UnKCorked offers a wide range of wine and spirits and has features a cooled, walk-in “beer cave” stocked with beers and seltzers, as well as a tasting bar. 

Industry veterans behind new shop

Owners Eric Noblet and Ian Hulon have worked in the restaurant and liquor industry for more than 30 years. They met as coworkers at distributing company LDF Companies before opening UnKCorked. 

Hulon said they saw a hole in the local market for somewhere that offered both education and good wine at an affordable price, and they wanted to fill that. 

“We also didn’t want to build another place that looked like a lot of the other stores,” Hulon said. “We wanted something unique that also pays a little homage to our restaurant roots.”

The store’s proximity to the apartments and other residential property also makes it convenient to customers, Noblet said, which is helpful during events like last weekend’s AFC Championship game and this week’s snowstorm. 

“We have 350 units above our head and 350 units next door that are all walking distance,” Noblet said. “Our location here is great, which is one of the main focal points that we were working on this past year.”

Noblet said some of the things that make UnKCorked different from the typical liquor store are its atmosphere, its tasting bar and the lesser-known brands the store carries. 

“We’ve had good luck with that people have definitely been open to venturing out and trying some of these brands that they may not have heard of before,” Noblet said.

UnKCorked also plans to offer various feature deals, such as wine clubs and a “cocktail of the moment” package deal that lets customers try a new cocktail and buy the ingredients to make it themselves. 

“It’s a good way for people to kind of bolster their home collections,” Hulon said. “We want to make sure that people that are here every week or every other week get access to all our best products.” 

UnKCorked is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday through Thursday. The store’s weekend hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.