This Tempe mainstay has the best selection of all things boozy in the entire city, and I would venture to suggest it's the best in the state. I'm not entirely sure how this pint size store manages to trump the warehouse liquor stores, but it does. Never have I come here with a specific esoteric item in mind and left empty-handed. The staff is comprised of dirty-scruffy-hippie boys that are actually kind of cute, and they know their biz. When I once demanded an unusual cheap sweet champagne, the dude immediately found three or four options in the disarray. The one I picked up sent my impossible-to-please daddy over the moon to the point of peeling the label off the bottle so he could go buy some himself.
Yes, it's crowded and gets warm in the summer. Yes, it's a little more expensive. It's worth it. They were the first ones to stock espresso vodka. They have a brand of brandy that comes in a huge glass container shaped like a machine gun. The have bottles of Gulden Draak that are economy-size. It's the only liquor store in the city that actually looks, feels, and smells like an old-school Chicago liquor store. What else do you need?