Palmer’s Beverage Center

I’m so glad Palmer’s is still around. I enjoy beer (more than I should) but I do not enjoy the hipster snobbery that has come to define beer-​drinking. I like Palmer’s because it’s a beer-​lovers beer shop minus the excessive facial hair and triple-​hop growler swinging. Things are laid back at Palmer’s, with plenty of beer-​mabilia on the walls and pets roaming around, as things at a family-​run business should be. Beer and wine tastings happen regularly, and we’ve taken home some great stuff based on those sips.
The staff all know their beer and wine and can help you choose something new without being overbearing or judgmental about your preferences. They have a great selection of local and regional beers and just about everything else from top-​shelf to Natty Light. You can pick up a case for your dad, a six-​pack for yourself and a bottle of Portuguese white wine for your mom, all at the same place.

Good staff. Good selection. Good dogs. Good owners. Good insights. Love this place lots.

The store has a wonderful selection and a laidback staff. Plus any place that has a dog regularly hanging out in the store is pretty excellent.

I mostly come here hoping they will one day have Great Divide’s Samurai Rice Ale. They told me it was a seasonal brew, but upon contacting the brewery they said it’s a year-​round ale. I’m hoping to go back soon and see if they can hook me up with a few six packs. In the meantime, I keep buying wine and beer here…
They have a massive beer and sparkling wine selection. They have a really decent wine selection, although not the best around. To boot, the prices are on par with other places, so that’s a huge plus.
The service/​assistance is always awesome unless it’s the owner who is working. I’ve experienced this conundrum several times. Their sign frequently references moms, e.g. «All moms buy wine here», yet my last trip in was actually with my mom and the owner didn’t have answers to our questions about sparkling wine or beer, and he wasn’t in the least bit friendly to either of us.

Palmer’s has a great wine selection and an awful lot of beer, including a lot of imports both by the bottle and by the refrigerator-​sized kegs. No coke or 7up though. I guess that’s because they don’t have the space for them.

I went to Palmer’s many years ago and I didn’t find it’s offerings to be any better than nearby Weinland’s, Pace-​Hi or Andy’s, but things have certainly changed since then. It has always had a great wine selection, but the microbrew section has gotten considerable more depth since then. I suppose that’s to be expected with the entire industry growing like it is. The only potential downside is that the majority of the beer is kept at room temperature, so if you want a beer and you want it now, your options are a bit more limited than they would otherwise be.
They carry a good selection of limited release ales and some rarer microbrews that you won’t see at other stores. The shelves were somewhat cleaned out on my most recent visit, but this isn’t always the case. Prices are the same here as everywhere else.
If you don’t live near Palmer’s, depending on what you’re after, you may do just as well somewhere closer, but if you are looking for something a little less likely to be found at other outlets, Palmer’s will probably have some interesting options for you.

In addition to Viking Beverage on Neil and King, Palmer’s is one of the truly great beverage stores in Columbus for die-​hard beer connoisseurs. A stop at Palmer’s should be given a great amount of care and attention, as you’re unlikely to find this impressive of a selection of beers anywhere else within the 43 202 zip code and beyond. After spending a weekend drinking Goose Island 312 in Chicago with some friends that had just moved there, I was determined to bring the craze back to my own group of friends in Columbus. Where most of my favorite beer outlets failed me, Palmer’s was there for me. I’ll concede that Goose Island is not the most rare of beer strains in the midwest, but I appreciated the fact that I could almost telepathically will the beer in to being stock at Palmer’s without even having to make a phone call. I kid you not: if you can think of it, there’s 94% chance the guys at Palmer will have it. Speaking of the staff, these dudes are the real deal. If you’re in search of no certain beer in particular and have about 10 minutes to kill, it’s more than worth it to tell them what kind of beer you like and/​or what situation you’re buying it for and letting them take care of the rest. I did so once and ended up with a sixer of Anchor Steam Old Foghorn, a stout with a winey/​hoppy taste that boded quite well at the gathering I was en route to when I stopped by. How these guys aren’t high on their own supply all day amazes me, but then again, they seem to take their job seriously enough as it is. A stop at Palmer’s will always yield pleasing results, that’s for sure.