Monarch Offers Massive Microbrew Options

Open for 16 years on Long Beach Boulevard, Monarch Beverage has developed a large and loyal customer base — no thanks to the generic likings of Budweiser or Coors Light.

Owner Mike Lisi is proud to provide a product above par for his beer shoppers, offering a flavor for any taste bud by stocking nearly 1,000 different ales and lagers. This massive microbrew collection tops off Monarch’s stock of typical beverage barn products like domestic beers, soda, cigarettes and Lotto.

"Everybody carries the staples," Lisi said. "The craft industry is for people who want something better. You might eat hamburger, but you'll want something special on top of it. You can't just eat a regular hamburger every night. I bring customers something different."

According to Lisi, microbrews, or craft beers, are specially made in smaller batches through a slow brewing process without chemical additions like those made in larger breweries. Such beers emphasize quality of product rather than mass production.

"Larger companies add chemicals to speed up the process just to make it," Lisi added. "Craft beers are made with passion. The brewers are like mad scientists trying to create something new."

In Monarch’s extensive inventory customers can choose from all things American in craft IPAs, craft pale ales, craft cider, craft wheat beer, craft porters, and craft brown ales, as well as Australian, German, Polish, Spanish and English craft beers, just to name a few.

"The microbrew category is on fire right now," Lisi explained. "People love better beer. I believe in it, and I know that better beer is really better than the mass produced products."

Seasonal products are a hot item at Monarch Beverage. The store is winding down to its final stock of fall ales, like the popular Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin or Sam Adams Oktoberfest.

"In the last two years, pumpkin spice ale has blown up," Lisi said of the fall favorite. "It's really become more popular than any Oktoberfest.”

Lisi added that in recent weeks, Delirium Noel and Goose Island Christmas Ale, both darker flavors, seem to be flying off the shelves for the holiday season, along with the Magnum Christmas ale dating back to 2008 and 2009.

Lisi operates two locations, and though the Long Beach store is much larger, the spot in West Hempstead offers the same collection.

The Long Beach location is open Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.