Patrons of Johnson City’s Wegmans grocery store might be surprised and perhaps overwhelmed to find themselves in the rear left corner of the store. Thinking they’re in a specialty beer shop, they can peruse the well-stocked shelves and find an incredible selection of beer. Germany, Belgium, Great Britain and Canada are represented, as are dozens of American craft breweries.

Eldon Wise, merchandising manager of the Johnson City Wegmans, was instrumental in the expansion of the store’s beverage center. He was able to take advantage of the experiences of other Wegmans grocery stores and avoided many of the challenges they faced.

“Big distributors need to stock more variety,” Wise said. “There are more people now with a taste for microbrews, and big distributors need to meet this demand.”

Standard American and Canadian brews are located in the first set of enclosed coolers, where the Budweiser, Coors, Labatt and Molson fans will find their wares.

Just to the left of this area is the large, walk-in cooler stocked with unconventional sizes of cans and bottles. This is the destination for those seeking six-packs of 16-ounce “pounder” cans, 750-milliliter Foster’s cans, 22-ounce bottles and the ever-popular 40 ounce.

The walk-in cooler also houses 5-liter “party kegs” of Heineken, Heine Light and a great German lager named Warsteiner that calls itself “Eine K√É.√∂nigin unter den Bieren” — A King Among Beers.

Outside and to the left of this area is another enclosed cooler comprised of chilled American craft brews. Magic Hat, Sam Adams, Anchor Steam and Harpoon, among many others, can be procured in this area, and because they are already cold, they are ready for nearly immediate consumption.

Next to this is a very long open cooler with a myriad of chilled six-packs and half-cases of bottles organized on the shelves by country of origin. There is also a fantastic collection of individual bottles for those thirsting after a new treat, including various German hefe- and dunkelweizens and specialty English ales. This cooler also houses a number of terrific Belgian beers such as 750-milliliter bottle-conditioned Trappist Ale and Saison, and the surprisingly un-beer-like Lambic.

In the far rear left corner, the craft beer advocate will find a selection and organization of beverages unrivaled by your typical grocery store. Here the beers are categorized by region of production — Northeast, East Coast Craft/Micro and West Coast Craft/Micro — but the true gem is the shelf labeled “New York Craft/Microbrew.”

This section contains many products of some great New York breweries. Rochester’s J.W. Dundee, Long Island’s Blue Point Brewing Company, NYC’s Brooklyn Brewery, Saratoga Spring’s Sacket’s Harbor and Syracuse’s Monty Python-inspired Middle Ages Brewing Co. are all represented.

Wise likes to highlight his favorite beers in the “Manager’s Pick” portion of this area.

“My favorites are the seasonal beers,” he said. “ They’re an exciting introduction to new beers … I get pretty giddy over that.”

Other local favorites on the shelves are Southern Tier Brewing, Ithaca Brewing Company and Utica’s own terrific line of Saranac beers. This section has the capacity to quench even the strongest thirst of the die-hard “locavore” and is worth checking out during every Wegmans visit.