Harry’s Reserve Fine Wine & Spirits

This the perfect local liquor store. They were open during the huge snow storm in January and were really helpful to accommodate by being open when everywhere else was closed. They have a good selection and the staff are really nice and friendly.

They were open during Snowzilla, the Blizzard of 2016! Even on Saturday during the peak of the storm Harry’s was open and stocked with beverages (alcoholic and not), snacks, and tobacco.
Harry’s has a great selection of liquor, wine, and craft beer. They also offer snacks, mixers, and tobacco. The staff is super friendly and will help you find the perfect gift or compliment a meal. They also offer tastings every Friday and Saturday with wine and occasionally beer or liquor.

Perfect location, excellent service, love the wine tastings, along with a good selection to choose from. They treat you right at Harry’s, and are very helpful every time I go there!

I’ve been going to Harry’s on and off since they were located in the old Southwest Waterfront Mall. They’ve since moved to Southeast and have opened a sister store (Eye Street Cellars in Mt. Vernon Square) but their stock of liquor, beer, and wine has only gotten better. With the demise of the somewhat dubiously named Normandie Liquor, it’s really the only game in town.
They have a decent number of wines, and their selection of quality spirits is quite good, particularly gin; last time I stopped in they had Plymouth, Blue Coat, and Green Hat. They also have a large fridge full of craft brews (Dogfish Head 120 minutes, DC Brau Solar Abyss, Oscar Blues Scotch Ale, etc), including many large-​format beers. Add in great customer service and you have a winning combination!

Great selection, high end spirits, easy street parking, and no one pushing unwanted brands in your hand (unlike that well-​known shop near Union Station). Also the prices are very reasonable.

Two and a half years later and our love of Harry’s has only grown. Harry’s is one of the staples of our little part of DC. Everyone who works there is kind and always willing to help. Greg is able to find the right wine for just about anyone after a few simple questions. The prices are competitive with anywhere else you may go in DC (even the grocery stores), but their selection is far more extensive. They usually have tastings on Fridays and Saturdays, and normally the wines in the tastings are all 10 percent off. They also offer 10 percent of six or more bottles. If you are new to SE and need something to drink, Harry’s is your place.

I think Harry’s Reserve is one of the best Spirits Store in all of Washington, DC !
Great Selection — Great Service — Great Operating Hours !!
If you are looking for that «Hard to Find» item — start here ! I do and I am in the Government Relations Business — so I know a great spirits store !

I have been to Harry’s on several occasions after work while still dressed in my work clothes and have been treated fairly well. HOWEVER the times I have gone in my «urban» dress I have always received less than poor treatment from the staff at Harry’s especially from the woman that works the register.
So with that being said if you are a young black male such as I please make sure you do not follow the «other» customers dress of sweats or you will most definitely be discriminated against.
Shop here at your own accord.

Pros: Plentiful selection of wines. Knowledgeable staff. Weekly wine and spirits tasting. Kept clean.
Cons: Parking.

If you want another bottle of Barefoot red blend, you can get that anywhere in the District. Seriously. With new places like Harris Teeter popping up everywhere, you can’t throw a stone without hitting a bottle of cheap plonk on a shelf. Nothing wrong with cheap plonk (Bota Box fans represent!), but it is ubiquitous.
You’d think that you don’t need a wine and spirits shop with all of that alcohol ready for the buying just about everywhere, right?
Wrong.
I’m not just saying that because bourbon is delicious (it is).
I’m saying that because Harry’s is awesome.
Harry’s has this warm familial feel about it. The folks that work there are awesome. I hadn’t been in in ages and went back recently to restock my home bar and they were talking about how much they missed me! I know they’re biased because I’m spending money, but the ego-​stroke is nice. Really nice. And they remember what I like and give suggestions! Can’t get that kind of service for a dollar (I’m lying. Personal shoppers are a Thing.) (Still counts).
The selection is to frikken die for, too. You wouldn’t think that a small store would have so much, but they do. I love the variety, both in spirits and in wine. Also? If they don’t have it? Ask. They’ll buy it for you.
Also, also? Snacks. Fine cheeses and cured meats, mixers, they have it. One stop shop, folks.
So if you’re reading this thinking about that box o Franzia, put it back on the shelf and go to Harry’s. Talk to their wine guy. You’ll be happy you did.

Buyer Beware: The reason for two stars is not the selection and staff. Both are reasonably good. Good selection of beer including craft, and friendly staff. Two stars, which is generous in my opinion is because of the management. To me, a liquor store should be sort of like a coffee shop, catering to and developing relationships with customers. Simply put, when a liquor store gets a rare item, and chooses to charge $ 1000 for a $ 100 bottle, that denotes Greed, rather than worthwhile relationships. My reasoning is simple: the owner and managers have a choice of how to sell: choice customers, those that requested, first come first serve, lottery, and then of course charging 10x the suggested price. If you are looking for a liquor store founded on good principle, avoid this for the sake of hope in good business at other establishments.

Love this place, fab selection of liquor, wine and beers and happy yo hit the tastings night! Asked if they carried a whiskey when they first opened, which at the time they didn’t, but said they would order some, and they’ve been carrying ever since.

Awesome place. Simply amazing selection of wine and spirits. I really like their whiskey and gin selections, and their staff is generally pretty knowledgeable. The store is nice, clean, and big!
They recently started carrying cheese and crackers, which is nice.
I wish they carried more local wines, though. They seem like the kind of place that would do that. There are great wineries down in VA and some in MD!
I also wish they carried Rex Goliath wines, as they are my go-​to to bring to parties and such.
I have to get myself on that mailing list so I can see all the events they have going on!

Great deals, great selection, wine/​bourbon/​vodka tasting on some days, open 7 days a week. Can’t ask for much more.

Coming from the midwest where alcohol is sold everywhere and at any time, I had difficulty adapting to the DC ‘southern’ mentality. Thankfully, this is in my neighborhood!
Liquor stores are known for being shady, dirty and not in the best area, but Harry’s is the total opposite. Maybe because it’s located in a brand new building, I don’t know. But very safe feel all around here, very clean interior and well stocked shelves.
Great selection of all the oddities you might want, even salmon vodka!
Helpful knowledgeable staff too, so if you are sent here to buy something for someone else that you have no knowledge about, they will help you-​and not just sell you the most expensive item.
I randomly see that they have tastings going on too. Haven’t found that schedule though.

$ 7 minimum credit card purchase, which impacts buying soft drinks, mixers, or ice. They have a 10% off coupon for a Unilocal checkin which is only applicable to purchasing 6x wines. Let me tell you, that means you get about $ 12 max off your purchase of $ 120, because wines at Harry’s aren’t exactly cheap. They aren’t kistchy or special either, as Harry’s caters to the idiot drinker who shops labels and not quality.
Like all liquor stores, the people at the register and the manager who roams the store are kind of off putting for me. They don’t really know anything about alcohol and they are mostly worried about drunk shoplifters. It’s probably well deserved, because there are usually drunk frat guys in this particular store. The last time I was there, one guy was bumming $ 1.20 off everyone in the store so he could purchase a bag of ice (he didn’t want to use his credit card).
I hate the checkout at Harry’s. They have those weird pin number pads that you can hold and which are connected to the computer by a curly wire. I can’t believe that anyone uses those anymore.
However, for all of my complaining, Harry’s is a higher end liquor store. It’s in a nice area at the corner of Eye and New Jersey SE, is convenient to the Nationals Park and Capitol Hill. It’s very clean inside and despite their limited space they have a reasonable array of beer, wine and liquor. If you want something special that isn’t local, forget it. But they do carry most local beers and they have enough wine which is almost all high end so that you can impress your friends at that dinner party. They have liquor of every variety. And they have a limited array of mixers. On some nights they have wine or liquor tastings, although I have no idea when those nights are because I’ve never seen an advertisement of them.
So yeah, Harry’s isn’t bad. I don’t know if they have ghetto stuff like Boones or MD, but they sure have a good amount of the most common higher end stuff. For instance, if you want a wine by Francis Coppola, they will have stuff like that. If you want a PBR or a DC Brau, they have those. I don’t know how to rave about that kind of service, but I am happy that Harry’s is in the ‘hood because it’s saved me on the way to multiple dinner parties and for my own parties on more than one occassion.
UPDATE: I lowered my star rating after receiving an angry message from the manager, who seems completely clueless about customer service and frankly management of the store. I felt like the above review is generous considering the selection at Harry’s. The store is okay, but not great. I gave it a generous 3-​stars despite the big problems they have.
The manager was unhappy that I referred to low priced low quality alcohol as «ghetto», that I don’t like their slow and inefficient checkout, that I feel as though their wine selection is insufficient, and that I implied they have small quantity of mixers. This is the problem with Harry’s: the maangement. They have organized the store so poorly that they end up with mediocre reviews. They have lots of wines that are expensive and not of high quality. Everyone has difficulty finding the mixers at Harry’s, as customers frequently have to ask. So there is clearly a communication problem with management. It’s one of those scenarios where they meet the requirements, but they just don’t do a good job of meeting them. What good are 3000 different wines if they aren’t that good or are at ceiling level where no one can see them? The answer is they aren’t any good at all. If everyone has to beg for ice, it’s probably not in a good spot. If the checkout takes forever and causes the store to be insanely crowded, it’s probably not good. Observe the trends, thank customers for advice and support, and evolve rather than sending out defensive messages on Unilocal.
It wasn’t easy for me to put my finger on the underlying problems with Harry’s but luckily the followup email nailed it down: it has terrible management.
Update #2: I received the following message from what appears to be a fake Unilocal account: «Don’t come back to Harry’s, because you won’t be served. Find a new store. Thanks!!! :)»
So I didn’t really pay attention to the other reviews before, but now I see that there are a large number of reviews from acocunts with less than 10 reviews. I think it’s pretty clear what is going on here and I reported it to Unilocal.But people should know when a store owner is abusing the system. I don’t really understand the point of the abuse becuase people typically go to a liquor store based on convenience, not Unilocal reviews. But whatever. :)
Update #3: I received another email from the owner of the store: «Fake review? You clearly need a life. Find a new store in the ‘hood.’ We don’t cater to racist or discriminatory people. Your review has been flagged.»
So I wasn’t sure if the reviews on Harry’s were fake, but I reported a few of them. This appears to clear up all doubt.

This is a pretty good liquor store as it has a huge selection and is very conveniently located. The tastings are always filled with very kind people (the folks giving the tasting).
My struggles are this:
1) It’s really, really crowded. I can’t stand aside without feeling like I’m going to knock over a bottle of wine, particularly if I am carrying anything at all with me (laptop or messenger bag).
2) There is no cell service in here. I am generally trying to text whoever I’m meeting up with to see which white they want (or similar question) and there is no way to do it in here. I’m not sure why or if they can fix it but I do actually find that important in a liquor store.

This is a convenient liquor shop next to the stadium. It was also very conveniently across from the air bnb apartment we had rented while visiting DC.
We wanted to try out a local beer, so we asked the employee for a recommendation, and he said he didn’t really drink beer, but we should try Coors? Wow… really?! Yeah, of course I’ve heard of Coors, and it’s definitely not a local beer, nor should that be anyone’s recommendation ever. Horrible, horrible, horrible customer advice. You’d expect the employees to have a little bit of knowledge about their products.
The selection was decent and prices were alright, but slightly high.
They apparently do tasting here too, but we weren’t around for any of those.

It’s ok, but not fantastic. I’m not much into wine or spirits, I’m a beer guy. I was not blown away by their selection here, way to much crap beer, and to top it off, having a sampling of «bud light platinum» the day I stopped by.
I settled on a liter bottle of Sorachi Ace from Brooklyn Brewery. The price was $ 2 – 3 more than I’ve seen at stores with larger single bottle selections.
It was packed, which made it cramped, and not easy to move around in, so watch your elbows around the rows of glass bottles too.

What a great store! I love both of the stores that this family owns. Whether I am at the Capitol Hill location on Penn Ave, or at their flagship store here on New Jersey, this place is first rate all the way! I love having great advice on great wines, rather than just pushing me towards the ones that make money for the store.
I feel so welcome here, and I know I will always walk away with great wines and great advice.
FINALLY, a wine and spirits store I can comfortably shop in!