Montgomery County Liquor Control

After about 30 minutes of perusing the shelves of this fine establishment and finally going to the counter, the manager of the store impressed me a great deal by saying: «welcome, I haven’t seen you in the store before. «
“Thank you «I replied, I feel like I have been in every liquor store within a five mile radius except for this one.»
Wisconsin Circle is a tough little strip behind the Friendship Heights tower. Traffic is awful, but there is a parking lot and they do validate. Inside it is the very model of a modern major gener… — ooops, sorry, it is the very model of a modern Montgomery County liquor control retail establishment, and that gives you three basic guarantees:
1) Massive selection of liquors and wines, not so much on the beers.
2) If you look hard for them there are some awesome deals available.
3) Knowledgeable, friendly service.
I got The Honey a couple of bottles of Sonoma Cutrer for $ 19.99, which is $ 10 below standard retail elsewhere, and I bought myself a bottle of the Ardbeg Uigedall, which one writer anointed as the World’s Best Whiskey last year.
One thing I learned a few years ago is it is much better to focus your purchasing power on one single establishment, build a good and long term relationship with one retailer, then get access to deals, discounts, insiders stuff and general VIP treatment.
For some unknown reason I have not been able to do that with my liquor purchases — there’s a lot of lovely choices available in the Bethesda Chevy Chase area to say nothing of brilliant establishments further afield such as Ace Beverage and P Street Liquors — but I think, in the spirit of self improvement, I will make my New Year resolution for 2010 to develop a meaningful, monogamous and stable long term relationship with one and one only liquor store.