Trader Joes - Monterey

A little worse selection than the Trader Joe’s in Cupertino. Maybe half. Most large micros. Tick.

The usual Stone, Green Flash, Lagunitas, and a few others always available. At times they have Modern Times. Value is always great.

Yep, trader joes. On the walk back to my car, so worth a quick tick-whore stop. Selection pretty TJ-standard, although they did have the new Modern Times IPA, which is good.

Visited October 10, 2014.

This is one of several Trader Joes locations in Monterey. I actually came across one on hwy 68 earlier but since the beer selection is really not very inspiring at either location I didn’t feel the need to add it. They have the usual stuff: house beers, Chimay, Firestone, Full Sail, Corona, and Sierra Nevada. They had a couple of Lindemans fruit lambics too. I took a look at the born on dates for the Union Jack and noticed that it was only 2-3 weeks old so that’s good, but it’s sitting on top of the shelf, under the light, and not refrigerated. Meh.

Obviously not a place to sit down and have a beer, so rating is a little weird, however, as uninspired as their selection may seem, there are some highlights. They often carry Firestone Walker beers and they are excellent. Also made at Firestone Walker,but under a different brewery name under contract for Trader Joe’s is the Mission Street line. Do yourself a favor and try them out! At $2 for a 22 oz. bomber, be prepared for a surprise. It’s very good beer!

Small, uninspired beer selection, haphazard shelf displays and no coolers. Not worth the trip.