The shop
Four photographs, taken on one evening, replace every word anyone could write about a liquor store.
What is on the shelf, counted
Every liquor store says "large selection". A number is the only version of that claim worth reading, so here are the numbers. They are placeholders on this mockup, but a real page should carry the real ones and update them once a year.
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Bourbon and American whiskey
190
Everything from the bottom shelf to the allocated stuff, which goes out by the bottle on a list, not by the case to whoever asks first.
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Wine
410
Weighted heavily to the twelve to twenty dollar shelf, because that is what actually sells here, with a short serious rack above it.
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Cold beer doors
24
Domestic, imports, seltzer and a rotating four doors of Missouri and Kansas breweries.
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Tequila and mezcal
85
The fastest growing shelf in the shop and the one most often driven past on the way to Liberty.
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Cigars, humidified
60
Singles and boxes, kept at the counter where they can be kept honest.
Kegs, and the part people get wrong
A keg is not a thing you buy on the way to the party. It is ordered ahead, it carries a deposit on the keg and another on the tap, and it wants to sit cold for a day before anybody touches it. Here is the whole arrangement in one table so nobody turns up on Saturday morning hopeful.
| Size | Pours | Typical price | Keg deposit | Order by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half barrel, 15.5 gal | 165 cups | $135 to $260 | $50 | Monday for the weekend |
| Quarter barrel, 7.75 gal | 82 cups | $95 to $160 | $50 | Monday for the weekend |
| Sixth barrel, 5.2 gal | 55 cups | $80 to $145 | $50 | Tuesday for the weekend |
| Craft and seasonal | Varies | Quoted | $50 | Ten days, distributor dependent |
Tap and tub
Pump, hose and a tub rent for $30 with a $75 deposit. Bring the tub back with the keg and both deposits come straight off the receipt.
Ice
A half barrel wants about 60 pounds to hold overnight. Bagged ice is here, and buying it the night before is cheaper than buying it at nine on Saturday morning.
Returns
Kegs come back within seven days. Empty or not, we do not care, and there is no charge for what is left in it.
If we do not have it
Ask. Almost everything a distributor stocks in this state can be here by the next delivery, and there is no minimum, no case requirement and no deposit for a single bottle. People assume a small shop cannot do this and drive forty minutes instead.
What we cannot get is anything the distributor has already allocated, which is a short and predictable list, and anything that is genuinely out of production. You will be told which of those it is on the phone rather than after a week of waiting.
Weddings, receptions and graduation parties are worth a conversation rather than an order. Bring the headcount and a rough sense of what people drink and you will leave with a quantity that is neither three cases short nor eight cases long, plus an agreement to take back what is unopened.
How to ask for a bottle
Ring with the full name off the label if you have it, or a photograph of the bottle if you saw it somewhere. Proof and age matter, because half the labels on the shelf come in three of them.
Deliveries land Tuesday and Thursday. Ordered Monday, in your hands Tuesday afternoon.
Nothing is paid up front and nothing is held longer than two weeks.