592211 Fri Jan 30 12:33:04 -0800 2009 13 2 Los Angeles Area 0 4373460 Where are the great liquor stores of Los Angeles and surrounds? Good selections of oddball things, at good prices? I currently favor Wine House, but I could use more options. I'm currently a little obsessed with the New American Vodka wonderment (especially Charbay), reasonable brandies, and getting back to my roots: namely, bourbon. (By my roots, I don't mean my ethnic, Vietnamese roots (I guess I'd have to drink expensive name-brand whiskey mixed with cobra blood and venom for that), but my drinking roots: namely, that glorious year after college where I had a little money and a taste for bourbon.) So good places with oddball selection: hard to find small-batch stuff. Especially places that, like the Wine House, go for not just the super-expensive scotches and cognacs, but stock the neat-o bargains - like all the Californian and Oregonian brandies, and single-barrel bourbons. Also: does anybody know a good place that sells Martinique agricole rum around here? Thanks. -thi Fri Jan 30 12:33:04 -0800 2009 14404 Thi N. 1 4373581 Topline Wine in Glendale has a huge selection of everything. I am not sure about that exact rum but they do have a good variety. The one in the leather sack (i can never remember the name) is excellent. They have a wide range of Cognac, Bourbun & Wiskey. They also have a Oregon & California stuff. Fri Jan 30 13:02:26 -0800 2009 4373460 59001 PurpleTeeth 1 4373586 silverlake wine has a small but interesting selection, and they usually carry st. james rum agricole (which is the one that most cocktail recipes have in mind). prices are pretty good as well. Fri Jan 30 13:02:52 -0800 2009 4373460 172490 Matt Esq. 2 4373603 Thanks! Do they have anything besides St. James? I'm not looking for agricole for cocktails - there are a number of sipping agricoles that I'm trying to track down. Fri Jan 30 13:06:24 -0800 2009 4373586 14404 Thi N. 1 4373814 try Wally's , just north of Olympic on ?Westwood?. they have a killer selection of liquor and wine, and the people who work there know their stuff. Fri Jan 30 14:00:57 -0800 2009 4373460 227301 jdwdeville 1 4374141 I'd go with Beverage Warehouse. They have the widest selection I've seen so far. Almost positive they have several agricole rums, but i forget what specifically. You can check their stock list. http://www.beveragewarehouse.com/search/?category_id=26 Beverage Warehouse 4935 Mcconnell Ave # 21 Los Angeles, CA 90066 Fri Jan 30 15:40:10 -0800 2009 4373460 82632 trojandude 2 4376714 2nd'ed and 3rd'ed. This place just rocks. Sat Jan 31 20:28:24 -0800 2009 4374141 12141 Adsvino 1 4374227 I'm a whiskey drinker, so I mostly look for great whiskey stores, but stores with great premium whiskey often have the best selection of other premium spririts. Here are the favorites: Wine & Liquor Depot, on Saticoy in Van Nuys. This unassuming looking store on a somewhat depressed block of Saticoy, just west of Balboa in Van Nuys, has one of the best Scotch selections in the country. They also have a great Tequila/Mezcal selection, very nice Cognac, and some good Irish and American whiskies. www.wineandliquordepot.com Hi-Time Wine in Costa Mesa, which also does on-line sales probably has the best selection of American whiskey (including Bourbon) in the LA area and also a very good Scotch selection and quite a few runs. www.hitimewine.com Hi-Time and Wine and Liquor Depot are unmatched by anything else in selection, period, but there are a few other good stores to choose from, though they aren't in the same league as these two. K&L Wines in Vine, just south of Sunset (near the Arclight) has a small but very good premium spirits collection on the back wall. They get a lot of hard to find stuff. Mission Liquors in Pasadena has a good Bourbon selection. Wally's and Wine House tend to be overpriced. Fri Jan 30 16:21:34 -0800 2009 4373460 10132 sku 2 4374245 Red Carpet in Glendale has a generally great selection of Boubons and a very helpful staff. Fri Jan 30 16:28:56 -0800 2009 4374227 54899 lmkuta 1 4374352 Wine House has one Rhum Agricole from Martinique -- Depaz. It was out of stock for awhile but it's back. I'll be watching this thread closely as I'm in the same boat as you. As an aside, what are some of your favorite bourbons? And have you tried Tito's Vodka? How does it stack up to Charbay? Fri Jan 30 17:22:43 -0800 2009 4373460 101728 Frommtron 2 4375686 pointless aside: the owner of Tito's is named, seriously, Tito Beverage. I'm not kidding. Sat Jan 31 11:51:20 -0800 2009 4374352 227301 jdwdeville 3 4376199 Ånd I thought having "Tito" and "vodka" on the same label was veering towards the silly. This is too much awesome for one vodka. Sat Jan 31 16:08:56 -0800 2009 4375686 101728 Frommtron 1 4374455 Mission Liquor in Pasadena on Allen and Washington (not the one in So. Pas). I like it much better than Red Carpet in Glendale. Great selection of wines, tequilas, bourbons, ryes, etc. Literally, hundreds of tequilas. Fri Jan 30 18:30:39 -0800 2009 4373460 10180 martyR 2 4375448 I second Mission. Last year they sold me a (very expensive) limited edition of Woodford Reserve bourbon that had been aged in used Sonoma-Cutrer chardonnay barrels. I didn't see that one anywhere else, including Wally's, which I also like. Sat Jan 31 09:26:03 -0800 2009 4374455 77350 sbritchky