McHenry Beverage Shoppe

Its the 1^st beverage stire you hit coming into McHenry. .Very Very over priced… if that doesn’t bother you great… For the rest of us travle on into Oakland and save lots

Expectations play a huge role in one’s experience at a shop. Here’s a strip mall liquor store in what feels like the middle of nowhere Maryland. Sure, there are plenty of tourists, but how good could this place possibly be?
It turns out it can be quite good indeed.
The craft beer selection is impressive. Shopping for beer when traveling is one of a beer drinker’s great joys. There are regional brands from Maryland that I had never encountered before, so I bought a bunch of Baltimore beer. It was tough, because there were great beers from California and all over the country that would have been a real treat to bring back to the rental house.
Every liquor shop has whiskey. Not every place has a significant selection of American rye whiskey, and I was glad to find a reasonably priced bottle so I could make a legitimate Manhattan. Which, of course, meant the shop stocked reasonably good sweet vermouth and bitters. I picked up a bottle of Regan’s orange bitters. I’m not such a big fan of the Fee bitters, but it is always good to see NY products represented outside the Empire State.
Wine had its own room too. While I didn’t have that much time to look over the bottles, it appeared to be a broad and well organized selection. My job was to find a decent box of wine to quench the thirst of a house full of adults. And I was pleased as punch to find a brand made in France with AOC labeling. Score.
Plus they even had cigars. It’s like vice central in here. Loved it.
What they did not have was any knowledge of the brand new micro distillery that just opened across the border in West Virginia. I was hoping against hope that this would be the kind of place that would score a few early bottles from the first distilling run, but there may be state licensing issues that have kept this new producer off the local radar.
But what a treat to be able to buy wine and spirits in the same place where you buy beer. Stores like this cannot exist in New York State by law.

Excellent selection and always friendly service. The prices are a little higher than you would find in a more developed area. I stopped bringing wine when I vacation in Deep Creek since I know I can get a good bottle here.

Well I was super surprised to find a luxury wine store right there in the shopping center by McDonalds at Deep Creek. I have driven by there many, many times but didn’t realized it had been totally revamped from the basic liquor store of my youth.
The interior is clean and the presentation is one of the best I’ve seen. A wide, wide variety of wines and liquors. Prices aren’t bad and are about what you would expect in a resort town. The man working was very knowledgable. We had just picked up some cheeses from Firefly in Accident, told him what we had bought, and he led us directly to the right pairing selections.
I lived in San Diego which is a craft beer town, so I’m always a little unimpressed by craft beer selection in most shops, but this one didn’t let me down too much. They had all of the Dog Fish Head varieties, some I had never heard of (which means they’re probably cool), and the New Belgium Brewing varieties. They also had a great snack selection for some munchies with your beverages, and a nice check-​out area. DCL, a fine wine store? I hardly recognize you. You’re getting classier by the minute.

We drove here from 45 minutes away after hearing of «a beer store» with good craft beer selections. We were very pleased with the selection after finding numerous beers that we couldn’t seem to find anywhere else in WV.

Have been going here since it was a wee little thing. Friendly, knowledgeable and there’s an expert for wine, beer, scotch… Great place for last minute gifts. Exceptional wine selections and discounts for large quantities. The best ice!

They have an excellent wine and liquor selection, and their beer selection is decent for a strip mall liquor store. However, another few cases of microbrews would have made it even better. A lot of what they have is standard micro (sam adams, dogfish, sierra nevada, anchor, etc.)
Pricing is a bit high, but given the resort town location, not horrible. Good solid place to get something to keep you warm after a ski day.
Service was excellent.

Great beer selection of beer, few cigars and great hours! Less expensive than Arrowhead !

Very nice shop, great wine selection, and pretty much every kind of beer you can imagine. Decent prices too, they dont’ gouge you just because they’re in a vacation town. And the staff are very friendly and helpful, making recommendations and even helping to carry your purchases out for you.
Just be aware that you can’t buy anything on Sundays here, so stock up on Saturday!

Dudes. They sell bacon-​flavored vodka.
This store is immaculate and has a huge selection of wine, beer, and liquor. The prices aren’t inflated which was a nice surprise (located in the center of a vacation town). I will be back every year when I make my pilgrimage to Deep Creek.

Great selection of wines and spirits! Not as diverse in the craft beer section, but still respectable and surprisingly reasonable in price, considering the resort area! Some cigars available as well.

Super helpful. The best selection of single malts around. If you are looking for scotch this is the place. Great selection of other «hard-​a», beer and wine too.

My Grandfather called this «George’s» well — the reason is behind George (whom I’m sure has a last name, but I never learned it) opened the McHenry Beverage Shoppe in a little A frame building at the corner of Sang Run and Deep Creek Dr. back in (if my memory serves me correctly) the 1980’s when Garrett County finally allowed alcohol sales. They since long ago moved to the current location and while George (from what I understand) no longer owns the establishment, he is ALWAYS in there when I go there… and is a super nice guy. They have really made this place into a top notch place to purchase wine, beer and spirits. They have wine tastings just about every saturday, and they have an EXCELLENT selection of six-​packs and cases of microbrew beers, along with the standard selection of large name beers. They have plenty to choose from as far as spirits and I have yet to have a time that I have visited where I have not found what I set out to procure. The staff is friendly, informative, and will help you carry your purchases out to the car for you. They also have a great discount when you buy wine by the case. be sure to ask — you can mix and match! Just be aware… in Garrett County, you cannot buy beer/​wine/​alcohol on Sundays — so stock up on Saturday if you plan on imbibing on Sunday.

You’d never think you’d find a great wine store in the middle of Deep Creek … this is predominantly Bud Lite and Jim Beam country. And this store has plenty of both. Probably even some Mail Pouch. But they also have an unbelievably excellent wine selection.
I get to stop in here once or twice a year, and always find wines that I simply can’t find anywhere else in the region. On my last trip it was MollyDooker (I snagged a full case of the Boxer Shiraz last year … they even had the RP99 point Carnival of Love), also some harder to find, but moderately priced Spanish and Italian gems I like. They sometimes have back vintages of stuff (properly stored) that just doesn’t move out in Garrett County — past finds (in 2006!) included a ’98 Hanzell Pinot Noir, an ’01 Artadi Vinas de Gain, and a ’98 Beaucastel CDP (when I opened the 98 Hanzell at a dinner party recently, our guests were seriously contemplating a 3 hour drive each way the next day in hopes of snagging the one bottle likely remaining in the Shoppe’s stock). A year before that I snagged some older Ridge Petite Sirahs.
Highly recommended, and even worth a side trip if you happen to be heading out I-​68. Just make sure to leave a few of the gems for me …
UPDATE: 1 year later, I snagged the final 98 Hanzell Pinot Noir. In the 20% off bin. HA! But there are still plenty more gems in the store, like the ’01 Artadi …