Beer and Wine in downtown Bethesda

Sometimes your wrong and sometimes your WRONG. Recently I posted about Capitol Beer and Wine and said that "there isn't a lot of options for getting packaged beer and wine in downtown Bethesda, MD". Well, that brought on the comments. There may not be as many beer and wine stores as there are banks, but there are still a lot of them, even if you don't include places like Philadelphia Mikes which also sells beer to go. Here is a rundown of the ones I know of.

The first three are very close to each other, all were pointed out by an anonymous commenter.


Bethesda Beer and wine, 8015 Wisconsin Avenue. Located on MD-355 across from the green-roofed Golden House Chinese takeout. Parking in the rear (what could be better?)



Scarcely a block away is the charming Dunmor's Beer & Wine. An old building that really stands out, looks like a throwback to the 30's, complete with a gravel parking lot and a porch. 8013 Woodmont Avenue.



Moving two blocks north you find Woodmont Market, 8227 Woodmont Avenue. One of the newer contenders, I blogged about it before it opened.


Reader waxwing (who also follows me on twitter) pointed out that Lilit Cafe has a large selection of beer and wine. 7921 Old Georgetown Road near the Auburn Avenue Exxon station. There is a parking lot behind it.



Another anonymous commenter mentioned Cork 57 (though not by name). When this first opened I thought it was a lounge for people at the Mercedes-Benz dealer since it is totally surrounded by it. 4910 Bethesda Ave, across from the Giant Food. Looks to me like there are two parking spaces.


There are still more that no one pointed out.


The county liquor store on Hampden Lane sells beer and wine. It has a gate-controlled lot, but I think it is free too.



Bradley Food and Beverage sells the type of beverages that are the subject of this post. And, it is near Bruce Variety and Strosniders Hardware too. 6904 Arlington Road. Parking in the front for the whole strip mall.



Cork and Fork only sells wine but we will include it here too. 7110 Bethesda Lane.



Bethesda Chevy Chase Beer & Wine, right next to Vace's Italian Deli and the Sandy Spring Bank ends this roundup. 4701 Miller Avenue, a couple of parking spots in the front.

Then there is the previously mentioned, coming soon, Capitol Beer and Wine.

Did I miss any? I sure hope not, but if I did, let me know about them. Do you have a favorite?

Everybody needs a place to park.

This morning I saw something vaguely unusual, there were four police cars parked in front of the fountain at Bethesda Metro Station. There didn't seem to be a burning emergency as they didn't have their lights on, there weren't any ambulances or fire trucks, and I could see three of the cops conversing near the top of the escalator. Twitter and the WMATA alerts are also quiet so I guess nothing big is going on. I wonder how long they will stay.

Capitol Beer and Wine coming to Bethesda

Norfolk Avenue is getting a beer and wine store. I never really noticed, but there isn't a lot of options for getting packaged beer and wine in downtown Bethesda, MD. This will soon change with the coming of Capitol Beer and Wine. It will be located were Limon's Jewelers used to be, right next to the Corner Slice. I saw them busy fixing up the outside of the place last week.

Flushing the fire hydrants

I was walking up Elm Street and saw a lot of water running down the gutter. As I got further along I see they are flushing a fire hydrant out by Mama Lucia's. It is a pretty good stream of water coming through it. It makes me want to put on a bathing suit and splash in the water.

[where: Bethesda, MD]

Taylor Gourmet coming to Bethesda

Taylor Gourmet is a sandwich shop that currently has two locations, both in DC. By mid-July they should have a new location open at 7820 Woodmont Avenue in Bethesda, MD. This is right on the corner of Woodmont Ave and Elm St in the new Equinox Fitness building. I have never been to Taylor Gourmet but judging by the comments I have read it seems like a good place and I am looking forward to trying it.

(via Prince of Petworth)

You can see the full coverage about this construction project.

Laying New Fiber?

For most of the day people were out digging holes in the road at Wisconsin Avenue and East-West Highway in Bethesda, MD. They had a lane of traffic blocked of on each of those roads during the middle of the day. It looks to me like they still have work to do so I expect they will be back today.

The question is "What are they doing?" I think I know. There are lots of orange lines painted on the road and alongside the road and many of them have a little flag that says "AboveNet, Caution, Fiber Optic Cable Buried Below" I think they are putting in some new fiber.

I also saw the flags on Montgomery Lane near Arlington Road so they may be in the area for a few days with this project.

D. Gilpin jewelers on the corner of St. Elmo Avenue and Woodmont Avenue is closing at the end of the month. The owners, Denny and Dalia Gilpin are retiring after almost 30 years in the business. Until March 31st, everything is 50% off so if you are in Bethesda, MD in the next week or so, drop by and take a look.

Norky's gone, King Kabob coming

Right along Old Georgetown Road near Arlington Rd here in Bethesda, MD there was a chicken place called Norky's. I noticed this morning that it is gone but that there is already another restaurant lined up. King Kabob & Pizza with Kabobs, Pizza, Calzones, subs, sandwiches, salads, and wings will be opening soon.

It's a crab!

I occasionally here people ask about what that huge neon sign on the building at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and East-West highway in Bethesda, MD is. Well, the building is the Crescent Building and the neon sculpture is a crab! No really it is, I'm serious. It is a little bit abstract but you can kinda see the circle being the body and the squiggly lines being the legs. It isn't something I would put on any of my office buildings (if I had any) but at least it is distinctive.

Snow still melting a month later

The snowpacalypse was on February 6 then we had another big snow then exactly one month ago on the 10th we had another one. It seems like it has been longer than a month, but I am still cleaning up from it. The warm temperatures over the past few days have really made the snow melt. There are still lots of little piles scattered around, mostly in areas that are always in shadows. A week and a half ago I posted a story about large piles of snow in a parking lot that I saw here in Bethesda, MD. Well, I thought I would check back in on them and see how they are doing.


This snow has been melting constantly for weeks now. The low temperatures have been above freezing the past few nights and the highs have been in the 50's or 60's. Even with all that, there are still some good sized piles of snow left. It is melting quickly though, I came by on Monday and that orange and white construction barrel on the left was still lying on snow then. This lot is on St Elmo Avenue if you want to go by and see for yourself.

For comparison, here is how it looked on February 26th, just a week and a half ago. If you look closely you can see the top of the construction barrel on the left.

Anyone want to make a bet on when the last of the snow is gone?

Update 3/24: I went by there this morning and it is really, truly, totally gone. The only reminder it was there are small piles of light colored sand.