Craft Beer Cellar Belmont, the silver lining to a trip to IKEA

My wife and I have been planning a trip down to Ikea in Stoughton, Massachusetts for a while now, heading down to go shopping didn’t bother me too much, although if you’ve ever shopped at IKEA you’ll understand when I say it’s the most confusing store in the world, I had to leave a trail of breadcrumbs to find my way back from the restroom. The worst part of a trip like that is traffic, I don’t particularly like driving in heavy traffic and road construction and this trip was all of that, I may have a few new gray hairs because of it, so for me, the silver lining was the opportunity to stop and pick up beers I can’t get in Maine.  The route we chose to return to Maine took us through Belmont, Massachusetts and there’s no way I’m passing though Belmont without stopping at the Craft Beer Cellar.

The Tweet and Photo from @CBC_Belmont

I’ve never been to a Craft Beer Cellar before and I’ve heard good things so I had to check it out for myself, and I’m glad I did. The store is set up geographically, so all of your Massachusetts beers are together, then Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, East coast, No Coast, West Coast, International, and so on and so forth. I found that this arrangement was very helpful, I had an idea of what I wanted for local MA Beers and they were all together so I didn’t have to search. I then branched out, basically across the US, starting from the East Coast, to No Coast to West Coast and picked out some other goodies.

Some of the Beers i picked up at CBC Belmont

The staff was friendly and knowledgeable, Lee Movic the store brand ambassador gave me the tour and explained how all their product was arranged and made a few suggestions. I know Lee from Twitter, and he knew who I was, but during my visit I was able to watch him interact with another customer in the store and that customer was treated the exact same way that I was so I feel in no way was the service catered toward me specifically, the employees are very enthusiastic about craft beer and willing to help however they can.

More of the beer i brought back

So to sum it all up I’m was impressed, the selection was great, the serviced was top notch, the prices were fair and clearly marked and the layout made it easy to find the beer you were looking for if you had an idea where it came from, but it was also set up in a way that you could just browse and not feel like you missed something. I don’t make it to Belmont very often but the next time I do I’ll be stopping in.

Now it’s time to pour one of those new beers and start putting all this IKEA stuff together.

Cheers

Chaddah

Chad Lothian

About Chad Lothian

Chad Lothian lives in Old Town, Maine. He is a craft beer enthusiast and homebrewer. Chad has travelled to brewpubs, breweries and brewfests all over New England.