Total Wine & More - Alexandria

A pretty big store with a wide variety of beers, most of which were popular yesterday (not to sound snobbish). The Special Release selection was ok. I’ll probably be going back just not jumping out of my seat at the opportunity.

Big box store with a large selection. Nothing super exciting but plenty of things worth picking up. Kind of a pain to get to. It’s fine.

It’s a huge big box store, so the ambience is not great, but it’s clean and reasonably well laid out. The store employees are friendly usually helpful, and sometimes knowledgeable, if not always easy to find But what you really come for is the huge selection, the flexibility about making mix packs, and the prices. As much as I woukd like to patronize small bottle shops, I find myself, as a newb looking to try lots of different beers, going back here again and again.

Ambiance: Typical NoVA strip mall, juuust edging toward low rent (armed security guards); parking is awful due to the location of the center in relation to traffic lights. Inside, the store feels cramped and a little on the dirty side for a TW&M. Service: Not nearly as good as at some others in the chain. Hard to find someone to help, and the help was slow when it came. Everyone seemed friendly enough at least. Selection: Typical for the chain, which means GOOD. Also had a growler station with 6 or 8 taps, but like 4 had kicked. Food: NA. Value: Typical for the chain, which means GOOD overall, with some real steals here and there. Overall: Total Wine & More remains the top large-scale chain for craft beer in the MD/DC/VA area, but this one is not as good as the one in McLean, VA, which I think is probably the gold standard.

Swung by this location while in the area, not too far off I-395 which is only a few miles from the famous Springfield interchange. Parking is ample, inside is laid out like every other Total Wine in VA pretty much. Plenty of variety; everything from cases to singles with friendly service for help. If you’re in northern VA and haven’t been to any Total Wine & More locations, get there now!

(Visited 07/204): The Alexandria location of Total Wine & More is in Lincolnia on Little River and Beauregard in a shopping plaza. There is a large parking lot in front.

The inside is laid out like other locations, well lit and organized by beverage. The beer aisles are toward the middle of the store. They are generally segregated by region.

There are hundreds of options available, and singles are stocked as are some seasonal and special releases. Regional breweries like Starr Hill, Hardywood and Devils Backbone along with other domestic craft brewers and imports are on the shelves.

Service is pretty typical for a big box liquor chain. I was greeted and checkout was friendly.

All in all you know what you are going to get at a place like this, for better or worse. I can usually count on finding several beers that I cannot get back home so I would hit it again on a future visit.

Reliable store to find cases of decent brew, and always good for a number of new beers to try. They’re never going to blow you away with their rarities, but they do seem to get some NW beers that never show up elsewhere in the area. Reasonable prices.

Big box store for beer and wine. Good beer selection of singles as well as 6 packs + 750 ml bottles. Singles get expensive, but the mix and match is nice. Heavier focus on US brews but also a decent selection of international. Traffic around there can be a bit of a mess on the weekend. Also has some cheeses and cigars

First time at this outlet of Total Wine. Local streets are a zoo as is the parking lot, luckily the selection is excellent so it’s worth the pain and trouble. Service was minimal -- saw lots of staff in the wine area, but not anyone around the beer (I wasn’t looking for help so it didn’t matter). Pricing is fair, the store is a supermarket for beer and wine so isn’t overly nice but is clean and fit for purpose. Recommend but have patience for traffic.

Overall, very similar to the other area Total Wine locations, but at least this one has a cheese/meat section for those last-minute tasting nibbles. The bulk section seems a little larger than the other area stores, and the staff is helpful as always.