Beverages 4 Less

BEWARE. BEWARE. The owner «Fred» is a complete crook and lunatic. Went in to purchase some beer including some of his «exclusive» beer and was told that paying $ 30 is not enough. (Not to mention he charged me $ 20 for 1 can of Heady Topper). Kept saying he was losing money by charging me that «little». Then he kept yelling about his loyal customers spend over $ 100 in additional beer when buying one of his «limit 1» beers. Amongst the many racial slurs that he proceeded to yell out while others looked on, he said that people in the Santee community will pay whatever he prices the alcohol at so «Get the F&@& out of my store». And we all did so gladly. This is a great place to shop if you would like to pay 25% above other liquor store prices and want to support a racist, crook, and outright lunatic who cares nothing about his customers or community. Do yourself a favor and spend your hard earned money elsewhere.

This place sells beers that don’t have legal distribution in CA. Evidence of this can be seen on their FB page. They squeeze as much $$$ from their customers as possible in exchange for these rare beers. Don’t support them — they are hurting the brewers and inflating the prices for everyone else!

I have been here a few times and even purchased 2 kegs from here. They do have a great beer selection and heard they sold Pliny in a bottle so I made my way back down there. I do have to admit, I did move up to Alpine and I don’t make it there as much as I did before. There were two young kids behind the counter and I asked if they had any Pliny and they said they are receiving a shipment in on Wednesday. Freddie is helping other customers but stops and looks at me and says «I remember you! I am like a monkey and I don’t forget faces» You would think this is a good thing right? He then proceeds to say you were in here last time and didn’t by anything. I then say yeah I have been in here before but I always buy something. He then goes on and says, «I remember faces. You show me love I show you love. I have Pliny but I am not going to sell it to you.» I tell him you remember my face but you have whole situation all mixed up. I start to walk out and he says, «Oh leaving without buying anything!» I tell him I was going to buy Pliny but you won’t sell it to me. He starts to argue saying his catch phrase over and over again, «Show me love and I show you love» Keep in mind this is all in front of customers. How could I buy anything if he won’t sell it? I have to say I am never going back to this place and it is sad because I did like it. Just like many other reviews here, dude is a douche bag!!!

Scumbag who likes to sell beer that hasn’t been approved for interstate sale by
. Avoid at all costs. Swore at me when I informed him of this.

You either love Freddy or you hate him. But as far as selection, No one has better! The guy can rub those that like the white glove treatment the wrong way. I just go for the beer so I’m happy with the service. At least he remembers my name. The Beer here is just as pricey as Bevmo No difference. But that’s what I like, expensive beer.

Ok selection but very rude and pretentious customer service. They keep the good stuff in the back and when you ask for it you are told «you don’t want that». Also very over priced. I will stick with Bine and Vine.

Don’t even waste your time, and don’t be fooled by the «selection» either… They get the same stuff 10+ stores in SD get. Terribly rude staff and ridiculous extortion… Must purchase 6 other bottles to get one bottle of what you want? They constantly advertise bottles that aren’t actually for sale, and TRY TO charge INSANE prices for rarer brews ($ 120 for a bottle of Hunah that was clearly not even distributed to them). They are also happy to charge you $ 50 for a single bottle of westy12 (after you purchase 6 other bottles of course). Try Del Mesa, boulevard spirits, BDBS, or any of the other fantastic shops in SD, and steer clear of this very sketchy, black market, sorry dive store.

Beverages For Less
Pros: Great selection of craft beer, lots of parking, friendly
Cons: Bait-​and-​switch scheme, not much selection besides alcohol (read below)
Long story short. I see an Instagram pick of Russian River beer that says, «Fresh arrived Russian River Pliny the Elder & Russian River Damnation» and a bunch of #s. I drive out of my way to get a bottle. The cashier says I can’t buy one unless I buy something else. Don’t advertise if you are not willing to sell legitimately, or at the very least put a warning in your Instagram.
Full Story: 2^nd week of April and I see an Instagram picture on Green Flash Brewery’s feed of some Russian River beer. I click on the picture and it takes me to the Beverages for Less Instagram page. I’m excited and decide to take a detour after work to stop by and pick up some nice craft beer to relax.
I arrive at the destination with plenty of upfront 5 minute parking. I walk in and head straight to the where the beer is. They have a great selection and decorate the top of the wall with rare beer bottles. I can’t seem to find the Pliny and the cashier offers some assistance. I ask do you have any Pliny left. He says there is a limit of one and that I have to buy something in order to purchase the beer. I am kind of taken aback by this, but I look around and the products they have are marked up somewhat high. Plus, there is not much to choose from besides alcohol. I decide to leave instead of support unfair business tactics.
Conclusion: The reason for the 1 star review is because of the bait-​and-​switch scheme. Now, it is not the classic advertise for one price and then have another. But Beverages For Less advertised a product and then in order to buy that product, the customer had to purchase a higher profit margin product without saying so in their advertisement. That is dishonest.
I could have avoided this if I read their Unilocal reviews. I saw they had 4 stars and thought everything was legit, but because I did not read the reviews I got screwed because many people had the same experience as I did.
I fully support independent family owned businesses, but when they pull off shady business practices like bait-​and-​switch is when I will vote with my dollars elsewhere. They have to understand that some people drive long distances for an opportunity to buy rare beers. Then they pull off this trick. Unacceptable. If Beverages for Less wants to sell hard to find beers to a small group of customers, then I hope they are enough to keep them in business. They are going to alienate more customers than keep with their business strategy.
Side note: The cashier was not rude about having to purchase other items. He was very professional. But there are other liquor stores that will sell rare beers without extortion. Those are the ones that need our business.

They have a great selection beers from all the local craft breweries around San Diego and other areas too. Fred is very knowledgeable in all the craft breweries and reasonable pricing. I’m there every couple weeks.

One of the best places in SD to get craft beer. Amazing selection that is added to daily, Freddy is extremely knowledgeable and helpful in suggesting excellent beers. Pretty much only carries highly rated craft beer, and well priced compared to other shops I’ve been to. Respect the beer.

Beware! There is definitely something shady about this place.
I had recently purchased a bottle of Firestone Walker Sucaba at another location for $ 19. Then I saw on this place’s website they had it in — limit 1 bottle per customer. When I stopped in to check, another person was in the middle of a transaction and they were asking her for her PIN number. That seemed a bit odd.
As I browsed around, I’ll admit they did have a decent selection. An older man (I assume the owner) greeted me kindly, commented I was «new», and asked how I’d heard of them. When I told him I saw their website, he immediately began to defend himself by saying, «everyone is posting negative reviews because I don’t share with other stores.» He then said, «but if you send me your e-​mail, I can do business with you directly.»
Then the older man left, leaving a younger man behind the counter. I asked him if they had any more of the Sucaba. He pulled out one bottle from behind the counter and said they only had one left. The cost was $ 22. But then he grinned and said he couldn’t sell it to me unless I bought another two or three beers — and pointed me toward a sales cart of items I didn’t want.
At that I left. It was all very creepy. Is there a problem with the store in general, or is this younger man skimming a few bucks for himself? Word has continually leaked out that they have people write positive reviews to make them look good while making competitors look bad.
With SO MANY OTHER places around that now carry tons of craft beers, it’s probably best to steer clear of this place. (AND on my way out I clearly saw they had more than one bottle left behind the counter.)

The owner is a dick. Great beer selection but we refuse to go now since we had a bad experience with him. I want to say his name is Freddie.

If I could give less than 1 star I would. I have never seen or heard such rudeness from a store owner. He would not sell a product to me because I was «not a regular» and he only wants to sell to people that give him business. Not that I frequent liquor stores but know I would never go back nor would i recommend the store to anyone.

I went into here to buy a limited beer for a friend that wanted it at his wedding and was lectured by the guy behind the counter that I am not a regular and he usually doesn’t sale to regulars. I thought this was a joke until he kept on going. Guess what, all regulars start as new customers at one point. I was actually very interested in the store after seeing everything they had a few days ago when I was checking if they had the beer a few days but now there is no way I will be going back.

This is not the only game in town. We are in the beer capital of the country and have a lot of bottle shops so we don’t need to deal with his shady business tactics and horrible customer service.
Went in today and the child working behind the counter asked if I heard of heady topper and I said I’d like to try it. Then he tells me I have to buy 5 other beers before I can buy 1 heady topper and when I said I’m not gonna do that Freddie mocked me.
I made some calls and got 4 cans of heady with no markup and no gimmick.
Go elsewhere, there are plenty of places to go where your business is appreciated.

Now that I’ve been coming here a little more regularly, I figured an update was needed. Basically all the other good stuff still applies but there’s even more.
This place still has an awesome craft beer selection as well new daily arrivals but that’s a given. The reason for the upgrade to 5 stars is due to a few other factors that I have discovered/​encountered since my initial visit/​review.
Since my initial visit, I have met the owner and he is a totally down to earth guy. Friendly, knows & talks craft beer and just all around takes care of you. It’s always a pleasure. He is almost always there and isn’t afraid to make you feel like family when you walk through the door.
Another thing that I have discovered since my initial visit is that Beverages 4 less also routinely has weekly (usually on Fridays & weekends) beer and alcohol tastings with reps from various SD/​NCSD breweries and other liquor vendors. These little tastings will sometimes even include cool include promotions with some cool swag (e.g., free glassware etc.) with a minimum purchase. As if there weren’t enough reason to drop by, they also have that going for them.
Additionally, another aspect that is totally cool is the fact that their Facebook page is updated pretty much daily and sometimes several times daily, with updates about new arrivals, promotions and current/​upcoming events. It’s a great way to communicate with customers and establish credibility. A lot places could learn from this.
In conclusion, this has easily become by regular go to liquor store when I feel like picking up refreshments, the service is friendly, the selection is great and it overall is just a great local liquor store. It’s pretty awesome to have something like this so close to home.

Freddie is unbelievably rude. I stopped by to pick up something for my boyfriend while he was at work. Freddie went off on a rant, basically yelling at me, about the «b**ches» on a web site and refused to sell me what I was looking for unless I bought an additional 6 bottles of anything else. When I told him that my boyfriend was a regular but was at work, he called me a liar and said that I was sent in because «he’s embarrassed that he hasn’t been by in almost a year» and just wanted to take advantage of the selection. It’s actually only been a month or two.
Don’t bother shopping here unless you enjoy being verbally abused or talked about behind your back. We are never shopping here again.

Well, I had not ever been here before, but I heard about their epic beer selection. So I «liked» Beverages 4 Less on Facebook so I can keep updated on their new beer releases. I saw a news feed on my wall from B4L saying that they had Bourbon County Stout. Well, of course I was all over it. I know that beer is not available here so I took the long drive to Santee to check this out.
My GPS got me there and I parked right away in the 15min parking and walked in, very excited. When I crossed the door I said, with much excitement «I heard you have some Bourbon County». Right away the gentleman behind the counter said «only to customers I want to give it to». WOW! I was in shock. So I tried to play it cool, thinking that maybe it was his weird sense of humor. I browsed the beer selection and he started quizzing me by shouting things out like «Where did you hear that I have the Bourbon Count?» I politely answered «I saw it on your facebook feed». He then started to quiz me «Oh so what else did you see that we have in?». I confessed that the Bourbon County was the only thing I have seen from B4L lately on my facebook feed.
He then received a phone call and I left him alone while he handled business on the phone. I looked at the impressive beer selection and waited until he was done with his phone call to ask «So, will you sell me one?», I asked. He answered «No. It’s not worth it to me».
So I walked out, completely unsatisfied and misled.
Dear B4L. I know you are not close to me. I really would make the long drive to pay you for your great beer selection. I just wish you treated me the way most businesses should treat customers. Perhaps I am not a long time customer, but I could have been one and I probably would have been given you treat me like a decent human being. This was by far one of the worst customer service experiences I have ever had. I know a lot of beer people are snobby, but this was unexcusable. That said, if I do hear that your service is better and perhaps you were having a bad day, I will gladly delete this review and give you rave reviews upon a pleasant visit.

Insane bottle beer selection!
So I’m down in San Diego County for the Holidays & 1 of my hardcore beer nerd friends keeps pestering me to bring back some Alpine beer (which is in no way, shape, or form available anywhere in NorCal).
I find online that Beverages 4 Less carries Alpine bottles & head on over. Outside, this place doesn’t look like much, but inside is beer bottle Babylon!
They had the stuff, alright. But with 1 stipulation, limit 1 22oz bottle of the Alpine Pure Hoppiness. I told the proprietor my situation (from NorCal, can’t get it there) & he was cool with me taking a few more. I got 2.
Beverages 4 Less had the stuff I was looking for + a whole lot more. & in San Diego County, when it comes to beer, that whole lot more is really a whole heckuva lot more.

VERY unsuspecting beer shop! My cousin Chris has been raving about this place and their stock of craft beer. Freddie the owner definitely knows his stuff and keeps the place well stocked with a wide variety of beer that will keep you coming back for more. The prices can be a little steep, but there aren’t many other places around that compare!
Visit their website to see what they have in store. He also sends out a newsletter so you can find out what and when they get in new stock! Another great alternative for those who aren’t as close, he also can ship for about $ 12 for a 6 pack. not bad at all!