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The best craft beer shops in Southampton

January 1, 2018 by Tom Hallett Leave a Comment

Looking for craft beer shops and specialist bottle shops in Southampton? Find out where to buy craft beer to drink at home in this guide.

With five breweries and a glut of excellent pubs and bars in the city, the Southampton craft beer scene is booming.

Yet, it’s still pretty difficult to get hold of decent craft beer in the city’s supermarkets and off licences – in many of them, all you’ll find is the usual uninspiring mix of beers from big brands and a few better-known independents.

Luckily, there’s a handful of excellent bottle shops and craft beer shops in Southampton. Some bars, pubs and tap rooms do craft beer take outs too.

Here are the best craft beer shops in Southampton, plus a list of the breweries, micropubs and bars that do off sales.

Looking for draught beer to take out? See my guide on where to buy draught craft beer and real ale to take away in Hampshire.

The best craft beer shops in Southampton

Bitter Virtue (Portswood)

Opened in 1997, Bitter Virtue is Southampton’s original real ale and craft beer shop.

The shop is run by Chris Brown and Ann Binns, who are two of the most knowledgeable people you’ll ever likely to meet when it comes to beer. It’s situated in a residential area with easy parking between Portswood and the city centre.

Bitter Virtue stocks hundreds, probably thousands, of bottled and canned beers from the UK, Europe and the USA. You’ll also find a few ciders and even mead.

Bitter Virtue European beers at Bitter Virtue Vibrant Forest beer at Bitter Virtue

As well as local bottled and canned craft beer and real ale, there are usually two local cask beers available to take away. You can pre-order 18-pint and 36-pint bag-in-a-box polypins from Bowman Ales and Red Cat Brewing.

  • Opening times: Tuesday-Saturday 10.30am-8.30pm, Sunday 10.30am-2pm (closed Monday)
  • Address: Bitter Virtue, 70 Cambridge Road, Southampton, SO14 6US
  • Phone number: 023 8055 4881
  • Email: enquiries@bittervirtue.co.uk
  • Website: bittervirtue.co.uk

You might also like: The ultimate guide to Southampton’s craft beer bars and real ale pubs

Casks and Corks (Shirley)

Casks and Corks is a specialist beer and wine shop located between Southampton Common and Shirley Road. (It was formerly known as the Booze Shack.)

Inside, you’ll find a vast selection of mostly UK craft beers and real ales in cans and bottles. Local breweries are well represented and there’s lots of chilled beer if you want to get on it straight away. Staff are friendly, knowledgable and up for a chat.

Craft beer bottles at Casks and Corks Cans of craft beer at Casks and Corks

Like Bitter Virtue, this off-licence also offers draught real ales and craft beers on cask and keg including beer from Southampton’s Tap It Brewing Co.

Cask and Corks offers delivery locally through Deliveroo. There’s a good selection of snacks that go well with beer too.

  • Opening times: Sunday-Thursday 12-10pm and Friday and Saturday 12-11pm
  • Address: 3 St James Road, Southampton, SO15 5FB
  • Phone number: 07933 366655
  • Email: info@casksandcorks.com
  • Website: facebook.com/BoozeShack

Beers and Bottles

The Portswood area of Southampton is blessed with two craft beer shops – as well as Bitter Virtue, there’s also Beers and Bottles on Portswood Road.

This family-run off-licence stocks craft beers in bottles and cans from local and UK breweries such as Beavertown, Unity Brewing Co, Siren, Northern Monk, Buxton, Vibrant Forest, Red Cat and Arbor.

A post shared by Sam Eddy (@sameddy95) on Nov 19, 2016 at 1:02pm PST

There’s also some local real ales and a small selection of German and Belgian bottled beers.

Like Casks and Corks, Beers and Bottles offers local delivery through Deliveroo.

  • Opening times: Monday-Thursday 11am-11pm and Friday-Sunday 11am-12am
  • Address: 5 The Broadway, Portswood Road, Southampton, SO17 2WE
  • Phone number: 07856 150892
  • Email: info@beersandbottles.co.uk
  • Website: beersandbottles.co.uk

Oaktree Road Stores (Bitterne Park)

Oaktree Road Stores is a mid-sized convenience store, which trades under the Londis name.

Although Londis is owned by Tesco, all Londis stores are independently run and don’t have to buy all of their stock from their parent company. Hence why Oaktree Road Stores is able to stock a modest selection of craft beers.

The choice here is nowhere near as vast as at Bitter Virtue, Casks and Corks or Beers and Bottles and there aren’t usually many beers from local breweries.

However, there’s still a decent mix of mostly UK craft beers in cans and bottles with beers from the likes of Wild Beer, Tiny Rebel and Beavertown. It certainly beats what’s available in your average convenience store.

  • Opening times: Monday-Friday 7am-10pm
  • Address: 157 Oaktree Road, Bitterne Park, Southampton, SO18 1PB
  • Phone number: 023 8055 8320
  • Email: Unknown
  • Website: facebook.com/londisoaktree

You might also like: Beer tasting tips for beginners from some of Hampshire’s top brewers

Cloud Wine

Primarily a well-stocked wine and spirits store, Cloud Wine carries a few craft beers from local breweries and is worth popping into if you can’t get to any of shops already mentioned.

There’s beers from Unity, Red Cat and Dancing Cows. That’s about it currently.

  • Opening times: Monday-Thursday 9am-9.30pm, Friday 9am-10pm, Saturday 10-10pm and Sunday 12-9.30pm
  • Address: 45 Bedford Place, Southampton, SO15 2DG
  • Phone number: 023 8022 8015
  • Email: shop@cloud-wine.co.uk
  • Website: facebook.com/Cloud-Wine-214411692016998

Breweries, bars and pubs that sell craft beer to take away

As well as the craft beer and bottle shops mentioned above, these breweries, bars and pubs sell draught craft beer to take away in Southampton. Some also sell bottles and cans.

You can find out more about these outlets in the Southampton section of my guide to real ale and craft beer to take away in Hampshire.

  • Belgium and Blues (city centre)
  • Bookshop Alehouse (Portswood)
  • Brewdog (city centre north)
  • Brewhouse and Kitchen (Highfield)
  • Butcher’s Hook (Bitterne Park)
  • Dancing Man Brewery (city centre south)
  • Olaf’s Tun (Woolston)
  • Overdraft (Shirley)
  • Sadler’s Brewhouse and Barbecue (city centre north)
  • Tap It Brewing Co (Northam)
  • Unity Brewing Co (Portswood)

A post shared by The Butcher’s Hook (@butchershookpub) on Aug 20, 2017 at 7:17am PDT

Who’s missing?

Do you know a craft beer shop, bar, pub or brewery that’s missing from this list of places to buy craft beer in Southampton?

Leave a comment below, tweet me or send me an email – tshallett@gmail.com.

Related posts:

  1. Why we’re not making the most of craft keg beer
  2. A mini pub crawl of Portsmouth and Southsea’s craft beer and real ale venues
  3. A taste of Hampshire and beyond at some of Southampton’s newest craft beer bars
  4. The ultimate guide to Southampton’s craft beer bars and real ale pubs – including best pub crawls with maps and directions
  5. Hampshire ales at the Southampton Beer Festival 2015

Filed Under: Craft beer, Food and drink, Hampshire

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