Last weekend the Luce’s called me and asked if I wanted to go to Randalls in IL and I jumped at the chance. I had heard the selection in IL varies from that of MO and had discussed going in the past, but with gas prices, it was a difficult justification. Evidently, Mr. Luce had reason to celebrate and sought out a certain bourbon that’s fantastic deal for the price but not distributed here, (see Lucy's blog) so off we went.
It was a good size store. Not as large as Lukas Liquors, which is practically a warehouse of wine, however, there were a few things that really impressed me…..
First and foremost, the room where the wine was displayed/sold was actually a different temperature than the rest of the place; about 10 degrees cooler. Very nice and how rare!!
The selection was a bit different, about 30% stuff we can’t find here, and the prices were mostly competitive, if not better, although they didn't carry a large amount of expensive wines-most things were $40 and under.
The tasting area….was a-w-e-s-o-m-e. The wines available for taste, eh, just 4 and they were ok. However, the selection of liquor available to taste was amazing. Since the Luces and myself are equal opportunity drinkers, we were in heaven. At minimum, I would say there were 80 bottles available to taste, one of which was on my list: Absinthe. Recently re-legalized in the US and 124 proof, I had wanted to try it, primarily for novelty purposes, but was not excited about the $65+ price tag. However, there on the shelf, was Lucid Absinthe, calling to me. If you are a black licorice fan, this is your drink-the website even includes a traditional french way to drink it, which I did not try-I just sipped at room temperature. Honestly, I am not a fan, but it certainly worth trying and thanks to Randalls for having it open. We tried other liquors from respado tequila to bourbon, and it was fantastic.
I certainly recommend a visit. For those who read this in time, there is a tasting tomorrow from 12-4 .
Thanks to the Luce’s, for making the trek and taking me along!!
1 comment:
We were glad you could join us! It was a lot of fun. And, really, I would so recommend their tasting room for anyone who is trying to decide between two expensive bottles of spirits. They had an amazing selection open for tasting. Ah, good times!
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