While on a cigar walk last night:
I ran in to an old friend from the neighborhood, Pete of Cyprus Deli. Many of you may remember through the years, all the way back to those days of lhong, lhongago, N fahr, fahr aweigh at another Webb Sight, that I have been going to his place for at least a couple decades. It was Pete who credited me with being his beer expert, when he built it up in to one of the city's finest selections back in the 90's. It was always a place to go for any favorites of mine, and at great prices.
I moved upstate, still came around to Astoria, and Cyprus Deli fell on hard times. In talking with Pete, he told me he was closed for over a year, and still hasn't put beer back in the store yet. I happened to notice recently while walking past, that they had reopened, and once going by, spotted Pete. Tonight I decided to go past there and see if he was around.
Sure enough, he was, and we swapped stories about the hard times of the past five years, and how we're trying to rebuild our lives. We talked about the origins of his store, and it seems that I've been going to his place since 1985, although I thought it was much earlier. We talked about Astoria, how much we love it, and how much it always feels like home, to all the people who live here, and know Astoria. Many people stay here forever, or build their lives around this neighborhood, and despite cracks here and there over the decades, this area has never fallen completely apart by any means. It is now perhaps enjoying its best times ever, as a matter of fact.
So, in talking about his store, naturally beer came up, and he gave me a business card to a new store he has nearby to the Cyprus Deli, which he's in the process of rebuilding. This new store is actually one I've walked past with great curiosity recently, and I was really happy to hear about how he's past most of his financial difficulties, and that things are going much better. He told me that the beer selection in the new store was just like the one in the old Cyprus Deli.
I couldn't resist. It's under the elevated subway line, where the N and W trains run. It's a huge store by neighborhood standards, and called EuroMarket. If you take the train to the 30th Avenue stop, go downstairs, cross over to the Manhattan side, and walk back toward Manhattan less than a block, you will find it.
And you will not be disappointed in the least. In addition to a lot of my old Mediterranean food favorites, like canned butter beans in oil with onions, or cans of stuffed grape leaves, there is a HUGE beer section!!! All my old favorites, at 1990's PRICES!!! THAT'S RIGHT, 1990'S ERA PRICES!!!
So, I picked up three old favorites, and one new one on me called Wychcraft, by the Wychwood Brewery of England, no alcohol content on the bottle. Check out the list I got tonight, and as I said, LOW PRICES!!!
One of my Top Five, and perhaps Top Three beers of all time, and at a price LESS than what I paid during the 90's and early part of this century, a 2002-3 Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome for $4.59.
A 2006 Samichlaus, still 14% alcohol, nice to see, another Top Five of all-time beer, and only $4.99.
A Duvel, still 8.5% alcohol I see, and another from the Top Five or perhaps Top Ten of all-time in Bloofingtonia, which I paid $4.25 for. VERY nice.
The abovementioned Wychcraft was $4.29.
By the way, the Wychcraft and Winter Welcome are both in bottles over one pint, in the case of the latter, well over one pint.
So, what's all this about the price of everything going up so much these days? Get out there, bargains exist. It's always good running in to old friends, and even better when you hear they're climbing back up out of hard times. The EuroMarket downstairs and one block back from the 30th Avenue subway station in Astoria, Queens has a great selection of REAL beers, at prices not seen in at least a dozen years.
I ran in to an old friend from the neighborhood, Pete of Cyprus Deli. Many of you may remember through the years, all the way back to those days of lhong, lhongago, N fahr, fahr aweigh at another Webb Sight, that I have been going to his place for at least a couple decades. It was Pete who credited me with being his beer expert, when he built it up in to one of the city's finest selections back in the 90's. It was always a place to go for any favorites of mine, and at great prices.
I moved upstate, still came around to Astoria, and Cyprus Deli fell on hard times. In talking with Pete, he told me he was closed for over a year, and still hasn't put beer back in the store yet. I happened to notice recently while walking past, that they had reopened, and once going by, spotted Pete. Tonight I decided to go past there and see if he was around.
Sure enough, he was, and we swapped stories about the hard times of the past five years, and how we're trying to rebuild our lives. We talked about the origins of his store, and it seems that I've been going to his place since 1985, although I thought it was much earlier. We talked about Astoria, how much we love it, and how much it always feels like home, to all the people who live here, and know Astoria. Many people stay here forever, or build their lives around this neighborhood, and despite cracks here and there over the decades, this area has never fallen completely apart by any means. It is now perhaps enjoying its best times ever, as a matter of fact.
So, in talking about his store, naturally beer came up, and he gave me a business card to a new store he has nearby to the Cyprus Deli, which he's in the process of rebuilding. This new store is actually one I've walked past with great curiosity recently, and I was really happy to hear about how he's past most of his financial difficulties, and that things are going much better. He told me that the beer selection in the new store was just like the one in the old Cyprus Deli.
I couldn't resist. It's under the elevated subway line, where the N and W trains run. It's a huge store by neighborhood standards, and called EuroMarket. If you take the train to the 30th Avenue stop, go downstairs, cross over to the Manhattan side, and walk back toward Manhattan less than a block, you will find it.
And you will not be disappointed in the least. In addition to a lot of my old Mediterranean food favorites, like canned butter beans in oil with onions, or cans of stuffed grape leaves, there is a HUGE beer section!!! All my old favorites, at 1990's PRICES!!! THAT'S RIGHT, 1990'S ERA PRICES!!!
So, I picked up three old favorites, and one new one on me called Wychcraft, by the Wychwood Brewery of England, no alcohol content on the bottle. Check out the list I got tonight, and as I said, LOW PRICES!!!
One of my Top Five, and perhaps Top Three beers of all time, and at a price LESS than what I paid during the 90's and early part of this century, a 2002-3 Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome for $4.59.
A 2006 Samichlaus, still 14% alcohol, nice to see, another Top Five of all-time beer, and only $4.99.
A Duvel, still 8.5% alcohol I see, and another from the Top Five or perhaps Top Ten of all-time in Bloofingtonia, which I paid $4.25 for. VERY nice.
The abovementioned Wychcraft was $4.29.
By the way, the Wychcraft and Winter Welcome are both in bottles over one pint, in the case of the latter, well over one pint.
So, what's all this about the price of everything going up so much these days? Get out there, bargains exist. It's always good running in to old friends, and even better when you hear they're climbing back up out of hard times. The EuroMarket downstairs and one block back from the 30th Avenue subway station in Astoria, Queens has a great selection of REAL beers, at prices not seen in at least a dozen years.
