The Jug Shop

The «jugs» at the Jug Shop contain much more than wine; lots of them are filled with gin, beer, tequila, cider, mead, rye whiskey, sake, scotch, and all manner of fermented alcoholic beverages from California distillers, brewers, and winemakers — and beyond. But it is the wines here that really shine, and it makes this a world-​class wine shop that can stand up to comparisons with the very best. The Antipodes are particularly well represented among new world wines, and European classical growing regions like Loire, Rhone, Tuscany, the Rhine, and Burgundy are all given numerous places of pride on «eye level» shelf spaces.
But where TJS really distances itself from the pack, imo, is their selection of bottles from small-​production artisan winemakers, primarily from California, who are pioneering new ways of making wine that challenge cultural stereotypes and that often defy the expectations of 100-​point scale critics. These wines are not the $ 100 Napa Valley Cabs or $ 75 Barossa Valley Shirazes or higher-​end Burgundies and Super Tuscans; they are generally grouped into the $ 15 – 30 range and showcase rare grape varietals or simply obscure ones, and they are made in ways that defy the Old World/​New World polarities that so dominate pop cultural wine lingo. Fruit-​forward, or balanced acidity? Minerality or new oak? Fit for early consumption or perfect for a decade or more of cellar aging? Food friendly or crowd pleasing aromatics? Why choose? Can’t one enjoy all of the above?
A recent visit to TJS yielded some superb small-​production gems that averaged about $ 25 per bottle: an outstanding East Paso Robles single vineyard sparkling Chenin Blanc by Berkeley-​based Broc Cellars; a wonderful California red wine by Forlorn Hope from the Silvaspoons Vineyard using an odd Portugese varietal, Alvarelhao; a Happy Canyon AVA rosé of Mourvèdre (Vogelzang Vineyard) from Buellton-​based Liquid Earth; and a crisp mineral-​driven dry Chenin Blanc from Field Recordings using grapes from the Jurassic Park vineyard in the Santa Inez Valley.
Each of these bottles are exceptional, and while they may be small production, they aren’t 95+ cult wines that are sought out by well-​heeled wine lovers who wouldn’t hesitate to drop $ 100 or more to buy them. What makes TJS such a special place is that, in classic San Francisco fashion, it makes stylish things affordable for the masses (think Levis or the Gap or Boudin sourdough or Ghiradelli chocolate or Four Barrel coffee), without destroying the artistic ambitions of the creators in the process.
The Jug Shop ranks easily among the best wine shops in the Bay Area, not because it is a gorgeous space or it has the most sought-​after wines in the world on display in gleaming wooden and glass display cases. It’s not a budget-​cutting BevMo or Total Wines and More, either, that tend to drive down profit margins by squeezing small scale producers who can’t cut it against the corporate powers like Constellation or Bronco Wine Company or Diageo. It’s as appealing a place as Weimax in Burlingame, Kermit Lynch in Berkeley, or Beltramo’s in Menlo Park. It is the perfect place to visit if you are looking for something different than the usual wine-​making suspects. And if you can find a remaining bottle of Broc sparkling Chenin or Forlorn Hope red wine or Liquid Earth Mourvèdre, buy them! There is no better way to learn about the coming golden age of new Californian winemaking than wines like these. Alongside visits to tasting rooms and vineyards in new or less-​visited AVAs (DeRose in Cienega Valley, Navarro in Anderson Valley, Jeremy Wine Co and McCay Cellars in Lodi, Newsome-​Harlow in Calaveras County, etc.), a visit to The Jug Shop belongs on your bucket list for 2016 if you are looking for something new under the sun in the world of artisan wine. Study the selection on their web site, then ask staff at the shop for advice, pick a bottle, or 2, or 4, and see if your taste buds aren’t as impressed as mine were!

The Jug Shop staff is legit. They have specialists in beer, wine and spirits. Any questions you have will be answered by people who really know what they’re talking about. You’ll never hear them say things like «the pappy» or «it costs more because it’s rare». They treat their customers with respect and do not gouge (normal mark-​ups based on their costs). They also happen to be some of the friendliest people on the planet. I almost didn’t want to write this because I don’t want anyone else to go here except me. This place is the bees knees, for reals.
P. S.A. San Francisco liquor stores are shady, greedy and ruthless places who try to take advantage of their customers. There are few places here that don’t conduct business like the rest. The Jug Shop is one of them and hands down my favorite shop in SF.
Cheers!!!

DO NOT ORDER FROM THE WEBSITE!!! They put items on the website they don’t even have. It happened to me. I purchased something that was shown in stock and they sold it to me. I had called the store 1 day after placing my order and a woman who was clearly aggravated told me that their normal turn around time in 48 hours… didn’t know that meant they didn’t check to make sure the product was in stock for 48hrs. horrible way to run a business and very poor apology if there even was one there. No offer of a coupon or discount or try to find me something similar.
completely disgusted with these people and no idea how they have so many stars on Unilocal.They must run the inside of the store completely different. To be honest I think they sold my alcohol knowingly inside the store. The guy said it had been out of stock for three weeks when this particular product was only released 2 weeks before. So thanks Jug Shop for the F– Service.

Working at the Jug Shop in my early 20s was one amazing experience. I learned so much about the product just from being around such knowledgable people. Before starting to work there I basically knew nothing about the booze industry. I could tell you which flavor of 4Loko was the least gross and I could tell you which 40 oz of beer tasted the least like piss. After working there for two years I came out knowing so much more. I didn’t even know there was such great wine available for such great prices. I vowed to never buy a 2 buck chuck again after seeing what amazing things there is to offer. I would highly recommend this establishment to anyone who wants a warm fuzzy feeling when shopping for alcohol. The family vibe is alive and riveting and you can tell that the staff really cares about the customer.
Love you guys!!! Thanks for a badass two years. hope to see you guys soon. Also someone tell Greg that I love and miss him lots haha

When travelling, my guy and I like to check out local liquor stores to find different beers we can’t get near home. This place has ‘em! Their selection was massive, and choosing just a few was a tough choice! I found some fun wines to try as well. There is a great selection of everything, really! The guys in the shop were nice, and seemed to have a good sense of humor. We did go to whole foods a few days later and found some of the same beers we had purchased for $ 1 – 2 less there, so be wary of that. If you’re looking for selection, though, this is the place to go!

Love this place. Awesome wine and beer selection and reasonable prices! Friendly and knowledgable staff.

Bummer. Just moved right down the street from here. Was hoping this place would work out. Wanted to buy a few Plinys for my friend as a birthday present. He lives in Santa Barbara and Pliny is his favorite beer, but he can’t get it down there. Jug Shop carries Pliny, but would not make an exception to sell me more than one bottle, necessitating that I drive across the city to the plethora of other stores that will let you buy as many as you want. Guess I will be driving right past this place every time to seek out better customer service.

Super nice guys, never too rushed to help you out. They helped me ship some Pliny the Elder to my brother-​in-​law in North Carolina. I caught them on a day when it was in stock, paid them, and they did all the work — packing and shipping 3 bottles of Pliny and a few other interesting beers. (These days you can only buy one bottle of Pliny per visit, though.) I can assure you that package scored me some points in North Carolina.

The only thing I’d add to The Jug Shop would be the ability to buy rotisserie chicken while you’re getting some beers, but they actually do that on Mondays with a food truck :)
I don’t drink wine very often, so I will stick to the beer and liquor options.
There are a handful of shops in the neighborhood to pick up beer, wine and liquor, but its tough to beat the selection over at Jug. The place is big, surprisingly so given the compact version of everything else in the Polk St. area. A lot of specialty items, but you can also get all the essential easy fixings for good prices.
The customer service takes it to five stars for me, the staff is very friendly and have plenty of recommendations. There are a lot of events on-​site as well, beer and wine tastings happening throughout the month.
Tips:
Monday nights the Roli Roti rotisserie food truck is usually out in the parking lot (you can call and ask them if it will be there)
If you’re looking for Pliny the Elder, go on Wednesdays :)

I was back in the city to visit family in the Bay Area around Halloween and stopped by The Jug Shop. This is actually a 4 ½ star review. It takes a lot for me to hand out the full five stars, but JugShop gets as close as possible to that. Why? This booze shop is what one hopes will never disappear from San Francisco in the face of higher rents and super-​stores like K&L trying to push out the smaller competition. The Jug Shop is down-​to-​earth, its staff take the time to talk with you and share their knowledge to match you with what need and want, their selection of wine and liquor is thorough and very respectable, and their prices are just about average to market and not marked-​up by greed in the slightest degree. As an added bonus, I visited on a Wednesday and discovered to my great delight that they carry and sell Pliny on that day of the week. If you are in the city and feel yourself being pulled towards the glamour of K&L’s new mega-​store (which happened to open one day before I got to town), then please by all means change your itinerary and pick-​up your next bottle of whisky or wine or whatever from this independent and truly neighborhood-​based booze shop that represents the best of the spirit of SF past (before hi-​tech boom 2.0). A shop like this is why I always feel pulled back to my home the Bay Area.

It is worth updating my 5-​star review with another one to give these guys ten stars. I’ve been ordering from these guys since I moved here, and they have never once let me down. Their selection is massive. And they’re really good at working with «I dunno, pick a bunch of different things, all in cans, all local, and all things that appeal to beer snobs, and within this budget.»
Just had a huuuuuuuuuuge order of locally crafted brews in cans dropped off right inside my apartment for a large camping trip I’m planning this weekend. So, you could say I’m a happy camper (pun totally intended).
If you need some extra persuasion: back in March, I was at a Thai cooking class (Mama Thai; look it up!) in the Outer Sunset with 5 family members, and someone missed the «BYO» memo. We called The Jug Shop with a champagne emergency, and they were there, in 20 minutes, with a case of chilled bubbly. Cheers, guys. You rock.

Super great service, great selection, a food truck was outside of it one day. Overall great, just wish they had more selection for chasers.

Oh man this place saved made my and my co-worker’s day. I was charged (a self-​imposed charge really) with looking for a rad-​awesome (radsome) rootbeer beer known as: Not Your Father’s Rootbeer for our weekly Friday company happy hour. After calling around to ALL THE PLACES near the FiDi, and getting nothing but: «Don’t got em /​used to /​vendor hasn’t shipped any» on the other line, I figured I’d just take my single-​speed down from the 6^th floor of our building, brave Friday SF traffic, and haul grease & metal to the Jug Shop to see if on the off chance they’d have the brew.
Oh heaven’s to Betsy did they have the brew… only 5 bottles, but they had it! The nice kindly fellow even offered to have another guy check their back-​stock for more (there wasn’t any), and offered to hold a sixer for me when they came in next. I declined the hold, but much appreciated his offer.
I can’t really review the selection of the place, as I was only there specifically for Not Your Father’s Rootbeer, but from what I could see they had a vast field of alcohol ripe for the pickins. I can however speak for the customer service of the Jug Shop, which is phenomenal.
¹⁰⁄₁₀ would buy more alcohol stuffs here again… and again. Probably more than again.

Really a 4.5 stars. The liquors are very neatly organized in long rows that you can easily peruse, it’s a large, bright store, and the staff is very polite and friendly. They didn’t have the widest selection of bourbons (the main reason I’m not giving it 5 stars) and several didn’t have prices listed, so they had to go look it up in the system, but I was able to find a couple that I like and it was definitely a fair price. With a large parking lot out front, this was a super quick and easy experience!

Great selection and super knowledgable and cool staff. –1 stars for being a bit on the pricy side. I much prefer going to the Jug Shop than to BevMo.

Can’t say enough how great the employees are there. I’ve been consistently wowed by their customer service, their knowledge, and how helpful they are. Dan (I believe that was his name) helped me out tremendously for my stocking needs.
I needed help figuring out an amount to get for a housewarming party I was throwing, and he made me feel like he wasn’t trying to sell me only the good stuff. He helped me figure out the amounts of wine, plus how much beer to get. It was like having a personal valet for booze!
I will keep heading back for the good selections, and the great employees.

The Jug Shop is legit! I had visited this joint for the first time and the customer service was spot on. We met the brothers and both were super helpful and polite. We were advised of the local ‘happy hour’ events and was greeted with a smile throughout. Definitely highly recommend this place. Thanks!

What a wonderful, wonderful place. I don’t even know where to start. Every time I come in I’m treated to friendly, knowledgable service from the team — which is key due to the nearly overwhelming amount of options to choose from in every category. It really is a one stop shop. Need a cheap beer for Fort Mason? Done. Need a nice whiskey to impress your father-​in-​law? No problem. You’ll find most cocktail ingredients available as well as the particular brand of liquor you are looking for to accompany them. You’ll also find a selection of unique bottled beers in the back for those nights when PBR or Tecate just won’t cut it.
The other place where Jug Shop excels is with its pricing. I haven’t actually done a side by side with Safeway or BevMo, and I imagine those places might be slightly cheaper, but not by much (assumption based on few experiences at either). Even if the discrepancy is noticeable, I appreciate the selection and service at Jug Shop and choose to make it my go-​to purveyor of beverages.

Good selection and helpful staff here. You can fight the young crowds and stupid drunks on Polk street in the bars, or come here, make a good choice on an adult beverage, and enjoy your evening with adults. Your call, not last call.

I’ve had consistently excellent experiences here with their friendly and knowledgeable staff.
One time I special ordered a bourbon, said I’d come pick it up within the week and completely forgot about it.
Three weeks later, I called to ask if they’d re-​order, and was thrilled to find out they’d kept it tucked away for me.
I’m now a loyal customer.

We would always feel guilty downing our neighbor’s good wines every time they invited us for dinner until I learned his secret — The Jug Shop. He was spending ¹⁄₃ — ½ what I assumed those wines had cost. This place is my go-​to when I want to find nice wines at a great price. The staff is super friendly and helpful. They believe you shouldn’t have to spend big bucks to drink well. I generally go here for $ 20 bottles that taste like $ 40 – 60 bottles. They also have good beers!

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A neighborhood wine shops carry a variety of wines and liquors, they have sommelier on site when we visited. He’s this cute somm in the back where they had the Banshee wines tasting last week OCT 23, 2014. He’s passionate and knowledgeable, also a good salesman, he suggested it us to upgrade to a Magnum bottle of a Rose Cremant. #MagnumShowsYouCare.
The shop is clean, price point is fair, and the check out is quick.

Kind of hard not to love this place. I go probably once a month, but really what sets the bar high is the service each person gives. I’m not a wine snob by any means, so when I ask for help, Im really asking for what’s cheap and tastes good.
I asked for a good sauv blanc, and boy did they deliver! Only problem was it wasn’t chilled and I wanted a glass when I got home. So when I went to pay, the guy helping me went to the back, wrapped my $ 12 twist-​off bottle in a fully sealed ice bag, and sent me on my way. Within the 10 minutes it took me to get home, the wine was perfect and ready to be poured.
Seriously they left such an impression on me. Beats any BevMo anytime.

Its a store filled with alcohol. Of course its as good as it gets.
They have a bar in the back with tasting events — so it gets even better.

Great store with lots of variety and really helpful staff. We always find our favorite wines and typically leave with a new bottle to try. The prices can fit any budget, so no need to break the bank. They also always have good deals on great wines under $ 15.
Their beer and liquor selection is extensive, too!
I highly recommend attending one of their Thursday wine tastings. If you subscribe to their newsletter, they send emails with the theme/​wine lineup and for $ 10, you’re in for a great Thursday night!

Needed to ship a bottle of wine to the east coast for my friend’s birthday. After originally coming to FedEx, I was re-​directed here, and told they were one of the few places in the city with a license to send/​ship liquor!
Thank god for them, because I had promised my friend a bottle and was talking a big game about it, so if I failed to come through I would’ve been in trouble. They got the job done in literally give minutes. Very, very good customer service, and they even carry their own packaging so all you have to do is hand them the bottle and they’ll take care of the rest.
They’ve even got a big, convenient parking lot so its a breeze getting in and out. Great establishment, great service, and a great selection of wine/​champagne? Five stars all around.