h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You will just have to make your own wines and beers, and of course open your own off-license, in the event of spirits and liquors being required.

We seem to be reasonably well provided for offies here in Norn Irn, although the big names on the high street are Winemark and Russells Cellars (we don't have Oddbins and Thresher). And yes I have one in walking distance from my house.

Booze in supermarkets was only recently permitted, and it's still in a separate gated section, and not in all supermarkets. And not at all in garages and corner shops.

In addition there are a few very good specialist wine merchants like Direct Wine Shipments and Nicholsons. OK, you'd have to make a special trip to visit them, but they do have a fantastic range of wine. I used to give DWS £50 a month by standing order, and they'd deilver me a superb case of mixed wines to that value. Now I do a similar thing with Sainsburys Nectar wine club, only I think the wines are a little more pedestrian.

All the major chains will deliver your booze to you (subject to a minimum purchase - usually 12 bottles, although some will do 6 bottles). The good ones will even do this free of charge in the local area. And of course, all the supermarkets will do likewise. Then there's the specialist delivery-only companies (Laithwaite's, Virgin Wines etc.)

The ways in which we purchase and consume alcohol have changed radically in the last 10 years. Get with the programme!

What does an off-licence shop give you in added value? I think Oddbins still bother to train their staff to be knowledgeable about wine, and concentrate on selling wine (but will also sell you premium beer and spirits) but, other than that, what can a salesperson in an off-licence tell you? "Yep...that'll get you pissed" as he sells a six-pack of high-alcohol no-brand lager to tramps or spotty youths with dubious proof-of-age?

I fear that the business model of the local "offy" is in some difficulty.

RF

Maybe so, but I'm not after cases of wines. Rather I'm trying to set up a drinks cabinet with unusual liqueurs and the like.

So none of that is any help, and the local tesco extra doesn't actually have *that* much of a selection. It's pretty good to be fair, just not quite good enough.

Besides which, I was actually genuinely surprised to find the dearth of offy's around here and was actually interested to see if it was a general phenomonenon or whether I just live in an area full of Quakers or something

Started spotting a few more after you raised the subject. Now again this is probably context: Norn Irn doesn't have chain pubs like The Green Man or All Bar One or the Moon and whatever, (although we've recently had a few Wetherspoonses opening up)

So most pubs are independent. And quite a few of them have a wee offy attached - it's usualy about the size of a broom cupboard and stocks Mundies in every available size.

How unusual are these liquers you're after - my nearest big Sainsburys has everything I could possibly imagine a well stocked drinks cabinet ought to have!

Well it didn't have grenadine, creme de cassis, frangelico, chartreuse...

Just three off the top of my head I couldn't see in there. They did have quite a few though, just not some of the ones I was looking for. I suppose I could get a delivery arranged if I really needed to, a bit irritating to have to though.

Looks like I'll just have to do the three mile drive to Canton (area of Cardiff, not China ) to stock up on such things. Not a huge deal but it would be nice to be able to walk down a decent shop to get a bottle of something nice rather than the Blossom Hill soft and fruity which is about as good as it gets from the local Londis.

...on a Sunday evening if we've run out and Tesco is shut...

I get the nipping down for a single bottle when you've run out...

But if you're stocking up on many bottles incl chatreuse and frangelico etc you'd be driving anyway surely!

Yes, but it would be nice if there was one *near* not in a completely different part of the city.

The whole point of this was to wonder whether they were thin on the ground elsewhere. Apparently not.

I think most people rely on their local shops/garages/supermarkets (whether it's the big stores or the smaller local ones) for alcohol, in large or small quantities.

As for supermarkets, I certainly find that S can supply things that T cant and vice versa... But between them I've never been left wanting. One of them even does Smirnoff Norsk

I find that supermarkets supply everything i need for alcohol, including an excellent selection of ales. You do have to get to one of the big ones: When they downsize for Tesco Metro or Sainsbury's Central, one of the things they appear to cut back is specialty booze.
As far as I know, the only real wine store in Central/South Manchester is an Oddbins down the street from the Town Hall. Not being especially a wine connoisseur, they don't appear to add anything that I can't get more easily from ASDA. I have been very disappointed by their beer selection, too.

I think Oddbins is a specialist wine retailer rather than all-round off-licence. The "bin" in their name refers to "bin-end" wines, a term used to describe the final few bottles/crates of wine from a particular production (grape variety/year/estate etc). They only carry a few beers to satisfy the impulse purchase of their already wine-buying customers. You should be as disappointed by their beer selection as I'm disappointed by my local car showroom's selection of bikes.

RF

Well the Tesco Extra down by me didn't/doesn't have the selection I require Bob, hence this question.

It's interesting to note that your observation is much the same as mine though in terms of offy's in cities. Thin on the ground seems to be the thing.

I kind of... found a replacement recently for having an 'actual shop', which sells waht one wants tit tooo..... a mail /internet beer delivery serive that doesnt' charge postage, and its pretty reasonable per bottle prices, on decent, and often obscure real ale and proper* bottled beers Mind I still miss being able to just pop into the 'store next door'
, and buy a crate of beer cider or red wine we're certainly in something of an no go area as regards the buggers near wehre I live but of course who cares, everyone cept me has a bluddy car, so they can drive to the supermarket and buy their beer/booze, and at the same time faint intentions of an environ-mental twat nature whilst fitting their low energy light bulbs. how I loath the middle classes and how I feel good I'm not quite that* plain ignorant and stupid and unintenligent quite yet... give it time

>>As far as I know, the only real wine store in Central/South Manchester is an Oddbins down the street from the Town Hall.<<

I know that Oddbins, they're quite good. As RF said, they actually train their staff so they know what they're selling - when I used to live in Rusholme, I'd go there and they were really quite good at suggesting new wines that I'd like, based on other wines I enjoyed.

It's nigh-on impossible getting that sort of thing here in Bradford - I've not actually seen a single off-license here, it's a Tescos and Morrisons town.

Having rediscovered the taste for Japanese beer lately, I was quite surprised (and slightly shocked) to find that the new Aldi in Shepton Mallet had Asahi beer at prices way below what I had found on the internet.

Interesting to see this question posted though, I had been thinking the same over the weekend. Chrimbo is fast approaching and this year I wanted to get something other than the usual supermarket offerings so I thought I would have a look in the nearest offy. They only seem to exist in the cities now