I often hear people griping about having to go to three (or 10 or 12, if they're dramatic) different places to get everything they need for the weekend. "Here for the meat, there for the beer, a whole other store to get the wine!" What a nightmare.
But there is hope, and its name is Marty's Market. Already a destination for local meat and produce, craft coffee and more, Marty's recently upped its one-stop appeal by adding a bottle shop.
"The spirit of the bottle shop is to do for beer what we've done with food," explains Regina Koetters, owner and founder of the Strip District destination. That means creating an atmosphere that celebrates the producer and educates the consumer. Marty's bottle selection, curated by beverage guru Will Groves, highlights local brewers, and Koetters extends those farm-focused sourcing values to beer and other libations. "The most important people aren't in the store," she added. "They're out in the fields."
The bottle shop, which occupies a small but prominent section in the middle of the store, currently carries about 225 varieties in bottles and cans. Marty's plans to increase that number and will rotate the selection frequently as seasonal beers come and go. And though the emphasis is on craft brews, Koetters stresses the desire to "remove the pretension" from beer-buying. In other words, you can also get PBR pounders to pair with your artisanal meats and cheeses.
The bottle shop is just one way Marty's Market is using its newly acquired liquor license. The store already offers a handful of cocktails during lunch and brunch, which features a Bloody Mary made with Boyd & Blair vodka and Clarion River's organic mix, garnished with a house-made beef stick.
It will soon add wine sourced through Lawrenceville's Dreadnought Wines. And when Marty's starts serving dinner, at the end of this month, you can bet it'll have some killer drinks to go with it.
