Jerusalem - Now a Real City!

So I just got back from spending my morning at the National Wine and Alcohol Discount Center on Haoman Street in Talpiot and it was awesome (no, i'm not being paid a dime to write this ;-)! I dropped around 1,000 shek on 3 cases of wine, booze and beer. With 600 square meters of wall to wall booze, this place is like nothing I've ever seen in Israel - and very little I've seen out of Israel (advertising does work - I saw the ad in the JPost this weekend and decided I had to get there and soon).

In addition to the usual wine deals (which in many cases are on par with the best deals in the shuk but not better), I scored some serious deals on liquor and beer. A bottle of Baccardi was only 80 shek (it's routinely 110 in other places). I got a bottle of 12 year old single malt for just over 200 shek - also a great deal for Israel. But the beer prices were far and away the best. Leffes are only 7 1/2 shek. I got a six pack of Grolsch for 32 shek - that's cheaper than Goldstar. And I got a 4 pack of San Miguel for just 24 shek. The one beer I didn't see there was Taybeh (from Palestine) - it's an excellent beer and usually well priced. I mentioned this to the storekeeper and he told me that since they opened less than a month ago, they're stilling filling out their stock.

I also snagged a bottle of New Zealand's Goose Bay Chardonay (included in wine lists in the WSJ and NY Times) for 89 shek - a bottle I have yet to find anywhere else in Israel. Also got some Baron Herzog from Cali for 33 shek - definitely a good price considering it's an import).

All in all, a morning well spent. Israel, you've come a long way - you should only go from strength to strength.