"Bar Month" at OnMilwaukee.com – brought to you by Hornitos, OR-G, Party Armor, Red Stag, Absolut, Fireball and Malibu – is back for another round! The whole month of February, we're serving up intoxicatingly fun articles on bars and clubs – including guides, the latest trends, bar reviews and more. Grab a designated driver and dive in!
After the corner bar, nothing speaks of a Milwaukee neighborhood more than its liquor store. Heading through the Third Ward out of Downtown, the first Walker's Point liquor store you'll come to is also one of its best, Fine Vineyard, 601 S. 1st St.
Located in a high-traffic crossroads of the neighborhood, Fine Vineyard is part of the Walker's Point Plaza, which runs between South 1st and 2nd Streets. Owned and operated by Rakesh Rehan, the liquor store used to be called Martha's Vineyard, which Rehan managed from when it opened in 2003 until he bought the store in 2008, when he also changed its name.
"The name change was at the suggestion of my accountant, in case of any potential conflicts. Also, everybody knows where the real Martha's Vineyard is," says Rehan.
Rehan and his Fine Vineyard staff pride themselves on having a lot of hard-to-find liquor, including Canton ginger brandy and St. Germain from France, Barenjager honey liqueur from Germany and Tuaca citrus and vanilla liqueur from Italy. Fine Vineyard also has the largest selection of Efe Turkish Raki in Milwaukee. All brands and bottles of Efe Raki sell for $26.99 and sit on the shelf next to Metaxa Ouzo, also not always easy to find.
The liquor store also specializes in high-end, single malt Scotch, carrying brands such as the 1792 Ridgemont Reserve, and single barrel whiskeys, like Willett rye.
Rehan says they always run wine and liquor specials. Some of the current specials include Ciroc peach vodka for $29.99, Bacardi liters for $14.99 and wines on sale from $3.99 to $20, such as Cupcake and Barefoot.
"I'm a big beer, wine and liquor guy. I'm selling what I know," says Rehan.
Rehan indeed knows his way around his alcoholic beverages, but he also knows people and takes care of his customers, knowing many by name and carrying on conversations about various wines and liquors while keeping the beer sales going.
On a recent visit, he transitioned from talking about the new High West double rye whiskey (sells for $34.99) with a customer fortunate to have a wallet full enough for his discerning tastes to talking with one of this author's Walker's Point neighbors about the price and quality differences of low-end vodka sold behind the counter (25 cents / no real difference in taste).
Fine Vineyard has 200 micro and specialty beers for sale. Rehan added the specialty cooler two years ago, covering a window in the process. Lagunitas products, Furthermore, Tyranena from Lake Mills and Ale Asylum from Madison are just the tip of the beer case's cooling fan (or the proverbial iceberg).
A couple of interesting current offerings in the specialty case are Dale's Pale Ale, which bills itself as, "America's first hand-canned craft beer," from Oskar Blues Brewery of Colorado. The other is Alaskan Brewing Company's Amber Alt Style Ale (as well as its IPA), making its Milwaukee debut.
Actually, this is the first time Alaskan Brewing's beers have been sold east of the Mississippi River.
The specialty cooler also contains the full product lines of New Glarus, New Belgium, Bell's and Great Lakes, as well as the neighbor's line at Milwaukee Brewing Company, 613 S. 2nd St.
Fine Vineyard has all the usual big brewery suspects from Miller and Budweiser as well as your favorite Mexican imports.
The top of one beer case is an all-British section, with Guinness pub cans and Harp, plus a variety of ciders from all over. This selection includes the popular Crispin cider as well as lesser-known Ace, from the California Cider Company.
But to Rehan, what really makes Fine Vineyard unique is that it contains the only walk-in wine cellar in Milwaukee. The wine room is climate-controlled, keeping down humidity and maintaining a constant 60 degrees.
"This means we can keep vintage wines here – and in excellent condition," says Rehan.
Fine Vineyard was once also known for its quirky, lewd or just oddly shaped liquor bottles, but the distributor who supplied these has gone out of business. Rehan has some of these bottles remaining, from dolphins and shoes to elephants, behind the counter.
While perhaps not entirely replacing anyone's need for specially shaped liquor bottles, Fine Vineyard is carrying the new Kah tequila, which comes in skull-shaped bottles decorated in Day of the Dead themes.
If he's not in Fine Vineyard and he's not bringing pizza home to his kids from fellow Walker's Point Plaza tenant Sean Henninger at Times Square, Rehan is usually in his restaurant, Cafe India, which is also in Walker's Point Plaza.
In addition to Times Square Bistro and Pizzeria (which also houses Henninger's Atomic Chocolate Company) the plaza is home to Gyros Palace and Sarina's Deli, as well as a Mobil gas station and an oil change shop.
Fine Vineyard is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. 365 days a year.
Royal has taught courses in critical pedagogy, writing, rhetoric and cultural studies at several schools in Wisconsin and Minnesota. He is currently Adjunct Associate Professor of Humanities at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.
Royal lives in Walker’s Point with his family and uses the light of the Polish Moon to illuminate his way home.
