Buzz

mexicali

Photo by Benito Barco

By Ashley Avis

New wine shop on Spring Street titillates the palettes of passerby.

Gone are the days of wandering into a musty, glorified 7-11 to buy your alcohol. You know That Place: blended crap with an overpriced neon sticker, a limited selection of anything interesting, sheepishly requesting help on "a good Pinot under twenty" and getting glare-dismissed from the disgruntled looking guy behind the counter. Well... lament no more!

BUZZ wine beer shop, which recently opened its doors in the Old Bank District in downtown Los Angeles, provides a refreshing new take on the traditional wine and beer setup.

Within its modest space -- BUZZ offers more than 4,000 bottles of unique reds, whites, and bubbly -- 200 bottles of the World's finest beer, and the absolute best sake and shochu from Japan. BUZZ also doubles (... or, triples?) as a wine bar, tasting-party-haven, and one-stop-shop for unique grapes and exceptional top rated beers by the keg.

Open seven days a week until a startling two o'clock in the morning, the gracious staff will -- quite literally -- Cheshire-grin as they lead you down the aisles and refer bottle after great bottle (some below ten, fifteen bucks). No more guessing at which something-or-other won't break the bank to bring to that Hollywood Hills party, to those disapproving-of-you-and/or-your-taste relatives...

"AT BUZZ we offer many wines that are far more interesting & less common than can be typically found elsewhere -- delivering a great experience to our customers."

Now, doing the research on this place was one thing. Going there was another. Immediately upon entering the large doors into the airy, New York inspired space - which is a mix of modern, mid-century, and industrial -- we were greeted with a large bottle of Something -- a biting, naturally made Grenache from Donkey and Goat - a tiny little winery in Berkeley, CA -- to taste in a massive, shapely glass. The About Us page on a website can't do that.

Scott, the profferer in question (who has been developing the BUZZ concept for about a year) lead us down the color-saturated aisles discussing the process of selection, pointing at bottles that were notable and that we should try (... we will), and the many naturally made, organic, and biodynamic options they carry.

The folks at BUZZ will sometimes taste 50, 60 wines a day, he said, searching for new flavors, producers, trends.

"Everyone is so happy, in here" we noted at the BUZZ employees and tasters, who float about the store, delighted to take anyone who meanders in on an informative 'wine tour' that would rival the knowledge you'd walk away from in Verona.

"Today was a good day, that's why they're all really smily," replied Scott.

Apparently, the tasters were having a good day -- it was only a bit past four o'clock, and they had just finished sampling over 100 different new wines. While they usually only choose one or two from a selection like that, Scott continued to explain, the tasted had plucked a whopping 10 or 12 new bottles to add to the store.

He held up one of the new selections. $8? Really?

"The difference between us and a lot of other vendors and us," he explained, "is that, usually, when you buy a fifteen dollar bottle it tastes like a twelve, fifteen dollar bottle -- ours, always more. A fifteen dollar bottle tastes like a twenty, thirty dollar bottle".

Amazing. You can buy wine for a month, here, for the price you'd pay for a dinner or three at the local grocery store.

"We believe in offering interesting and unique bottles of wine... without the typical 'wine speak' intimidation and silly 'nose in the air' formalities... old school thinking, crappy supermarket wines and inflated pricing", states the BUZZ website.

It's true. As we completed our tour, we couldn't pinpoint one bottle of wine in BUZZ as something we'd seen before in another store, and the beers, sakes, were all premium, top notch, and made us... thirsty.

Finally, after tasting that Grenache and listening to more of the BUZZ way of life, we were sold. There really isn't anything out there like BUZZ in L.A., period.

So go! Now! Before we beat you there and drink all the Pinot.

 

BUZZ wine beer shop is located at: 460 South Spring Street, #C Los Angeles, CA 90013 (213) 622.2222


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