Announcement: We now have a bottle shop in Benicia!!!! Welcome Sendsips.
Review:
Sendsips is located at 621 1/2 First Street in Downtown Benicia, California. Perfectly tucked away, SendSips is in an ideal location for liquor, spirts and wine aficionados. As with may great speakeasy's the location is understated but ideal, offering visitors an easly approachable adventure with a quick walk down a well lit alleyway, to a bright white carriage house. Having been to many speakeasies, I couldn't help but think of the adventure, finding this local spot offered.
Parking was easy as I knew the approximate location and parked on First Street and found a well placed A-frame sign on the sidewalk directing back to the stores location. After you turn the corner it's easy to find your destination. It's just behind the main building, think the length of a grocery store aisle. You approach a well lit storefront occupying the first floor. The exterior is all white with period specific design details from a brick walkway and girded windows. The interior of the shop is well designed maximizing a small footprint, with wall to wall storage and amphitheater style shelves for the more sought after "top shelf" selections. Sticking with a simple and very crisp white theme, the shop has a geometric stamped tin ceiling with chandeliers offering an almost Vegas type vibe.
But beyond the location and appearance, bottle shops have to do what they are known for...Good selection, competitive prices, and product knowledge above and beyond your local grocery. I will start with SendSips has an impressive collections of wines, champagne, tequilas, gins, and much more but I came for the bourbon.
The shop is run and opporated by Kv who has a long family history in the liquor and spirits business. When I first walked in he was very welcoming and energetic. Thanking me for coming in and offering to help me find anything. Starting with the normal bottle shop banter I expressed my interest in bourbons and whiskeys and he quickly directed me to what has to be the most glorious bourbon honey hole in Benicia. Now for those that don't find the fun in finding hard to come by bottles, I was honestly amazed to see that on first week of the doors opening they had some pretty hard to find bottles. From Pappy to Birthday Bourbon, to Weller White Label, the selection is just what I like to see. Not too much where you feel like your lost and trying to find a needle in a haystack but more of a curated collection that is presented for a variety of tastes and preferences profiles. Now here is the kicker... the prices are very competitive! Now don't get me wrong there are some pretty expensive and non approachable bottles, above 1k dollars, but to be honest you wouldn't be a good bottle shop if you didn't have that highly sought after selection of collector level bottles. But the more approachable mid to higher end bottles were very well priced. As in at least 5-10 dollars less than our local grocery. Also their selection is way better including the few liquor stores offerings. We are talking about Uncle Nearist, Weller Green Label, Eagle Rare, the list goes on and on. So if your looking to pick up a bottle and looking for something different give SendSip a try. They get five starts from this guy. read more