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| - The fella and I were being tourists in our own town and ventured to Grape & Barley on a Saturday afternoon before dinner. Parking was a little tricky in their shopping center, but it was worth the hunt for a space. When we walked in, the place was pretty packed since we found out they were hosting a free sampling of two wines and a beer - perfect timing!
All the bar seats and tables were taken, so we snagged a couple of comfy chairs. We were immediately greeted by a nice bartender who gave us the lowdown on the sampling, so I went with that, and the fella got a beer from the tap list. It definitely felt like a place that locals frequent, but they were all really welcoming to us outsiders. After a little while, we moved to the bar, and I got a featured glass of wine while the fella tried a different beer. The bartender there was really nice and chatted with us about their store and the area.
We also meandered around the store to check out the retail selection. They had a solid selection of local beers (NoDa, Triple C, Wicked Weed, D9) and other crowd-pleasers (Bell's, Stone, etc.), and their prices were pretty decent. I loved that they didn't charge a corkage fee for the bottles you buy on the premises like a lot of other shops do.
They do serve snacks like hummus, almonds, chips & salsa, meat and cheese, and desserts, but we skipped the food since we were headed to dinner. Everything that came out of the kitchen looked pretty tasty though. If we're ever back in the area, we'll definitely pop in again.
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