Best place to buy alcohol?

[marty359]

I dont drink alcohol but I need enough beer and wine for 40 guests over in Italy for 1 night.The cars going on a train all the way to Livorno so I can fill it with beer but wheres the cheapest place to buy it?

Sainsburys and Tescos seem to be doing some good deals at the moment or is there still good deals to be had at Calais hypermarket type thingys? Last time we went to Florence bottled beer was 5 Euros so I wont be buying it thereWe've got an unlimited free American bar for 5 hours for the guests on the wedding night but they wont supply just the beer and wine for the night before without having a fully staffed bar brought in.

Any ideas? the people sorting stuff out over there just say buy it from the supermarket.

 

[davidjpowell]

last time we were in France we were not impressed by the prices and/or quality compared to Tesco. We will if we go again go here Majestic Wine in France - Homepage - you can preorder and compare prices from the comfort of your home.

 

[LTD]

I work in the Off Trade and can confirm that supermarkets often offer stupidly cheap prices on beer and wine.

This is usually to get you into the store and is very often sold at a loss vs. normal trade price. The reason for this is retro-bonus. Instead of taking a cash bonus for hitting volume targets they take stock and turn it into cash and draw you into the store to buy your weekly shop.

Keep an eye on Costco too as their promotions can also be worth taking advantage of. You will need membership or need to know someone who is a member.

If the car is going direct to Livorno, will you get the chance to fill it at Calais ?

 

[jonnyboy]

i see your comments about 5 euros per bottle, i presume you are talking about bar prices.
my advice would be this:-
go to a supermarket when you get there. you need to go wherever the locals go
we went to a supermarket in may there (in florence), i cant find the receipt for the address but we think the chain was a "crai". iirc we bought a bucketload of pop, wine, beer, fruit etc and spent 40 euro's, it was the one with an underground car park.
my (fluent in italian ) wife's comment was "to buy italian wine other than in italy is just plain stupid" is not bad advice.
we sometimes strike a deal for bulk with a supermarket local to where we are (avoiding the IVA - their VAT) but you need to know what you want (tested) before you try to do a deal otherwise you will end up with a load of old sh*te.....
out of interest, we were at a wedding nr florence in may, the service was in Fiesole but we actually stayed further afield, iirc it was near Olmo, the hotel was called Il Trebbiolo.
If you are staying in an agriturismo, try do do a deal with the owners?
Oh, and while you are htere, you simply MUST go to the Villa San Michele. Incredibly expensive, prohibitively so if you are that way inclined, but absolutely worth the trip uphill for the photo opportunities :-

 

[KillerHERTZ]

 

[marty359]

Thanks for all the info, its great this forum and been very handy over the years

Ive got a bit of searching to do on the net for these places.

Jonny, I think we may of stopped off at the place in the picture on one of our visits months back when it was cold and raining, four of us had tea and coffee and they brought out loads of nice cakes and the bill came to roughly £50

That little vid made me laugh, im sat in the reception of a hotel in Ashford and thought whats he doing then burst out laughing.

 

[RoseTattoo]

Thanks for all the info, its great this forum and been very handy over the years

Ive got a bit of searching to do on the net for these places.

Jonny, I think we may of stopped off at the place in the picture on one of our visits months back when it was cold and raining, four of us had tea and coffee and they brought out loads of nice cakes and the bill came to roughly £50

That little vid made me laugh, im sat in the reception of a hotel in Ashford and thought whats he doing then burst out laughing.

Cannot understand why you would not go into any Italian supermarket and stock up. Prices are competitive and for the sake of a few Euro here or there why bother lugging so much around?