An Ode to the Bowery Beer Room

I'm a hard-core Whole Foods hater, typically patronized by preachy blowhards who buy $10-a-pound organic Brussels sprouts. Despite my utter disdain, I still find myself, like moth to deadly light, drawn to the grocer's [Bowery-store beer room].

It proffers serious drunkenness. On offer are 64-ounce growlers of [local-fresh brew], like luscious [Captain Lawrence](http://www.captainlawrencebrewing.com/) and toothsome Sixpoint, for a teensy price: about $8 or $9. In addition to keg goodness, there's also several hundred bottles of international suds, overseen by knowledgeable employees who know bitter IPAs from thick stouts. But you know what makes my dipsomaniac heart beat faster? The beautiful selection of 22-ounce shareable bottles, featuring sobriety-stoppers like [Great Divide's Oak-Aged Yeti ](http://www.greatdivide.com/thebeers/oakagedyeti.htm)and [Southern Tier's Unearthly IPA](http://www.southerntierbrewing.com/beer_11.htm), a wine-strength beer sold for wino prices: $5.99.

But the sweetest rub is that, while brew stores like the nearby New Beer Distributors shutter at sunset, Whole Foods' vends tasty intoxication till 11 p.m. Leave work early, leave work late, you can always buy good beer to blunt yet your daily drudgery. And grab some overpriced arugula to boot.