In 1983, a Henrietta resident bought a small beverage company in Batavia with a vision for building a chain of stores that would offer customers a wide selection of handcrafted and imported beers.
Batavia Beverage Corporation became Angotti Beverage Corporation and Tony Angotti was on a path toward what is now three stores in the Rochester region, including the widely known Beers of the World in Henrietta.
That success has landed Angotti the prestigious honor of Small Business Person of the Year for the area's 14-county Small Business Administration district.
The Democrat & Chronicle published a story about Angotti today.
"I've always been a nut for imported beers and something different," he said Tuesday. "I always dreamed of something different, something that was not available in upstate New York. So I started bringing in beers, sometimes obscure beers, that nobody knew anything about and some are very well-known brands today."
...
"The population today is not like it was years ago when our fathers and grandfathers used to go a bar and say 'give me a beer' and didn't even know what they were getting," Angotti said. "To them a beer was a beer. But today we have a very sophisticated drinking population that is looking for something unique, something different."
Boy does that picture bring
Boy does that picture bring back memories. It was like a candy store for the recently turned eighteen year old. My favorite was Phenix Beer, after you paid the deposit on the bottles and case, I think it was seventy five cents, a switchout was only $2.99. Yes children, that's not a typo, a case of Phenix Beer was $2.99 at Batavia Beverages in 1972. I loved that place. Does anyone know where Phenix Beer was brewed? I, obviously, never cared enough to read the label.
Phoenix was brewed in
Phoenix was brewed in Buffalo. http://www.buffaloah.com/h/jablonski/breweries/index.html
And Angotti's is still like a candy store for me.
No question Angotti's has the
No question Angotti's has the best selection...but you have to be careful because a lot of their beer is Oooooooooold.
Check the dates if they have them...not all beer is meant to be aged.
That said, I shop there regularly.