Hazel’s Beverage World

After decades in Boulder, mostly always buying alcoholic products at a classic long established well priced store, I have become a fan of Hazel’s over the last few years. They are a much nicer experience for sure, and the prices are very good. Just remember to sign up for the lower prices. They want your phone # but I have never received any solicitations. And you don’t have to carry the card, just give the registered number at checkout.
The selection is amazing, the staff very helpful. The parking is normally easy, though there have been many construction projects going on in that lot this year so occasionally a detour to get a space. They are very sensitive to the customer flow so I have never had to wait in a significant line. Lots of check stands for busy days. We especially like the specialty wine selections and my husband likes the many beer options, even a large selection of singles for pick your own six pack.
I almost never go anywhere else anymore.

They have free wine tastings on Fridays and Saturdays. There is also an opportunity to taste beer and spirits at these tastings. They have FREE tastings and and excellent selection of products to buy. I cannot want for anything else.

Mostly, I’ve been pleased with this store. I usually get great service, though if it’s really busy, it can be challenging to find someone to help me.
They usually have everything I want and at great prices, though sometimes they are out of my favorite organic wines. However, that isn’t necessarily their fault. Supply and demand, time of year, these things can affect if something is available or not.
I knocked off a star for a case of wine order that went badly, but they made up for it in the long run. I learned, albeit the hard way, that if I want to place larger orders, I need to stick with Liquor Mart, and LM will deliver it to me as well. No need to schlep over there, and the delivery guys do the heavy lifting for me. Tip the delivery guys well, they deserve it.

When here for the amazing selection of beer. They a lot to choose from and the beer guys are knowledge and everyone has always been friendly. They also have a good selection of liquor and wine. On Saturday at 1pm they have free samples of beer, wine and liquor!
Wish they had this store in Houston, TX.

I would rather go to Liquor Mart when I am in Boulder. I went into Hazel’s today astounded that they had NO GIFT SETS for the holidays and ONE shelf of glassware for gifts. I have been to many liquor stores during this holiday season and all of the others had 10+ gift sets and a nice aisle of glassware. I asked an employee and he told me money is lost on the gift sets, as they would have to pay more and charge more. Interesting because the last few liquor stores I have been in with gift sets are charging the same price for the set and just the bottle. Want holiday customers? GET GIFT SETS. You are the largest liquor store in BOULDER. You should want to sell liquor-​related items (and have a bigger selection than your puny shelf in the back with 2 different shot glasses) as opposed to just booze.
2 stars is for the wide variety of alcohol they have. Employees have been so-​so every time I have been here, but I am not sure when (or if at all) I will be back.

Absolutely no complaints. Excellent variety, friendly staff, great prices. The Sunday specials are fantastic. In my opinion, they are in a class by themselves.

This is my go-​to liquor store that I drive 20 miles to get to… Happily! Consistently AMAZING STAFF working here (same people day in day out and they love working here clearly). The store is huge… And nicely pieced together. It is clean and fun in its décor.
Oh… Are you wondering about the liquor selection and prices? Now please… Would I (and many many others) drive all this way for just décor and service? No I would not… Folks the diversity in their products like local gins, hard to find whiskies, brandy, tequila and so on is awesome. If you are looking for Bacardi they surely have it (never looked) but you come here for the good stuff… At very very fair prices.
They also have sales… GOOD sales… On all sorts of their selection including stuff snobby a-​holes like myself drink. And they are always happening! If you are looking for a place to find new and exciting craft whatever… Come here. Man I love this place!

First time there and the staff ranged from super annoying to rude. Not worth going back.

4.5 Stars, my first time here.
i was surprised about the 3.5 stars (at time of my visit). initially i was wondering if i should even enter inside ’cause… with 3 stars i start to imagine ripped carpet with stains or broken linoleum titles, bad florescent lighting with that buzzzz, a bug zapper on the wall, and mono-​browed Guido wearing a wife-​beater basking in Budwiser neon glow.
well, i’m glad i went it because that’s definitely not what i got !
tonight I was going for beer and only expected a quick trip to pick up a six of something marginally better than PBR.
i entered and was struck by how BIG the store was ! Hazel’s is clean, very spacious and open, as in warehouse open — they could probably add 25% more alcohol and it would still feel like a regular liquor store. the décor is painted blues/​greys, wood, and stainless steel so it’s very palatable.
then you notice an awesome vintage, WW2 fighter airplane with rotating prop hanging in the center of the store. around the walls you’ll find LARGE ceiling fans with stainless 5′ blades reminiscent of a plane wing, and lots of memorabilia about Hazel displayed on the walls. nice.
then i saw the beer fridges … and how they seemed to stretch for miles and miles. Hazel,… baby,… you had me at cool plane on the ceiling !
i honestly didn’t believe the beer section was that big. i re-​read the giant labels again — imported, domestic, crafted, …. «yeah, those could be all beers,… but noway».
i was still walking the beer line and had barely finished looking through ¾ of the beer section when Nick (aka Odin) came over to ask me if i needed any help. i said yes, realizing i didn’t have a plan good enough to tackle all of these choices; at this point my plan was about as useful as a bucket in a Louisiana flood.
i knew Nick would need *something* to go on, and POW I remembered that I had just ordered some Indian food… so asked for suggestions about pairing with that, perhaps something lighter like a lager.
Nick’s pause was only long enough to scratch his chin, then he started talking about some great options. He thoughtfully explained the flavor and experience I would expect from each one.
i thought a little bit, i grabbed my six, chatted with Nick for a minute more about beer, thanked him, and went on my way to the registers. there were four registers open, each with a single customer, so my total wait was about 30 seconds — barely long enough for a Unilocal checkin. beep, swipe, scribble, done — it was that fast. i signed up for the rewards card too.
in the end i purchased a six of the Prost Pils, a light german-​style beer, that went marvelously with my spicy chicken tikka masala. thanks, Nick (and Hazel) !!

I struggled with supporting this big business as I loved to support our locally owned liquor mart. But, Hazel’s has greater selection, better trained employees, no college vibe, and it clean. Enough said. ..

Big, cold, impersonal big box store, BUT the selection and prices are tops. No need to drive to Applejacks anymore with a Hazels in town

The Toys R Us of alcohol.
In the same way I used to fantasize as a kid about winning one of those «Fill Your Shopping Cart With As Many Toys As You Can In 10 Minutes» contests, I feel the same way now about Hazel’s as an adult.
This place is huge — like airplane hanger huge. In fact, they have a real airplane hanging from the ceiling. No joke.
The selection is fantastic — there are great craft brews, excellent wines, knowledgable staff and great sales on Sundays. The latter gets a little grim if you go when the store opens and have to compete with the regulars who get a little pathetic and aggressive as they rush to beat you to their cases of $ 3.00 bottles of wine. But other than that, I love the place.
Good tastings on Fridays, too!

Easily the best liquor store I’ve ever been to! Hands down the best prices and selection in Colorado. Not only are the staff friendly but they really know their stuff. Numerous times I’ve gone just to wander and came out with some really great staff recommendations. I never forget to stop here when I’m in town.

Love this place. Staff are helpful at making suggestions. Prices are reasonable. Great selections.

(With regard to Hazel’s January 9^th response to my review, gosh, yes, it was so very nice of Hazel’s to refund my money after I caught its cashier illegally charging my credit card.)
In general I used to like Hazel’s. But I have caught the place in a very unethical business practice. And it is not only unethical, but actually fraudulent, and thus illegal (possibly in two different ways). Due to this behavior, I will never again return.
The fraudulent/​illegal practice: I visited Hazel’s not long ago, found a few bottles of wine, and stood in line. The place was taking $ 1 donations at the register during checkout for some charity (don’t remember which). I watched the cashier ring up the people in front of me, running the hand-​scanner over their bottles. And then, when the patrons weren’t looking, the cashier quickly ran the scanner over a barcode on a piece of paper, which was sitting on the register. I wondered idly if that was the $ 1 donation barcode, but since the cashier hadn’t asked the people if they wanted to donate, I figured it was for something else. Next in line, me. The cashier ran the scanner over the wine bottles, then quickly ran the scanner over the same paper barcode while I was rummaging in my purse for my wallet. Huh, I thought. Odd. (He never asked me if I wanted to donate.) As soon as I paid and stepped away, I looked at my receipt. There was a line item for donation. It said $ 0.00. Fine, no problem. But I continued to look at the receipt as I walked out the door, and noticed that near the bottom of the receipt, there was a line item for a bottle deposit for $ 1.00. I had never been charged a bottle deposit for wine before, so I turned around and went to the customer service desk.
I asked the guy at the service desk about the bottle deposit, and he replied, without missing a beat, that the $ 1.00 was actually for the donation. ??? I replied that not only hadn’t I donated a dollar, but I hadn’t even been asked if I’d wanted to donate a dollar. I then told him that the cashier had charged me without my permission, and likely had done the same thing to the patrons in line in front of me (and probably to many others as well). The service counter guy gave me back my dollar and assured me he would talk to the cashier. After I left, I called the manager and expressed my displeasure at the cashier fraudulently charging patrons, i.e. without their permission. She assured me that Hazel’s wouldn’t want such a cashier working in the place.
This all was mildly annoying, as well as illegal, but I got to thinking later about the situation, and it got a whole lot worse upon reflection. Think about it. Hazel’s was ostensibly accepting donations for charity, but the donations were being categorized as bottle deposits, and not as donations. So, in the computer system, there would seem to be no way to tell what, if any, money had been donated to charity, and how much consisted of real bottle deposits. I will let you draw your own conclusions based on the facts of my experience.
Oh, by the way, that same cashier is still working there. Such behavior is apparently tolerated.
(I still have the receipt, showing the miscategorized charge.)

The selection here is incredible. I’ll still stay away as often as I can. I only go to Hazel if I’m looking for either a really good deal that I saw highlighted in an ad or if there’s something very specific I’m looking for that I can’t find anywhere else.
The reason being that I’ve had numerous bad experiences with rude staff. I work near hazel and live closer to Superior Liquor. I’ve never had a complaint with Superior– they are actually great in any situation. So superior will remain my first choice and Hazel only gets my business if the only option due to a lack of good customer service. Yes it does matter. Selection isn’t everything…

Four and a half stars. What, is this heaven? All liver rainbows in Boulder must originate here. Whiskey/​bourbon/​scotch selection is pretty awesome on mainstream and international levels– boutique stuff remained very local. And the beer! Pricing across the board runs a touch higher than average when not on sale, but I’m giving them a pass given the quality of curated inventory. Top shelf booze is secured in a display to the right as you enter, near the clean bathrooms. Plenty of parking in the shared plaza lot. Floor associates Buz and Sean provided wonderful customer service with regards to anecdotal/​factual advice and shopping assistance, respectively. Bought a bottle of Willett single barrel bourbon running scarce in our hometown, and was similarly tempted by the rye. I opted out of a membership since I’m not local, but bonus points for having a rewards program.

Oh my gosh the selection here is incredible! The aisles are huge and filled with bottles. If they don’t have your selection I don’t who does. There are also lots of customer service lines so you don’t have to wait for long to check out.

On selection alone, this place gets five stars; the craft beer selection (yeah, that’s all I ever look at) is obscene.
On prices though, I gotta call foul. Single beers here sell at an offensive mark-​up and that’s just downright disrespectful.
The bomber prices seemed about right, but after seeing the prices for single beers, this place had struck a raw nerve with me.
Shop wisely, my friends.

2012 Review #291:
I am very surprised by the weirdly mixed reviews here. Admittedly, most of my time here has just been browsing, but I like it. I think because of Colorado’s blue laws, since we can’t have chain liquor stores, we sometimes feel put off by bigger, more sterile liquor stores. I love the appeal of the Mom & Pop place; my grandparents owned a Mom & Pop liquor store, but I see no reason why we can’t have both.
I found Hazel’s to be clearly set up and pretty easy to navigate. The prices are listed on electronic displays, I’m assuming so that they can change prices without having to post paper tags, which saves trees and probably ensures more accurate prices. Many people are complaining that you have to sign up for a card to get the sales prices. News flash– you have to do that at Applejack, and several other bigger liquor stores. It’s not that big a deal. Those sale prices, by the way? When I was there they were incredible. They had an expensive tequila, normally $ 50/​750ml, and their regular price was $ 45, but the sale price was $ 29. That was not the only good price I saw either. This place also has good selection overall; very good small batch Whiskey/​Bourbon section, with competitive prices on small bottles like Hudson.
The middle of the store is wine, and this was the only issue I encountered. The wine is strangely organized– I can’t remember exactly but when I was there it did not appear to be alphabetical. It was arranged by grape, which is fine, but there was not a labeled section for red blends. I asked an employee if they had a specific vineyard, and he said he did not know, and he didn’t ask anyone else. He basically tried to just look down the aisles to find it, but I could have done that if I were that concerned. Then I asked him to point me to the other Orin Swift red blends, since they had only 1 visible. He didn’t even seem to recognize Orin Swift, which is a pretty common name, and again, could only offer to walk the aisles and look for other wines as I named them. They need more wine-​oriented employees/​a better system.
But, my favorite system is probably the make-​your-​own 6-​pack. They have a huge variety to choose from, bigger than I’ve seen before. Each bottle is priced individually through their electronic labels. This is great because it really allows you to quantify how «worth it» a particular beer is. And, you don’t have to buy 6– you can buy a single 12 oz bottle if you like. If you do make a 6 pack, you get 25% off the list price of every bottle in your 6-​pack. I really like this system because I got to see how much each beer was, and it gives a reason to get 6 beers if you want to, but doesn’t punish or prevent you from getting only 1, or 2. I’m not often buying large amounts of liquor in Boulder but I’ll probably come here over Liquor Mart on my next trip.