All Star Wine & Spirits

Absolutely the cleanest liquor store I’ve ever been in. The staff was EXTREMELY FRIENDLY AND HELPFUL both on the phone and when I arrived with a grocery list of items I didn’t know where to find. Very wide selection and reasonably priced.

This place really impressed me with the variety of wines and beers! The sections in this spacious establishment are quite clear and neatly packed. To the right, they have a whole wall of vodka, whiskey, tequila, rum, and locked up stuff like Remy Martin and Perrier Jouet. In the middle, they have beers, ciders, cooking wines, dessert wines, and vermouth, and also a decent selection of New York State wines. On the left, there is room dedicated to chilled wine, and regional/​specialty wines from Spain, France, Italy… and so on. The far back of the store is where you’ll be able to find the «fine wines» which are separated from the rest of the place.
I found all but one of the wines I was looking for (including specials on ice wine) and the staff was of great help. I also noticed they had two very charismatic dogs inside and were delightful to be All Star Wine + Spirits’ guardians. Overall a good place to satisfy your typical wine needs.
I also happened to check out their fish tanks throughout the place and found one with a working wine tap… pretty interesting! It said «do not touch» but it was kind of tempting.

My favorite wine store with good service and dogs fish and reptiles. all a must with good prices for alcohol as xtra

As a non-​drinker, I find it hilarious that I’m in here as much as I am.
Staff is kind while helping the stone-​sober me grope my way through the dazzling array of products. Ohhhh, SHINY! As I don’t drink, but use a variety of alcohol in cooking I need lots of oversight while in here. I needed a good quality vodka with 80% proof that wouldn’t break my budget for vanilla extract. They showed me my options. I needed a dry white wine that was sweet and fruity — they lead me to the spot, explained the available options with a ‘wine for dummies’ clarity while not being condescending. This type of service is huge as I’ve been, literally, laughed at or spoken down to in most other stores.
I run all my purchases by friends who do drink and they’re assured me that I’ve recieved sound advice while shopping.

The place is perfect. They have everything, the prices are great, the staff is friendly and knowledgable, and the dogs are wonderful. My only problem is that All Star is not closer to my house.

Very good wine selection, and reasonable prices on wine if you shop the yellow discount stickers.
The reason for the 1-​star review has to do with their premium liquor case. All Star marks up low-​production bottles well above the retail price. For example, the Pappy Van Winkle 23-​year bourbon, which retails for around $ 250, is listed at $ 1,999.99. That’s a 700% markup. Even the W.L. Weller 12 year was marked up about 100%! While All Star is certainly not the only liquor store in the world to engage in marking-​up prices, I have found that most liquor stores are happy to sell such bottles at retail prices in order to foster a good relationship with their customers.
While I respect the right of a business to charge whatever they want for their products, I nevertheless find this to be a very shady sales practice, and to me indicates that All Star is not loyal to its own customers.

All-​Star is one of my favorite wine & liquor stores, one of the best I’ve ever visited. It offers a vast, well-​curated selection of wines and spirits, competitive pricing, and informative displays and staff.
One of the main reasons I like ASWS is their selection. It’s a big store, and they use that space to offer a wide range of choices. For spirits, they’ve got all the well-​known, mainstream brands, plus many bespoke, hard-​to-​find products. On recent trips I’ve picked up Masterson’s rye, Carpano Antica vermouth (in the harder-​to-​find, lower-​priced half bottle), Charles Smith wines, and many other treats. I’ve also ogled the entire Pappy Van Winkle range (stored in the locked case, of course). In addition to liquors, they’ve got a huge selection of liquers & aperitifs for mixing cocktails, and many of those they offer in smaller, less expensive bottles if you want to try something new, or plan to use it only in small amounts.
They’ve got lots of printed mini-​reviews from Wine Spectator, Whiskey Advocate, Robert Parker, etc. scattered throughout the store, and I find those helpful.
All in all a great store, my top choice for wine & spirits in the area.

All Star Wine & Spirits is a great store. The selection is extensive. The prices are good. There are some staff members who have a true knowledge and appreciation for certain spirits and you will have to seek them out. The atmosphere is cool and the store expanded a while ago. I honestly enjoy wandering this place because they have reviews posted for almost everything they sell.
The bottom line: Perhaps the best wine and liquor store in the Capital District.

This place is amazing; I just wish it were closer to my house. Twice now I’ve gone in there and made requests for various items (because I’m insane and 100,000 varieties of wine and spirits is clearly insufficient) and they have gotten back to me each time within a day or two about procuring the items. They also have a nice selection of NYS and Pacific NW wine, two regions I love, as well as ports and bourbon. France and Italy are also very well represented with a diverse selection in terms of price, grapes and regions. Oh and they have a fish pond. Enjoy!

I saw a poor review come up for this store today and had to put in my 2 cents
This store is very nice. Clean, well organized, great selection and helpful staff. What more are you looking for in a wine and liquor store?
I really like a walk in cooler for whites roses and bubbles. Some places have coolers, but this is a massive walk in and can be a real life saver.
Bonus for me, friendly lab retrievers relaxing in the store and who doesn’t like a lab?
Anyway, people complaining about pricing… it isn’t a warehouse style store. They aren’t empire, bj’s or exit 9. If you are so dead set on saving 2 – 4 dollars a bottle, go out of your way 10 miles in either direction (and spend the 4 bucks you save a bottle on the gas).
For friendly service, quality selection and convenience this store is great and recommended.

Gaga Wine? Really? Okay, I’m not really surprised it exists, I’m not surprised they carry it here. I’m surprised I hadn’t seen it sooner.
The prices were quite reasonable, and the staff were visible and ready to help without being in-​your-​face about it.
I believe in having a variety of liquor stores in my liquor-​store-​Rolodex, and this is a great add. This one doesn’t have the absolute best supply of wines I’ve seen, but it’s pretty darn good including quite a few I’ve never seen from a large variety of countries. They also have a chilled wine room, a premium wine room, and a novelty wine rack where Gaga exists next to Marilyn, and a few others.
I was also impressed with their tequila selection. I have some friends to treat us well at parties with better quality tequila, and I was pleased to see many of the brands they’ve shared with us here. Now I can repay their kindness.
What I liked most about All Star was the huge variety of liquors and liqueurs. I saw several liqueurs here I had never previously seen. I had to keep saying to myself, «You’re only here for a good bottle of wine… THIS TIME.»
There will be many return trips.

Heaven! This is heaven! Rows and rows and rows and rows and rows and rows and rows and rows of wine! All jokes aside (of the rows), the selection here is beyond amazing and the prices are insane. Full disclosure: I live in New York City, which may be why the prices were so good to me. The selection of whiskey/​bourbon/​rye was what caught my attention, especially because they had products from Hudson Whiskey. I’ve spent hours in the City looking for their Baby Bourbon.
And, for all of the freaks out there, they even have salmon-​flavored vodka. Have at it.

This is a review of their online ordering service. I’ve been buying wine online for many years and I have to say that I was really impressed with
. Their selection was decent. Not the biggest selection compared with other online distributors, but they had a lot of unique bottles that I hadn’t seen elsewhere. I was also really satisfied with the prices as many of their bottles were 2 – 10 dollars cheaper than other sites. That all being said, I didn’t even hesitate to give them 5 stars because of the delivery experience. Sometimes I wait as much as 1 – 2 months for wine to deliver and many other sites have outrageous shipping costs tacked onto their wines. From my experience, it seems like All Star Wine charges a flat fee for every 6 bottles shipped since they are sent in 6-​bottle boxes. This might not be desirable if you only want to buy one bottle at a time but if you’re buying one bottle, shame on you! Just pick out a few other cheap bottles to take advantage of the shipping cost. With the amount that the bottles were marked down, I still got these bottles for cheaper than the sticker price even after adding the shipping charges. The bottles arrived in 10 days which was great because some of the bottles I ordered were for a friend’s birthday and I was sweating that they wouldn’t arrive on time.
In conclusion, All Star Wine is a fantastic and safe way to buy wine online at an affordable price.

Great selection, great prices, and an extensive collection of nip size bottles if you are looking to sample something before buying a full size.

Big big store. Many different wines and liquors to choose from. Room to wander and get lost. However, one major criticism… their prices are roughly10% higher than Empire Wine in Colonie. Maybe with all the square footage they have to charge more. However, when a bottle of King Estate Pinot Grigio from Oregon is 14.45 at Empire yet is $ 15.99 at All-​Star, the money adds up– especially if you’re buying more than one. At those different prices, All-​Star would cost you $ 18.48 more per 12 bottle case than Empire. Money talsk– I can do alot with an additional $ 18! Also, the staff at check out on a Saturday afternoon (store was NOT busy) were cool indifferent and looking bored. Except of course for the man that staff doted over for some odd reason. Made the rest of us feel like our money wasn’t as valuable as the other guy. Hmmmm, methinks Empire wins my vote.

I usually go to Spirits of Troy but on several occasions I’ve stopped into All Star. I haven’t seen the dog in a while, I hope he’s okay.
The wine is a few quid cheaper here than at Spirits (and the selection is massive compared to Spirits, but I’m not that sophisticated so the selection doesn’t do much for me as long as ya got a few South American wines).
The booze is significantly more expensive here than at Spirits.
They sell locally distilled spirits.
The staff was super friendly and helpful.

I usually go to Exit 9 or Spirits in Troy due to proximity to work/​home. I had stopped here after a hair appointment in Latham on my way to a friends house.
I had been here once in a rush when they were half the size and left with no pleasant memories.
This trip was a different story.
I was greeted and asked if I was finding eveything okay
(twice!). I thought the prices were pretty on par with Exit 9. I enjoyed the selection and thought the layout was easily navigated.
I should warn you I’m not a wine snob. I like malbecs around 10, fun descriptions and pretty labels but I’m sure even the classiest wino will find what they’re looking for.
The only complaint was the Ho-​hum cashier. This trip would have been first class if it wasn’t for her lack of energy. (Don’t get me wrong, I don’t need sunshine and rainbows while you’re ringing my wine out but at least pretend to somewhat happy with your job)
I’m still rating a 5. When I go out of my way to shop here I hope the cashier is on the same level as the rest of the store.

Hate the location, prices are too high for a wine store of this size, and they are frequently out of what I am looking for. And NO, I don’t want Yellowtail Merlot instead!!!
Its totally worth it to drive out of my way to go to Empire, who has better prices, selection, and staff.

An impressive selection here; All Star offers a wide variety of both the very cheapest and the big name, high priced stuff… all at competitive prices. Plenty of space to browse without standing shoulder to shoulder with other customers.
Staff is very helpful and knowledgeable without being at all pushy. And they are able to special order items upon request… who knew? The husband was seeking a particular type of wine he had trouble finding, and although he opted out, they said they’d have it to him a week later at a very reasonable price.
All Star also sells a bunch of cool accessories that you don’t often find at other wine shops, including stoppers, wine racks, glasses, etc. And they periodically have wine tastings — the next one is scheduled for Sept 19 — where they offer samples of dozens of wine that they sell at deeply discounted prices. In fact, I think I may need to clear up some space in my wine rack in preparation…

Back where I am from, we had a place called Grocery Outlet. My good friend lovingly called it «Groce Out». But beyond expired meat and wilted produce, they sold close-​out wine.
It was a bargain-​hunters paradise.
All Star Wine & Spirits seems to have some of that going on, inside its hollowed walls. They had some of my favorite finds from Groce Out. Except in this case, it kinda seems less honest. With these closeout wines nestled among some really fine bottles of hooch. All Star has some remarkable stuff.
But it’s not all remarkable. Let the buyer beware. The 1992 Scharffenberger Pacific Echo Brut is a good bit over the hill. I’ve never had a bubbly taste sherried before, but I know enough that it’s not a good thing. Still, to get an opportunity to taste something that was bottled when I was in college… for $ 4… is a special thing indeed.
Sadly they used to have a Beaujolais Cru section, but it is gone. Apparently, the people of Latham just wouldn’t buy the good wine that All Star had been stocking.
What a shocker.