Beer Aisle Review: Fairway Woodland Park
Fairway is a grocery store orginating in New York City but recently has expanded to the suburbs. From Wikipedia: “Fairway Market’s stores balance their presentation of everyday must-have staples, signature Fairway brand items, specialty foods and popular consumer brands”. The newest one just opened in Woodland Park, NJ, which is really close to where I work. I noticed they were including a beer, wine and spirits section so naturally I was intrigued. I’ve always been a fan of Fairway, finding they often have fun and interesting things as well as the staples I need. So let’s see how their beer selection holds up.
This is the main aisle. The entire aisle is beer except for the 2-3 sections you can see in the forefront. I’d describe the section is good but not great. You won’t walk away empty handed, but nothing will wow you. You’ve got some of the locals, but not that many, and not the smaller ones. They had a pretty good selection of the belgians, particularly the single bottles. The Chimay’s and the Lindemans were there, as well as most of the other common ones. Nothing rare or unique, but maybe that’s fine for a grocery store.
It’s certainly not a small display. Beer has a pretty good representation and there should be a variety for every beer drinker. That’s probably perfect for a beer selection in a grocery store, a nice selection that everyone will be able to grab a 6-pack of something they want to drink. They have a decent amount of the beer in the fridge for the crowd that is bringing it directly to the party. It’d be nice to see some more local flavor, but for now I’d give this store a solid B rating.
The Final Frontier Of Beer: Catering Halls
Beer has definitely arrived. Whether you call it micro, craft or something else, you can often find more than just Budweiser and Coors when you go out just about anywhere you’d expect to find alcohol. The one place where you almost never have any variety at all is in a catering hall.
I’ve been to a lot of weddings in the last couple of years, and excepting ones that weren’t in catering halls, the beer selection is non-existent. Most cases even the hard alcohol isn’t very extensive; I’ve been to places that don’t even have tequila. Beer is often just Budweiser, Bud Light, and/or Coors light. A catering hall’s idea of a broad selection is having bottles of Corona and Heineken. I consider it a coup when I find a place that has something as exotic as Sam Adams Boston Lager.
It’s like the halls give no thought at all to providing quality beverages for their guests. This isn’t exclusive to beer, as you often find catering halls serve generic uninteresting food as well. Perhaps because most of their customers are things like weddings and parties that aren’t often repeat business, they’re not as focused on providing an overall awesome experience. Maybe it’s because many times the customers are there to party, dance and celebrate, not to eat and drink. Or maybe we’ve been so trained to not expect a great meal or a good beer that we no longer demand it.
Tags: beer, beer selection, catering hall, craft beer, final frontier