There are two places that I have to stop every time I go through East Dubuque, IL. The first place is Mulgrew's for a foot long chili dog, and the other place is Van's Liquor Store to pick up some good bargains on beer and wine.
Van's has been around since the mid 30's, started by John Vanderah. Vanderah's family sold the store to Ron Jansen in the late 80's. Van's was originally on the infamous Sinsinawa St. until about 7 or 8 years ago when they moved to their present and much larger location on Highway 20 just over the Mississippi River bridge from Dubuque (see map).
(As an aside - Sinsinawa St. is known for the number of strip joints and late night bars that stay open until about 4 a.m. Here's a picture of Sinsinawa Street looking north with Mulgrew's on the left.)
Van's has long been known as being a great place to get good wine at good prices. I've bought a number of bottles of wine at Van's over the years, but I usually gravitate more toward their beer selection when I go in.
Van's has a large selection of both domestic and imported beer, along with a good selection of regional and micro-brewed beer in stock. They usually have great prices on hard to find beers from the Capital Brewery and on Special Export bottles.
For the "do-it-yourselfer", Van's carries a large amount of home brewing essentials. I've always wanted to brew my own beer, but it's somewhat messy, smelly and time consuming. I'm not certain that Cindy would let me use our hot tub in the basement bathroom to brew beer in.
Their wine selection - for an area the size of Dubuque - rivals some of the wine and liquor stores I've found in much larger cities. Ron Jansen's son (whose first name escapes me, I want to say it's Jerry) has turned me on to some pretty good wines, including the B.R. Cohn Cabernet, the Meridian Merlot, and the Hess Select Chardonnay, which is a very good value for a crisp white wine.
They usually have wines available at any time for tasting. The younger Jansen is always there to help with wine selections and I thoroughly trust his judgment because he's never steered me wrong.
And their prices on wine are extremely reasonable. They usually have some of the lowest prices on wine (outside of Sam's Wine in the Chicago area) in the Midwest.
Van's also has a large selection of liquor including a great selection of vodka's and tequilas. They have mixers, snacks, cheese and a number of items for the weekend boaters who come in by the droves to stock up before they hit the river.
And Van's also stocks high priced cognacs, brandies, and liqueurs. They had a $1000 dollar bottle of cognac on display in the case one time. I once asked if they ever sold a bottle of that stuff and I was told that, yes, one time a guy won a ton of money on the Diamond Jo Casino boat over across the river in Dubuque and came over and bought a bottle. I suppose if I had money to burn, I'd give it a shot, too.
Van's is large and spacious, it's clean and well-lit. There's a very small parking lot up front that is very had to maneuver around in if you have a larger car, but they have a larger parking lot across the street. They have guys that will help carry out cases of beer or wine to your car. I always flip 'em a buck or two for their help.
Van's is great, one of the better liquor stores in the Midwest - both for selection and for price. It's worth the stop if you ever get through the Dubuque area.
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