Friar Tuck in Crestwood is Now Open
May 21, 2008 9:50 am Beer News
This has been eagerly talked about in the STL Hops Forum, but it looks like the day has finally arrived. Friar Tuck located at 9053 Watson Road in Crestwood is now open just in time for your Memorial Day purchases. The website promotes over 900 beers in each store:
We’re serious about beer! Friar Tuck stocks virtually every beer we can get our grubby hands on. Domestics, imports, micro and craft brewed beers from all over the world. With over 900 different beers in every store, you’ll be serious about beer too.
It’s great to see another store in St. Louis committed to providing fantastic beer choices to us beer nerds. If you check out Friar Tuck, please send along your thoughts. I’m going to try and swing by today if possible.
Thanks to cubby_swans in the Forums for doing the leg work on this one.
Tags: beer nerd, beer store, friar tuck, st. louis
jeff :
Date: May 21, 2008 @ 11:48 am
If you do check it out, let us know how its selection compares with Wine and Cheese and Lukas.
doug :
Date: May 21, 2008 @ 1:13 pm
Been to one in IL. Along with a great selection they even had a small homebrew section. Don’t know if that is true of all of the stores.
BMock :
Date: May 21, 2008 @ 1:43 pm
I understand that they would have a great selection, but there are only so many distributors in the area. How could they have any more than the other stores?
Bob Griesedieck :
Date: May 21, 2008 @ 2:02 pm
I just went by there earlier today. They have a really good selection of product - I’d say very competitive to Lukas, Randall’s and Wine & Cheese.
The beer section is on two walls - the far left and the back. The homebrew section is still in the works, and they’re working to get more hops.
Friar Tuck will be a good addition to the area, and has the biggest selection in all of South County.
scottyp :
Date: May 21, 2008 @ 2:35 pm
“and they’re working to get more hops.”
What does this mean? Will they sell fresh hops?
Bob Griesedieck :
Date: May 21, 2008 @ 5:09 pm
Whatever they can get - most likely pellets - and have a variety available for homebrewers.
Derek Bean :
Date: May 21, 2008 @ 5:20 pm
Went by today as well and the store looks great! There are two things, in particular, I enjoyed about their cold beer section:
1.They have 3 cooler doors of cold pint, 1/2 Liter, 375 ML & 750 ML beers! This has never before been seen in St. Louis!
2.Their cold beer section includes many different beers that are normally relegated to only the warm beer sections at other stores.
In response to BMock’s earlier post, there are just as many distributors here, if not more, than in most other markets. The issue, however, is that there are less beers, not distributors, available here than in other markets. So, your point is a valid one–that they get the same beers offered to them from their distributors as any other retailer. For this matter, I doubt they’ll be able to make it to the 900 beers mark like their IL stores. But, even though all retailers have the same opportunity to purchase the same beers being offered to Friar Tuck, there’s a combination of reasons why they don’t or won’t carry all of these same beers–space constraints, demand, consumer buying habits, location, etc.
Derek Bean :
Date: May 21, 2008 @ 6:08 pm
This all got me thinkin’ about the issue of less beers/ certain beers not being available in MO/ STL.
Now, with the likes of Randall’s, Whole Foods, and Friar Tuck’s thrown into the mix, the local distributors will have increased demand/ pressure fom retailers to further expand their beer portfolios, compared to the days when Starr’s, Wine & Cheese Place, Lukas, Dad’s Bottle Shop and Bob’s were about the only places carrying varied beer selections. Combined with the fact that craft beers have been the best growth segment in the entire alcohol beverage industry for 4 years straight and with the success MoBev has had with all of the new brands they’ve brought into the market in the past few years, other (bigger) distributors such as Major Brands and Summit have to be courting other craft brands as we speak!
Just think about it, in the past 2 months alone, MoBev has introduced Left Hand, Southern Tier and Jolly Pumpkin, just to name a few! So, who knows what else we might be seeing here in STL by this time next year! Obviously, at this point, anything can happen!
Sam H :
Date: May 21, 2008 @ 8:49 pm
Stopped by real quick today. I was impressed and it was set up just like th IL stores. There were some carboys sitting around and a couple wine kits, homebrew stuff shold be arriving soon.
One snag i had was this, I grabbed two cans of Bass Pale Ale for softball and when they rang me up, the total was $103.74. Apparently it rang 2 cases. There are some bugs to work out with the cashiers and the system, but all in all it worked out just fine.
Dave J :
Date: May 21, 2008 @ 9:30 pm
Sounds like some expensive cans Sam, were they Firkins?
Sam H :
Date: May 22, 2008 @ 7:20 am
If they were, they were the cheapest firkins on the market!