09/27/08

Friendly Staff, good beer

by Burbankconnisewer

Beer tastings every Saturday afternoon, then if I'm not mistaken, the wine tasting starts right after......I agree with the reviewer who said the micro brew selection is lacking, but otherwise its a great place. Nice selection, friendly staff.

09/25/06

Unique fine spirits and cigar store in Toluca Lake

by wrightsfd

They stock some great wines, offer a nice selection of cigars in the walk-in humidor, and even offer more than ten organic beers! If you have any special requests they will gladly get it for you and are knowledgeable about any type of spirit. Not a great place to p/u a 24 pack of MGD, but they do carry the basics as well. It is a great place to try something different as the beer selection is quite good in 6-packs and individual bottles. Wine and beer tastings happening all the time.

09/19/06

Great Selection...of European Beers

by weatherboy

Vendome does what many alcohol stores in California do with their beer selection. It pays attention to a handful of major microbreweries then it offers the usual truckloads of "Macro Swill" that Middle America still worships (I'm hoping that we in the West are evolving past this need for cheap beer that has no taste and gets us fat). Then it offers a very large selection of beers from all over Europe. There's no real rhyme or reason to the selection, but it is large. It has a few good micros that will keep me coming back (as there are no better beer stores in Southern California). The staff is friendly and they will be happy to give suggestions to anyone who's trying to find their bearing in the sea of European beers. From the looks of the place they have a good selection of wine and spirits too! Also, it has a smoke shop and a bar where they do tastings of wine and beer at certain times all week. It's a great place for finding that "hard to find" European beer or wine. I'm still waiting for that ultimate beer store, but Vendome is worth the trip to have a look!

• Pros: Great Selection of European Beers, Lots of Good Wines and Spirits, Unpretentious
• Cons: Lack of Micro selection, A little spendy

08/14/03

Much more than the corner liquor store, this shop stocks fine tobacco products and gourmet treats to match its luxury libations.

by Contributor

The Scene
This is not your corner liquor store. Sure there are six-packs in the cooler and your bottom-of-the-line charcoal processed vodka, but this gem of a shop is a wine, cigar, gourmet and private reserve specialty store all rolled into one.

The Goods
The wine selection alone is worth the trip--rows upon rows of familiar and eccentric, current and vintage vinos line the walls, floors and display cases, all conveniently organized by varietal and many tagged with helpful staff descriptions. The harder stuff (everything from Jack Daniels to 90-year-old cognac) is varied and plentiful as is the cigar selection (tobacco blends and smoking paraphernalia are also available). Check out the thematic gift baskets (the martini basket comes stocked with olives and bottles of Martini and Rossi, Absolut, and DeKuyper Sour Apple), some with gourmet treats like caviar and chocolate truffles.