Best bottle shop in twin cities?

Trying to go in order of proximity to Blaine here:

Northgate Liquors in Blaine on Main St & Hwy 55 (Central Ave)
Northgate Liquors in Andover
Rapids Liquors in **** Rapids off of Hwy 10 & Foley Blvd
Top Value Liquors on 49th & Central (just south of 694)
Central Liquors on 25 & Central
Rum River Wine & Spirits in Ramsey

Any of these you will have to ask for any special releases - they usually don't have them in sight.
All have pretty decent selections - some will have what the others don't.
Central Liquors will probably have the freshest Surly.
Rapids Liquors I find to be on the higher end - they always seem to be a buck more for everything, but they have a lot of singles.

If you can't find what you want at those places you'll have to drive to the bigger stores:
Heritage Liquors in Maplewood
Zips in South Mpls
France 44 in Edina
Four Firkins in St. Louis Park
Casanova in Hudson WI

I'm sure I left someone out though.

Good Hunting!

 

Princeton's in Maple Grove.

 

Yea, don't know how I forgot - was just there yesterday
This would be right in the middle proximity wise.
A little higher $ than most, but they have a wide selection - singles - and Steel Toe!

Should've read Main St & Hwy 65 (Central Ave) - my bad...

 

Zipps is probably a good place to stop on your way, also hit town hall as it is right there.

 

Coffee Bender, Overrated, Bitter Brewer (great session ale)
I'm not a big fan of their other offerings at this time...others will surely (Surly?) disagree

Abrasive is in a class by itself, though not in season right now.
You can still find it (3/4/13 canning).
While still good...definitely not what it can be fresh - or with less than a couple of months on it.

 

I enjoy all of Surly's offerings. Right now you should seek out Furious, Bender, Coffee Bender, Cynic and Hell. If you can find kinda fresh Overrated pick that up. It's a great IPA, although it doesn't get much love, I enjoy it as much as Furious, even though it's a very different brew. Coffee Bender is awesome. If you can stop by the Surly Tap room, Urine Trouble is great. Also, Seviin should be found if you are interested.

As others have mentioned, pick up some Steel Toe at Ale Jail or Four Firkins (and others according to the Steel Toe Website) if you are an IPA fan Steel Toe Size 7 is wonderful.

Deschutes Fresh Squeezed is great if you don't already get it in IA, and the 2013 Sierra Nevada Beer Camp just hit and it's pretty awesome. I loved the IPA and Imperial Red, the Belgian Black IPA was solid, but not awesome.

Lately I've really enjoyed Lucid Foto. Not amazing, but worth a try as is anything from Indeed.

I frequent the Ale Jail, Heritage, Blue Max, Booze Mart (West st. Paul), Four Firkins and MGM Eagan (this place is really stepping up their game) All great!

Happy Hunting!

 

And Bitter Brewer, forgot about that! Also, Tallgrass Ethos is a great IPA if you don't have that in IA.

 

Yes to this - forgot about it.
One of the best new beers I had this year.

 

Princestons isn't higher ($) than most.

 

Closest to Blaine, Central Liqours has pretty fresh Surly, and they had the last canning of Abrasive as of 3 weeks ago.

If their Furious isn't fresh enough, I would go to Zipps in South Mpls.
They have a very high turnover.
Last week I picked up some that was canned on 7/18

 

You should just wait on Abrasive imo...Not hard to get when in season. First cans came out in November last year.

 

I have a car and coming from Iowa so can go anywhere... what is the best shop in town? I would prefer a shop that has a lot of beers available in singles. I've heard Four Firkins allows all beers to be sold by the single bottle/can. True? Is that the best place? I'm staying closer to Zipps downtown (staying at the Double Tree Minneapolis)

Will only have time for one stop - if you could go anywhere in town where would you recommend?

I'm also near a Haskell's, Hum's, The Bottle House, etc

 

Zipps also has a lot of singles. They have an incredible selection, if you're closer to them you will have a great time perusing their selection.

 

Nowhere near blaine and often a somewhat sketchy store, however Hi-Lake liquors right near the intersection of Lake St. and Hiawatha still had Blakkr and Abrasive as of last week.

 

Plus, Zipp's has much better prices than Four Firkins, and a bigger total selection.

 

Pentagram can still be found in many places. Not for the faint of wallet...

 

As per SeekABrew.com, here is what MN gets that IA doesnt....

21st Amendment
Alaskan
Atwater
Badger Hill [Limited]
Ballast Point
Bank
Barley John's [Draft only]
Bent Paddle
Blacklist
Boom Island
Brainerd Lakes [Limited]
Brash
Brooklyn
Capital
Castle Danger
Choc
Cisco
Cold Spring
Dark Horse
Dave's Brew Farm [Draft only]
Destihl [Draft only]
Epic (Utah)
Excelsior
Fish (Leavenworth)
Fitger's Brewhouse [Draft only]
Flat Earth
Flying Dog
Full Sail
Fulton [Limited]
Furthermore
Game on Brewing
Grand Teton
Gray's
Great Divide
Great Lakes
Harriet [Draft only]
Horny Goat
Howe Sound
Indeed
Knee Deep [Limited]
Kona
Lagunitas
Lake Placid
Laughing Dog
Leech Lake
Lift Bridge
Lucid
Mad River (Steelhead)
Magic Hat
Mankato
McNeill's [Limited]
Mendocino
Milwaukee
Minhas
Minneapolis Town Hall [Draft only]
Napa Smith
New Holland
Odell
Olvalde
Oskar Blues
Pour Decisions [Draft only]
Purity
Pyramid
RJ Rockers
Rubicon
Rush River
Saint Somewhere
Salt Lake (Squatters)
Snake River
Southern Tier
Staples Mill
Steel Toe [Limited]
Surly
Third Street
Tommyknocker
Two Brothers
Tyranena
Victory
Vine Park
Weyerbacher
White Birch