, it's also a pretty social and central spot to see people.

Absolutely impeccable customer service. Been buying from them for years and will continue to go back. They always have some amazing deals and prices so its always a good time when I check in once in a while. Highly Recommend!

This store in Allston has so much selections for booze if you're looking for one and just around the area or you wanna get some nips for a concert your about to go to!! Lol Anyways. We we're headed to a Korean bbq but my bf wants to get lit before grabbing some food so we stopped by here and got something before heading to the restaurant which was just across the street. It didn't take us a long time on that area. So it was a quick one for us.

I love blanch. Super friendly staff, and they did right by us through all of my time in allston. They have everything you need

I'm commenting only for beer. I have never shopped wine and liquor here. If you're shopping for beer this is the place to go. There's always customers in there buying stuff. You may look at it being busy as a bad thing but it's in fact a great thing. More people means higher turnover of product which means their beer is more fresh. Whether you're buying craft beer which they've really stepped up their game with or domestic beer in bulk, you're more likely to find it fresh here. I stopped going here for years and instead went to another place not far away because I thought they had a better craft selection. I missed out on Blanchards when they started bringing in a better selection. And then when I'm looking for more of a bud light kind of day because maybe I want to survive and drink 12+, it's so hard to find places that sell an 18 now. Being able to walk into Blanchards and get a fresh 18 is great.

The only place in Allston (that I can think of since their competitor down the street closed) where I can buy mass amounts of soju and other assorted alcohol. They have sales going on here and there though I usually don't know when these are run. Sadly, the last time I dropped by to grab some grapefruit flavored soju, they were out. Oh well, better luck next time.

Since there are lot of Korean restaurants in this area, they must have variety selection Korean wine which is true... but I was looking for makgoli which I hardly can find it in other liquor store. They have it and even with different flavors. I wish they have more flavors in the future. I been stopping by this place after eating in Allston. Lot of selection but I usually purchase Japanese wine and Korean wine. Most liquor store that I been they only carry original plum wine but they carried other flavor as well. Soju which I did not purchase from here since I usually purchase it when I stop by the market near my home but definitely purchase if they have flavors that don't carried in the market that I go. They have a mini parking lot but we usually parked at the lot next to them (2 hr parking) since we dine in in one of restaurant and stopped other store to buy bubble tea and/or pastries before coming here.

Impressive liquor selection. Unimpressive staff. Management could readily improve matters by teaching the employees to at least -act- like they care to help out. Oh, and possibly ensuring that employees are familiar with the products that are carried at the store. I get that you have a bajillion different brands of a gazillion different beers, wines, spirits, cordials, etc. But for a simple question like, "Do you carry Aviation Gin?" to require looking it up in the inventory system seems kind of strange to me. Or, I could just be spoiled by the local liquor stores back in DC, where they come across as friendly, knowledgeable, and on top of what's going on in their shop. And on a completely unrelated note... is it normal to be carded upon walking into a liquor store -and- upon checking out in Massachusetts?

Blanchard's is an enormous (by my NYC standards) liquor store, carrying almost everything you'd want when it comes to wine, beer and liquor. Most importantly, they've got a surprisingly decent selection of bourbon at surprisingly decent prices. They've even got potato vodka which I suppose is kosher for Passover. Because you're not allowed to drink bourbon on Passover. Because they didn't have any in the desert. Which, of course, makes perfect sense.

They discriminate and harass you if you show out of state DL as ID. This guy at the counter took my legal and unexpired Oregon DL and put it in their dumb machine to check. I dont know what he saw there but he took it to check on another machine at the back office. Then came back and said it is fake! He didn't want to give it back also! I had to confront him by saying he cannot confiscate my legal state issued ID. Showed him my in-state unexpired MA liquor ID too (which luckily I had in my wallet). I know there is nothing wrong with my DL since I used it at the airport security just two weeks back. And I am 31 years old!! He finally gave me back my DL. And this is the second time this has happened. A month back they tried to pull off a similar stunt when I provided the same DL as ID. They may have a lot of collection but I am never going back there again. Switching to Drizly.

This is one of my go to places for alcohol, whether its all the flavors of soju or wine for my mom. I like that it has a huge variety and if there's something you can't find, you can ask the cashiers to take note of the name and maybe you'll find it the next time you come. The last time I visited, I understand that I may look young and yes its 100% their job to check my ID but I don't appreciate my cashier yelling to other cashiers "dammit, thought I caught one" in my face. Completely unneccessary. Way to go customer service. Also, as seen from other reviews, can confirm that Blanchards does tow cars often and quickly. If they suspect that you aren't in their stores and sometimes they assume you aren't, there goes your car....yep...be quick in the store. They take back full boxes of beer bottles and there is a can/bottle recycling corner in the back of the store. Overall, not bad, has everything you need, but beware of car towing.

One of the first stops on my 21st bday!! It's like browsing through a candy store :D In my eyes, blanchards has two things going for them, a huge a wide variety because of the sheerness of its size, and its fairly low prices. Because of its space, it definitely has more of a selection than most of the local liquor stores. Obviously, you may not always find what you want in here, but who ALWAYS does at any store. My biggest reason why I love blanchards is that prices are much or well slightly cheaper than all the local stores. This is extremely useful when you buy in bulk like I do. Even though handles may be $5 cheaper and beer maybe $1 cheaper, in the end it always adds up and to me its totally worth it everytime. As for the customer service, does not really matter to me in this case. Sure, they aren't the friendliest people. But hey, I'm here to get my alcohol and get out so I have more time drinking it ahaha. But thats just me.

With liquor/booze prices sky rocketing at various restaurants nearby in Allston/Brighton, I find myself coming into Blanchards often to find an abundant selection of various wines, beers, vodkas, rums, tequilas and light drinks (Mike's, Smirnoff Ice, etc). I never leave empty handed and usually always find what I'm looking for. I often do wish that they offered a wider selection of "girly drinks", but I can make due with what they have. My most recent purchase were all the ingredients needed for a Midori Sour. Nom! They have their lot in the back and parking therefore usually isn't an issue. On busy nights, they often ID upon entrance, and if not, they'll ID at the register before you check out. The worker that usually helps me check out is very helpful and courteous. No complaints here!

This was my favorite liquor store to go to when I lived in the area. I am a hard liquor drinker so my focus was primarily on that section of the store (though I know they had a pretty expansive wine section). The prices were typically excellent. There was always a few brands of each different type of liquor that they offered exceptionally low prices on, well below their standard price. Their selection was also something to marvel at. This place is much larger than your typical liquor store, and they fill every last inch of it with more kinds of alcohol than you can count. They were one of the only stores around that carried a certain type of whiskey that I am quite fond of: Larceny.

They have a huge selection of everything which is great. All of their bottles are a little more expensive than other places in the area but on some level you're paying for the selection. They also spent twenty minutes trying to explain to me that my state issued ID was fake which was fantastic.

These people are so nasty, the employees carry an attitude, not very friendly to customers and they don't even take beer bottles and cans for redemption. The nasty female employee standing by the entrance said that they don't redeem and if they do it's only on a limtd basis and you must bring a receipt to prove to bought the beer from them? That is kind of odd. I never heard of liquor stores asking for receipts to redeem a few beer bottles. I am not doing business with these people ever again! Marty's in Newton is a lot better and friendlier than these creeps.

I will be shopping at the Brookline Liquor Mart minutes away from this location on Commonwealth Avenue and far more friendly without all the parking hassles. My car got towed while I was in the store because they did not announce my car or I didn't hear them, but regardless, when I went out to the lot and saw my car being towed, I came back in and asked the manager to call the towing company to explain to them that I was in the store and the manager declined to do so and his reason was because he has never spoken with the towing company ever, so of course it makes sense for him to not do so since who cares about the truth and doing what's right at Blanchard's Liquors. Or try to do the right thing. Also, the manager tried to lie to me on what his name is at end of the call "if I have any complaints" when he clearly told me his real name at the beginning of the call before knowing the reason behind my call. Nice try Matt, or should I say Jason. Key lessons as told by the Simpsons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNOutomr5XI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwVNuyfhF0Q Just an example of the unreasonable person employed at Blanchard's Liquors. With that being said, it's a good place to buy bulk alcohol from and good selection of wines if you know what you're doing, but their sommelier know very little about what they offer, you'll have a better luck googling it.

Cash Only. http://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/1asryj/credit_card_number_theft_in_allston/c90j4iz

One of the bigger liquor stores I've been. Excellent booze variety from wines, beers, and hard liquor. Prices are decent. Too bad is pretty far from where I live if not I'd definitely come more often!

My negative rating is due to a negative experience I had with the keg deposit policy. BE CAREFUL ABOUT GETTING BACK YOUR DEPOSIT ON KEGS! I paid a $40 deposit on the keg on my credit card, and was told that anyone could return the keg to the store. My girlfriend returned it, and the employee told her she was 'all set'. No mention whatsoever of their very strange deposit policy: you have to take the sticker off the keg and bring it to the register to get a deposit back IN CASH. He took the keg from her, sticker and all, told her she was all set, and walked off to put the keg away. What would you assume in that situation? I had assumed that since the deposit was charged to my card, it would be returned to my card, as is usually the case with all deposits! But when I asked the manager about this, he said they returned deposits in cash. They keep no record of kegs going out/in except for the sticker they put on the keg. Which, again, they made no mention of when my girlfriend returned the keg. My guess is the guys who work there don't mind making a quick buck on the ignorance of the customers who aren't careful to ask about getting their refund back. When I came in later to ask about it they were not at all surprised, like this sort of thing happened all the time. I accept responsibility for being too trusting about getting the deposit back; I'm sure they do this all the time, and had I returned it myself and asked about it, they would have come clean. But I believe these guys have an obligation to explain their rules clearly, ESPECIALLY at the time it is being returned. Instead, an employee took advantage of these hidden rules to make a quick buck, and the manager was completely indifferent (and actually kind of a prick, I wasn't asking for him or being aggressive, and he was loudly saying how he didn't like dealing with problems as he walked over...)

This place is hardball. They opened a new recycling depot behind here. I don't know what all these dudes are talking about when it comes to liquor but I sure as hell know how to return a bunch of black bags of cans. Listen, I normally wouldn't volunteer this information but I get enough pie and I am comfortable enough with myself to admit it. I return bottles/cans. My roommates put away like nine 30 packs a week and then we collect all the cans and bring them over there once in a while. We get in rough fights with bums and people who are trying to heist our bottles/cans. One time I returned a mountain of these receptacles and went out and "spent it all on a necklace, God it's so hard not to be reckless" Kanye style bitch. I forgot to mention though, the necklace was in one of those .25 cent machines at the super market and it turned my neck green like Gumby. At least you can't transfer that to someone else, so I still hit it raw that night. Point is, if you want to make some mean dough in the recession, walk around at night and collect bottles and cans. People are banking hard. Get a shopping cart to collect them all in too, it makes it mad easy. And stop drinking wine coolers. They're for sissies.

They have a great deal on Veuve and various nips (when you're feeling like a scumbag), but that doesn't make up for the owner getting all sp00ky on that dog cage! But they still have a decent selection for one of the worst corners in Boston.

The collection of fakes in the front window is what pushes this store from 4 stars to 5. Definitely worth checking out. Good prices, great selection, nice and roomy.

Kegs! Yeah, I'm more years out of college than I'd like to admit, but I still love a good kegger from time to time. Admit it-- you love em too. Kegs! Oh wait, I already said that. Well anyway, you can buy them here. You probably have before, or someone you know has. Even I have, and I don't even live in Allston. Other types of alcohol! Yes, beer trumps all, but liquor and wine are pretty cool too. Wine and liquor and fruit= sangria. Sake is nice. Champagne is delicious (especially Andre, the classiest of them all). Port wines make a fine dessert. This place has it all, plus a helpful, educated staff to go along with the great selection. I've never been disappointed by a Blanchard's run.

For a liquor store, five stars. Granted, I'm not a price-nazi and I don't search the city for the best liquor stores. Blanchard's has all I could ever need, it's huge! Feels even bigger b/c the shelves are low, opening up the space a lot. They seem to stock all the flavors and sizes of hard liquor (at least that I drink/can afford...including the delicious Rain vodka), they have tons of wine, and a good selection of lambics/other more "specialty" beers. Parking lot, definite plus. If you buy a lot, someone will help you carry everything to your car.

Great selection, friendly staff and service 10/10 inside the store. In the parking lot however, there were some seedy figures hitting my car, yelling unintelligible cracked-out things at me and blocking me from leaving my parking spot. Never a dull moment in Allston, comes with the turf. All in all, will come back for the excellent beer supply and nice folks.

So Blanchard's used to be great when Marty's was around (read: competition). They used to have the cheapest kegs around ($42.50 for bud light (!!!!!!!!!)) which was, needless to say, awesome. Today it's a different story... About 2 months ago they raised their prices to around $50ish, which was reasonable, especially with the AB buy out and high fuel prices, etc. But now? $60. Marty's is GONE so price gouging is in full effect. Blanchard's, clean up your act. I've been buying kegs of bud light from you guys for 4 years to supply my kegerator with cost effective drunk fuel, but now cost savings are almost out the window entirely. Do the math: 15.5 gallons of beer for $60 can almost be had cheaper in 30 packs. Your Allston rudeness is NOT worth the hassle. I'll drive to the Newton Marty's and save some face. And puppy abuse? Last I checked it's not acceptable or cool.

I am seriously impressed with this place. They have a huge selection of liquor and wine, and tons of those super fun packaged deal things where you get your favorite liquor and a little prize inside. You know what I mean... the bottle with a shaker, or some glasses... anything! It is basically like the cracker jack box for boozers. BEAUTIFUL. I digress... back to the review at hand: I think I can tell a lot about a place based on their Port selection (this is a recent discovery btw- i took a port class and learned about the wonder that is dry white port with tonic and lime. wow) so anyway-- they have a pretty large Port selection here... and like I was saying, good sign. I am always on the lookout for Oregon wines, and while they do have a pretty good selection here, what really impressed me was how accommodating the employees are! I was spotted by an employee while I was looking over the Oregon wine selections, and he asked me what I was looking for. I told him nothing in particular but did ask him about a wine that I have not seen on this side of the country. He was gone for a moment and then came back to me with the name of the distributor and told me he would contact them in the morning to get the wine in if he could. Not only that, but he told me the name of a place where I could get the wine for the time being... now that is customer service. yay blanchard's!

DO NOT use your credit card here. Credit cards numbers scanned here are apparently being sold: http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/03/23/authorities-investigating-allston-credit-card-fraud-blanchard-liquors-acknowledges-involvement/BRqVIzasPq3yHU7Ccpk5yI/story.html

I just briefly read through a couple of reviews by other people and I am surprised to read that a lot of people complained about their customer service. I am genuinely not trying to be snarky but this is a liquor store....you can't be complaining about their level of customer service! Of course its going to suck! I like Blanchard's because of the variety of beers this store carries. The only other competitor I can think of is Wegman's on Route 9 but if you don't have a car, that place is a pain the butt to get to! As far as price is concerned, yes they do overcharge but honestly it is not that outrageous. Considering the location, parking space, and the availability of different selection they have, I would actually argue you are actually getting a pretty great deal. If you want variety, then definitely check this store out. If you are just looking to buy some crappy beer and bottles to get you through the night, I suppose you might be better off going to a nearby local liquor store.

This was my go to liquor store when I lived in Brighton. Good selection, great prices. The parking is horrible, yes, especially during peak hours. Otherwise, you'll find a spot. Where is it easy to park in Brighton though? No where. And you're in a liquor store, if you don't expect to show ID, you must be living in the stone age. They had everything I ever wanted and all of it was much less expensive than everything else in the area.

I left the two stars only because of the wide selection, but that doesn't really matter considering I do not plan on returning. I'm currently writing this review 5 minutes after I have left this store because I'm literally that furious. My problem is the disgusting and outrageously rude attitude of the little dark haired broad currently still working her shift as I'm writing this. I have never had someone speak to me so disrespectfully or close her eyes and outwardly roll her eyed and act so exasperated because she had to bag a few bottles of alcohol. Me and my friend were polite and patient through the short transaction but somehow in the 3 minutes it took to cash us out, it literally outraged me to the point of signing on to Yelp and leaving one of my FIRST EVER reviews. My first and last time going to a Blanchards ever.

The best thing about Blanchard's is the roomy layout. There is plenty of space to browse and you don't feel boxed in and trapped like you do at Marty's. I don't find the prices here to be all that great. Stock up when you go to Costco or NH instead. Sometimes they have good sales: watch the signs in the windows.

I actually think this is a pretty decent store. The prices have never been astronomical, as most college-area liquor stores are apt to charge, and the selection never leaves you wanting more. Because... what more is there? There's high-end and budget-friendly all under one roof here. Don't turn your nose up at the lower sticker priced bottles of wine, though -- you'd be surprised by how much you end up liking brands like Barefoot, Flip Flop (you don't even need a corkscrew!), and Cupcake. They're like a more chic (and tastier) Yellow Tail. At any rate, the parking lot is definitely tiny -- but at least they have one (more than I can say about a lot of places in Allston). And they make me feel a little better by checking IDs at the door. A solid choice through and through.

I wrote an Yelp review of the store a few years ago and today I received an email from Yelp saying my review was brought to their attention by the "Yelp community" because it did not provide enough details about the user experience, hence they decided to remove my review. I bet it is because the Blanchard decided to pay money to Yelp for promotion and Yelp is removing negative reviews for them. Okay so about the store experience: the store has a good selection of alcohol, but the price is ok. It is at a good location so there are lots of students here. But the customer service is terrible. I parked my car at the parking lot and got some beer from the store. When I walked out I found my car was towed! We showed the receipt to the store manager Tyler, but he refused to help so we had to pay for $175 to get the car back. Please avoid this store if you do not want your car to be mysteriously towed even if you are just here shopping for alcohols. They have a tow company who just randomly tow people's cars in their parking lot even if you do go to the store for shopping. We even complained to BBB but that doesn't help. It seems there is no way you can get your car back without having to pay for the tow company. Blanchard you should feel disgraceful for treating your loyal customers like that.

Most of the time I don't place too much importance on where I buy my alcohol. Any liquor store within walking distance will do, so I go to Blanchard's. I am not super-adventurous when it comes to liquor, so finding a bottle of vodka at Blanchard's at a decent (for a college neighborhood) price is not difficult. Basically there is nothing too spectacular about this liquor store, but here is why I have recently become a much bigger fan: Gluten-free beer. Yes Yelpers, that is correct. Whilst perusing the refridgerated section for a 6-pack of Magners or another cider selection, I found TWO types of sorghum based beers. I had previously tried Bard's Tale, which according to "normal" people has a slightly sweeter taste than regular beer. But I was super-psyched to also see Redbridge, the new gluten-free beer made by Anheuser-Busch. They are both more expensive than regular beers ($9-12 for a 6-pack) but that is a small price to pay if I can play beirut with actual BEER instead of hard liquor. Which never ends well, by the way. I know that both of these brands are becoming more widely available...and I've read that I can get Bard's Tale at Sunset Grill...and honestly beer is not really something I miss or crave. But it's nice to now have that option.

Prices: Not that good. Not the worst, but not good. Customer service: Bad. They screwed up boxing my order and were very discourteous to me after I discovered it at home. They took a very "thats your problem" attitude. I guess no one cares about their customers any more.

Remember that feeling you got when you were a little kid and your mom took you to Toys R' Us to pick out any toy you wanted? Remember how satisfying it was to walk out of the store with your new toy? That's a pretty accurate description of the feeling I get when I walk into Blanchard's. It's like a toy store, but for booze bags!