Spec’s Wine, Spirits, and Finer Foods

Was in a rush on the way to Austin and this place sold me rotten overpriced lemonade! Already made me sick before I realized it was a year past the best before date! What the heck Spec’s! Not cool.

Great selection. Great prices. After a year or so, I’m still not sure what the point of the Spec’s membership card is… They always say they don’t need it, and it does not get you any discounts or points or anything like that. The staff is always friendly, though.

This is our go-​to store. We generally enjoy the store, but there is a serious lack in the whiskey department. Matt is a great and knowledgeable salesman, but unfortunately, he doesn’t have the materials to do what he does best. We love a certain brand of whiskey that we originally discovered at this location, which now isn’t carried there due to corporates decision. Which, we ended up going to a competitors store and bought 2 bottles today. Honestly, specs has probably lost some loyal customers…

Other locations have a larger variety, so if you are used to getting a certain champagne or other beverage… do yourself a favor and call here before you drive. I was looking for Seagram’s Escapes… none here… today.

Their staff is not the most knowledgeable. They don’t seem to know much about wine, beer or alcohol. Their store is has a large inventory, which is a blessing and a curse considering their staff isn’t much of a resource.
They have a decent wine selection, but it seems like come Friday night all of the «sale» wine items are out of stock.
That being said, they have decent prices, and they give you a slight discount if you pay with cash or debit.

Best place to get your alcohol on… great prices and excellent customer service. Only wish we could buy alcohol on sundays…

Just phoned the Spec’s in Bee Cave to inquire about some wine crates and to see if they have a wine I have been searching for. John was the «wine specialist» I spoke with. When I explained what I was looking for, he looked it up and said he couldn’t find it. I then told him it was a California wine and very curtly he replied, «Well, it’s not coming up on our radar Ma’am so I don’t know what to tell you.» He could have said, «Do have any more information on it… or let me do some leg-​work on this.» etc. What a jerk. I won’t be calling this store anymore.
To add to this… I phoned another wine store Wine Traders in the same area and spoke with Lori. She was awesome and is going to try to track this wine down for me. :)

Specs-​the best way to forget your troubles :)

I have been coming to this particular Spec’s more than ever before. It’s not as conveinent as the oodles of Twin Liquor locations that seem to be on every corner but it is along my route home & I’ve discovered that this one is WAY less crowded than the big South Austin Spec’s in the Sunset Valley area (290/​Brodie Ln). The actual location itself is hard to find if you don’t frequent the Southpark Meadows mega-​shopping land. Located behind Sam’s Club, there are lots of trees & other objects that hides it & makes it hard to see when passing in the area.
Sure the selection isn’t as vast as the big Spec’s but they do have everything you need to ensure a good time. Their wine & spirits selection is decent & they do have a generous selection of Texas liquors proudly displayed throughout the store.
The beer selection here is great as well & have a wide variety of the different craft beers. My only complaint is that they do have a small «make your own» shelf of beer singles but it’s usually empty & rarely have anything worth checking out.
They also don’t have quite as big a selection of the «finer foods» & you would need to go to the Spec’s Mothership for a better variety in this category.
There you have it! If you live in South Austin or upper Hays County & looking for toothpix & other such vices, this Spec’s is definitely worth checking out.

Selection, selection, selection!
Awesome finds:
1) Magic Hat #9 (Vermont beer)
2) Quilmes (Argentinean beer)
3) Amy’s cheese-​less pizza (for those of us who cannot eat cheese/​dairy)
Get a Spec’s card for their weekly deals.
If you pay with cash or debit card it’s a little cheaper (than using a credit card).

This Spec’s seems to have gone downhill a bit since it opened. I like their prices for Sam Adams 12 packs but they have difficulty keeping the seasonals in stock yet strangely seem to have excess amounts of the seasonal that just went out of season. For example, if you like Summer Ale they won’t have 12 packs now but will have tons in September.
The customer service is fair-​poor. The most the sales staff will do is look up if they do or do not have something in stock. They don’t have much expertise or recommendations. Frustratingly, they also never offer to order a beer you want for you, they just tell you they don’t have it.
Overall, good selection, inconsistently stocked, warehouse-​like service.

Decent liquor store. Not as cheap as the one attached to Costco, but way cheaper than the little small shops.

Fair prices and a massive selection of beer, wine, liquor, and a variety of food items makes Spec’s a good place to do your booze shopping. Some of the locations have full delis while others get the food delivered daily from the Deli locations.

It doesn’t matter what city I am in, Spec’s rocks my world. They simply go above and beyond. They’re not only a liquor store, but a gourmet grocery and gift shop. They host wine tastings, cheese tastings, beer tastings… they genuinely want you to enjoy shopping their and they make it a mission to make you comfortable. I refuse to buy my booze anywhere other than Spec’s…guess I can’t leave Texas… ever!
Plus, they have the lowest prices:)

My awesome bartender at Charlie’s randomly gave me a leather and studded Absolut Vodka sleeve. It looked like the kind of sleeve that would be most at home in a seedy S&M dungeon, or a Waffle House. Having been to neither, I am assuming they are sort of the same thing.
Therefore, I immediately needed a bottle of Absolut to fit the S&M inspired leather sleeve. These are real dilemmas, I promise.
I had a gift card to Spec’s left over from my birthday. Thank you, Lisha and Kim. You get me. I love you both.
I went inside, found the Absolut, and went to the check out. Before I had her ring it up, I made her put the cover on to make sure it fit. I may have said something about having a date at The Chain Drive later. While friendly, she seemed remarkably unfazed by any of this, which admittedly took a little bit of the fun out of it.
I asked for the cash price even if I was using the gift card. No dice. Doesn’t hurt to ask.
I left the store with a bottle of liquor that even ol’ «Chains and Whips Excite Me» Rihanna would be proud of. It also kind of looked like a giant, painful sex toy.
Thank you for your patience, Spec’s.

My most favorite Spec’s on the planet, the customer service is A plus, the cashiers are always smiling and talkative and there is always someone on hand to help me out when I need a hand. Most often that would be in the humidor with their incredible cigar selection, they have fresh, quality cigars here and keep my kind, the Acids, well stocked.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, they have so much of everything, not just a little bit of everything, but a huge selection of any alcoholic beverage you could want. There has never been a time when I went to the cooler and there wasn’t an employee who approached me to discuss beer. The employees who work the beer area really know their products and are beer lovers just like me, they often give great suggestions of new beers to try as well.
They also have a good selection of specialty high end foods and frozen gourmet foods. I only recently started trying them out and found the frozen foods to be a hidden gem at this store. The alcohol prices are excellent and they are constantly having specials where you can get great specials on beer samplers near the front of the store, in that same area you’ll find short run beer batches as well that are at a reduced price.
Their wine prices are the best around, you can consistently find wines rated in the early 90s for the lowest prices I’ve seen, even for online. I will continually go here for the low prices, great selection and the stellar customer service.

My neighborhood liquor store — yay! Fiends of mine from Kerrville were visiting & I took them here, they were amazed at the size. They were in search of wines on the Consumer Reports magazine list of recommended wines under $ 15 and found 6 or 7 of them (with some help, she was very nice).
It’s far enough away from the rest of the plaza to make it an easy in & out, except on Saturday now that there’s a kids gym place next store (can you say driving nightmare?)
You should be able to find what you need here, and with a key card and cash or debit card payment you get a 5%break

Update… I take off one star because of what we were told last night.
We went to Specs because of the cleanliness, selection, and location and encountered a worker there names Travis. He claimed to have tried at least half of the beer selection in the store, which was impressive, so we believed what he said and suggested, at the time, that is.
We were looking for Black Sheep Beer, which my cousin Mike highly recommended. We could not find it in this store so we asked Travis about it.
Travis told us that Texas does not even get it here.
False.
They sell it at the Spec’s Brodie location.
He then told us to try this Pipeline Kona beer because it is seasonal and tastes just like a beer frappaccino type thing…
Wrong again.
The reason I am bothered by this is because he spent A LOT of time with us only to strike out on everything he said.
I am rather happy, though, because I got some great wine there and Edame cheese (which I found on my own).
I love Specs and do not mean to sound like a jerk but when you go to a staff member there and they straight out tell you incorrect information, well, there is something to be said about that.
I am sure Travis is a hard worker and a stand up person, he was very friendly, but I am going to avoid asking a salesperson for any tips or help from this point out in that store.
I do not want to judge, blame, or insult Travis or the store in any way, though; because he was very easy to talk to and seemed like a highly likable person.
Cheers! :)

Every-​time someone asks me what spec’s is I describe it as the Toys R Us for adults. You walk in to what first comes off as a grocery store but dedicated to booze. I love it because I can go in, get what I am looking for and buy something new that I have never tried.
The best thing to do is pay in cash and have your specs card. This way you can buy for cheap because of the discounts that come with both things. Every year when we have our summer boat party we come here to get the booze because it is simply the cheapest and easiest way to get it done.

They’re not splitting the atom at Spec’s but it’s pretty clear that they know what they’re doing: this late iteration of the formula sticks to what they do best: lots and lots and lots of offerings from the boutique to the behemoth, tastings, quirky and ethnic food offerings and the occasional cigar and fun specials.
We’ve been pretty lucky in that we always seem to come away with something worthwhile here, whether that’s via dumb luck or by hunting something specific. I’ve found the staff in this location to be generally pretty helpful in my trips in. It’s not the most convenient location from where I am most days, so that is what it is, but if I’m in the Southpark Meadows area and need to pick up that bottle best poised to make for a fun night, Spec’s delivers.