There’s a new Whole Foods opening today in Dublin, and plenty of other writers can tell you about the food options and/or make fish-in-a-barrel jokes about the prices. I’m here to tell you about the beer situation…which, by the way, seems reasonably priced for this area.
This guy knows what day it is. Stolen from Whole Foods Dublin’s Instagram
I got filled in by Whole Foods beer/wine/cheese expert boss type Jared Shoupe (official title: “associate team leader,” which is shorter but not as fun). The new store, in addition to 24 feet of beery retail, will include a taproom called Dublin Vine. It’ll have 12 rotating beer handles, 3 wine taps, and 50 wine bottles available by the glass. You can also buy any beer bottle off the shelf and bring it to the Vine to enjoy with no corkage. “The wine focus is more local than most,” said Jared. “The beer focus is just cool stuff, but a lot of cool stuff is local.” Indeed.
The first time I had some beers at the Whole Foods taproom in San Francisco, I was surprised how little it felt like drinking in a grocery store, and the Dublin set-up also sounds pretty nice. There’ll be outdoor seating with space for 100, a firepit, and a stage for live entertainment. The indoor bar area should fit 64.
And you can eat there because…wait for it…it’s a Whole Foods. The taproom menu actually sounds appealing: salads, wings, cheese and charcuterie plates, pizza, noodle bowls, and sandwiches. I’ve long thought more drinking establishments should offer noodles.
Here’s the opening day taplist:
- Ale Industries Cherry Kush (Jared, a former Ale Industries bartender, made this the first beer poured through the draft system)
- Almanac Golden Gate Gose
- Calicraft Chez Panisse
- Drake’s Omega Session
- Faction Anomaly
- Faction Pilsner
- Finn River Black Currant Cider
- Headland Point Bonita lager
- Mission Creek Off The Rail IPA
- Mission Creek Punch List pale
- Oakland Brewing Company Fly Trap
- Tahoe Mountain Mars Hotel
Dublin Vine is at 5200 Dublin Blvd and will be open from daily from 10am to 10pm. If you’re coming from out of town to do a Dublin beer day, note that Whole Foods Dublin is walking distance from BART and quite close to 580. You can follow it on Facebook or Instagram.
Oakland’s Whole foods apparently has restrictions on booze because its near a school. Apparently no issue on providing it at a location where everyone drives to get there!