September 17, 2009
The latest place for Orange County beer geeks to shop. Very good selection of Orange and San Diego county brews. Huge, clean, upscale store with very reasonable prices for the area. I hit this place first, then run down to Hi Time.

July 22, 2009
Sought this place out after seeing the consistently high reviews here at RB. It did not disappoint! Like Bevmo, this is a warehouse like environment, but a bit more upscale. They also had a free wine tasting while I was there, so I stopped by to indulge, don’t mind if I do. Another plus: the beer selection is not cast aside in some far removed corner like in most places, but actually has its own two aisles with proper labels. The selection featured most of the good stuff from SD and LA region, along with some favorites from Colorado (Lips of Faith series and OB). The thing that I loved most about Total Wine was its pricing. Everything, and I mean everything was priced less than anywhere else in Los Angeles. And they sold singles! I agree completely that this is like a souped up Bevmo, and if you are in the market for buying good beer cheap, this is your place in OC.

June 14, 2009
Huge store with a nice beer selection and some of the best prices anywhere. Warehouse style setup with plenty of singles available as well as some harder to find beers like Brandy Barrel Angels Share ($26/750ml). Not much of the beer was kept refrigerated, so I wondered a bit about some of the freshness of the beer, but if their turnaround is high enough it shouldn’t be a problem. Definitely worth stopping in if you are nearby.

June 2, 2009
I liked this store. Granted, it’s a chain, but there’s a huge selection of California beers, the prices are incredible, and everything is in singles. I thought the selection of non-US and non-Cali beers was a little weak, but if you want great prices on California beers, hit this up!

May 26, 2009
Stopped in here after the Bruery’s anniversary party on a recommendation from JohnC, and I have to say that Total Wine delivered. Think Bevmo but with better selection, better prices, and every single beer available as a single for barely any markup over six-pack prices if any. Probably not the place for any vintage or super obscure stuff, but for anything with any distribution, this place is killer.

April 21, 2009
This mega store is a must stop if in Tustin (or near I-5/55 interchange). Situated next to Best Buy in the Tustin Marketplace, Total Wine has a great selection of beers at amazing prices. Today, 21April2009, I noticed Alesmith Speedway at $8.99 (10.99 everywhere else), DFH 60 minutes at $8.49 (10.49 elsewhere) as examples. Great selection, you can make your own six pack, along w/ fabulous prices puts Total Wine as a the top beer store in the OC in my book.