Finger Lakes Beverage Center, Ithaca, New York

OK, I have been a little quiet around here as of late but that is because I have been on special assignment^TM and this last special assignment^TM took us to Ithaca, New York about 3 hours due south of Beer Blog HQ in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. And what a good idea it was – and not just because of Purity Ice Cream.

Ithaca is a loverly little city at the south end of Cayuga Lake, known for Cornell University and the most famous vegetarian restaurant on the planet. Touristy, academic and foodie. The perfect spot for a good beer store loaded with micros – and the Finger Lake Beverage Center is it. I have to be honest in that I have not been to a huge number of US beer stores, maybe ten or fifteen, but this one is pretty damn fine.

I was the nice beer blogger and asked if I could take some photos. There was a quick pow-wow after I explained a bit and sure enough it was fine. As usually happens, I find myself a bit dumb-struck in the face of hundreds of beers I have yet to buy and more so when faced with a well laid out, friendly and clean environment in which to be dumb-struck over beer. I also had to quickly calculate how much I could afford, how much I can get across the border and how much will keep my marriage on that level field we all call sanity. Once all that was done figured, it was time to talk and buy. I learned that the store was big on turnover of bottles and, as a wholesale distributor and retailer, they were able to ensure none of the bottles were sitting around too long. This is a curse of many shops with long lists – not enough nerd action. You could see that there was no dust on these bottles. Staff were friendly and knowledgeable and not a bit concerned that I was taking photos of their well-stocked shelves like the weirdo I am.

I only bought about 30 beers but I hit many of my wish list: a Belgian cassis lambic, California’s North Coast “Old Rasputin” Russian Imperial Stout, a mixed six of Stoudts from PA and Bert Grant’s Perfect Porter from Washington State among others. Price seemed good, though to be honest I was a kid in a candy store. This may be nothing to a citizen of the USA but the simple layout of single bottles over six-packs over 24 cases of region after region, brand after brand, brewer after brewer is quite a revelation to a Canadian. The idea of a growler selection, above, let alone a fill your own growler on a Sunday strikes the average Canuck like…well…something very hard to the temple that also makes you happy.

All in all a quick visit has left me about 20 beer reviews behind, which is not a particularly bad place to be with the summer here and all. I will definitely go to Finger Lakes Beverage again. I will probably go there again in about a month when I pass through Ithaca again and have a little more time. You go, too. Go on. We’re watching.

By the way, the Customs officer moment was good:

Customs: (kind of offical-like) …and where did you buy these beer?
Me: Ithaca.
Customs: yes but where?
Me: Finger Lakes Beverage.
Customs: and where is that?
Me: Ithaca? What are you wanting to know?
Customs: (quieter) I want to know because I go to school in Ithaca and haven’t heard of the place…what’s it near?