State Liquor Store

Beer is unrefrigerated and sold by the bottle. Hardly any 12oz. bottles under $ 2 a’piece, even for your mass market brands. For example, a 6 pack of Smirnoff Ice will cost you around $ 14. Smirnoff Ice! God forbid you want something decent. I got a mix and match of 6 «cheap» but acceptable beers, and one bigger 20oz. bottle and came out $ 23 poorer. This is not good, especially for room temperature beer.

It seems that every one of our state liquor stores here in Salt Lake City has something different to offer. This one, has great parking and easy access, and a fairly well-​stocked shelf when it comes to the things I like. Mostly whiskey and beer. Their wine selection is a little limited, not nearly as good as the wine shop down on 300 West at about 1500 South. But this one is close to my house, right here in the Avenues, and they seem to have just about everything I need every time I go! They are in the lower level of the Smith’s grocery store, so it’s easy to shop at both places at once. I just wish Utah would change their silly laws and you could put the liquor department in side the Smith’s, but it does not look like that’s going to happen anytime soon! Suzanne, who works the register, is also very helpful in finding things that I cannot find on my own. Great staff. Good selection. No complaints!

I am not sure if writing a review on my neighborhood liquor store to include my expertise is a cry for help, or just total badassery on my part, but either way fellow ‘yelpsters’ need to know that this is the best liquor store in Utah. Sure its small, but the close confinements let you get extra close to that cutie pushing around a cart– if she’s got a cart then she has enough booze for the both of you no matter the situation. Also the small store size lets you peruse the entire selection in a short time– if you’re like me you’ll pretend to consider every item before purchasing your usual $ 6 bottle of wine. Ok yes, the store does close at 7, but in reality haven’t all your best drinking times been at 11 am on a Tuesday? The nice part of the location being up the in the Aves, is how people without cars refuse to walk up the hills so you don’t get rushed by Homeless shoving empty slurpee cups full of change into your arms asking you to buy them a bottle of Everclear in exchange for not stabbing you– think of this liquor store as the ‘upper class’ liquor store in Utah. Speaking of high class, if you find yourself rolling in a little extra dough, there is a five-​dollar-​foot-​long place right next door. So why not a 5 star review you ask? I will take off 1 star to leave them with some improvement room. Personally I’d like to see a twitter handle for the store tweeting out PSAs like «Hey remember tomorrow is a holiday, and your family is still insane.» or «Sunday is no funday, stock up on some spirits.» Because I’ll admit, I’ve made the mistake of running out of alcohol and suffering because they were closed.

A reasonable selection. Handily, it shares a parking lot with a grocery store so you can satisfy that list of ingredients for the stupendous dinner you have planned and grab a bottle of wine (or 2) without driving all over town.
~m