The New Bottle Shop

I went here to purchase beer and wine for a class social event. The manager was very kind and helpful, and he pointed me towards some great beer choices for the event. After such a pleasant interaction, this will definitely be my go-​to spot for wine, beer and liquor. Plus, The Bottle Shop has an excellent beer selection across a range of prices.

The New Bottle Shop is solid. The variety is good, and there are friendly people to help you out. I wish the store had a bit more character, though. For example, its big rival, Wine Thief, down the street just has a little bit more charm than this one. Prices are comparable, though. I guess what I’m saying is that I’d never go out of my way to go this store, but I’m perfectly happy going here if it’s on my way somewhere else.

My go-​to wine/​liquor store — friendly and knowledgeable staff, terrific selection, reasonable prices. Even after I moved this summer, I walk pretty far to go here.

New Bottle Shop has probably the best chilled selection of craft beer in New Haven. They also are beer enthusiasts who regularly get limited releases all year round from various breweries.
On the wine front, they never steer me wrong. Time and time again, I ask for something for pizza, grilled foods, spicy foods, Thanksgiving, give them my price range, and always end up with a great buy.
Definitely one of the best wine and beer shops in the area!

I lived almost next-​door to this place for a year, and I became quite a fan! The main selling points are their selection (wide range of wine, beer, and liquor) and the friendly people who work there. They have been wonderful. It’s not a place to get a lot of specialized information about the alcohol collection, which isn’t carefully curated the way it is at the Wine Thief. But this has an upside in that you will almost definitely find what you’re looking for, including wine on the cheaper end. I definitely recommend this place!

I’ve been going to the Bottle Shop for over 2 years now and have had a great experience. They have a very good selection of beer, especially for a neighborhood store. The liquor selection is a little more limited, as is wine but it still meets expectations of a small store. While it is a little on the pricey side compared to the large discount liquor stores, they have great service here. Shreyas, the owner, will go out of his way to say hi and help you find whatever you’re looking for. If they don’t have it in stock, he’ll order it for you. If you go often enough, he may even give you some additional discounts.
If I would have rated this store when I first went in, it probably would have received only 3 – 4 stars due to the prices. But the employees and my recurring interactions with them have boosted it up to 5 stars despite the prices. If you want the cheapest liquor you can find, this probably isn’t the place for you. If you want good selection and a pleasant experience, go to the Bottle Shop.

The guys at this place are the absolute best. The reviewers below may be right about the limited selection of hard liquor, but if you’re just looking for the basics – say, a nice bottle of Andre – then you can’t go wrong here. The store itself is clean and spacious, and although admittedly I’ve had trouble navigating where certain liquor is, the guys at the counter are super nice and helpful locating what you need.

I am new in New Haven and thought I give this shop a try. I bought some wine and paid with credit card. Excellent wine but I was charged 10 $ extra because my purchase was processed as direct cash. Interestingly, this was not indicated on the receipt nor did the teller mention this to me when purchasing the wine. The credit card company indicated that the shop owner should refund me for the error. I personally went to the store asking for a refund. They acknowledged the error upon inspection of my receipt but refused to give me a refund. So good wine but poor customer service and maybe a scam. Needless to say that I wont go back to this store.

Best beer selection within the city limits of New Haven, though I do agree that the hard liquor selection is a little poor and disorganized. The prices won’t make you want to fill up a shopping cart with booze but they are competitive with the other corner liquor stores in New Haven. Staff is friendly and seems to have a medium-​medium/​high competence in wine/​beer selection.

The beer selection is still good. And is a nice, brightly lit place, but the price gouging seems to have gotten worse.
They don’t have price labels on a lot of their products, and if you assumed that you would be charged the ‘going rate’ for what ever drink you select, prepare for an additional mark-​up.
Latest example: Berkshire Brewing Company’s Growler 64-​ounce beer jug. Awesome beer! It is usually $ 8 or $ 9 elsewhere, and takes a $ 1.50 deposit for the big jug. At Wine Thief on Whitney = $ 10.50 including deposit, and they have three varieties. At Bottle Shop? Over $ 14 bucks, and two varieties. Nice surprise at the register.
So, my revised review is 2 stars. «Meh, I’ve experienced better” — which is a shame since this is the closest shop to my apartment. Oh well.

Bottle Shop has been around for quite awhile. When I used to live in New Haven, just a few blocks up and an avenue over, I would come here fairly frequently — and not much has changed about this place since then.
They have a good selection of beer, everything from Dale’s Pale Ale in 12 Packs (which is rare) to Dogfish Head 120 Minute Indian Pale Ale or Dogfish Head Worldwide Stout or Westmalle Tripel or Orval — but also a wide variety of things from more mainstream breweries like Harpoon and and Samuel Adams and Smuttynose (this visit I got a 12 pack variety, containing 3 Shoals Pale Ales, 3 Old Brown Dog Ales, 3 Robust Porters, and Finestkind Indian Pale Ales), many choices from local sources like New England Brewing, and, of course, there’s a solid representation of mega-​producers like Anheiser-​Busch.
Their wine offerings are decent, though I’ve yet to really work through it.
Their «hard» liquor pickings are fine but far from comprehensive.
Next time I’m in town I’ll definitely return, I’m always in need of liquid nourishment and refreshment, but I have a few thoughts on the store in general: a lot of the shelves are only about half-​full, and some of them are actually empty; the prices are moderate, pretty much what you’d expect to pay — though cheaper than some places, nothing here is really priced to move; and the staff, which is friendly enough, doesn’t seem terribly familiar with or knowledge about the products they’re selling, and it never seems that any of them are very enthusiastic about establishing any sort of closeness with their customers in efforts to build a loyal following.

I write this admitting that I know practically nothing about wine or beer, but also as someone who spends significant amounts of money on alcohol.
The Bottle Shop used to be a fairly scungy place that I didn’t make a point of avoiding, but also didn’t make a point of going to.
As of two weeks ago, that has changed.
I found myself in there because I had to snag a couple of bottles of wine on my way to a dinner party (last minute kind of thing) and I was really pleasantly surprised by what I found when I went in. The guy behind the counter was totally friendly and helpful, the place looked bright and clean, and the stock was, by my standards anyhow, perfectly good.
I am really happy to recommend the Bottle Shop to people now. It’s not as aggressively for the connoisseur as other shops in New Haven, but there’s a lot to be said for that, to be honest. This place deserves more attention than it gets, and I hope that someone reads this review and decides to go there after ignoring it for years (like me). I think if you go, dear reader, you’ll be pleased that you did.

Yay Beer!
Bottle Shop has the ‘healthiest’ beer selection this side of Amity. While most shops point to Sam Adams when you ask for craft brews, these guys have done it right. It’s nice to have a shop «in the neighborhood» with this many choices. Prices on the beer run pretty standard with the rest of CT.
They have all the usual suspects when it comes to liquor, but don’t get too into the unique stuff.
Their wine selection is decent. The majority of the wines stay in the $ 10 – 15 range, which seems to mesh perfectly with the neighborhood. Aussie Critter Wines and California Mass Producers can also be had — but check out some of the smaller producers whose stock rotates in the center of the store. While friendly, the staff could be more knowledgeable, which is a big pet peeve for me, so do your own research before entering.
While there *is* a parking lot, per se, it’s not easily navigated, with room for only 2 – 3 cars and only one spot to get up the curb.