I love supporting my local mom and pops, and the occasional MGM (great price on schells from time to time) and I am curious to see who (in your opinion) should wear the crown for "Beer Capitol of Minnesota" I live in the Forest lake area (15min north of St.paul) but I work in Duluth Frequently. Although I wouldn't mind making a long trip to get the the "Capitol of beer". Where do you shop, what is the coolest store, and who has the largest selection?
There are awesome stores all around the metro area. Too difficult to pick one. Princetons, Heritage, F44, Blue Max, Zipps and Ale Jail are all awesome stores all around. Those are certainly not the only ones, but the ones that come to mind right away.
Many great stores in the Metro my 3 favorite are... for selection, store personnel,price France44 S Lyndale Lake Wine
pretty hard to just pick one. all depends on the hunt. south lyndale has become a recent favorite. good staff. great selection. very good single bottle selection. also a good import selection. very good pricing. the above can also be said about france44. they tend to get larger quantities versus other stores. very good staff and selection. i think if you look back at threads with people coming into town and only able to hit one or two stores, the two above are of the most mentions. personally, i enjoy ace spirits in hopkins. though they dont get everything that comes out, the staff is awesome. prices are good too, sometimes high. conversing with these guys is always a joy. i dont venture into whiskeys and bourbons, but i cant imagine their input and recommendations for that, if its anything compared or above their knowledge of beers. the occasional groupon is nice too.
Mostly based on proximity to where I live and work, but I've had nothing but exceptional experience at Lake Wine in mpls and Princeton's in MG. Although I do hit S. Lyndale every once in a while, their selection is fantastic and if my go to guys don't have something, they likely will.
Stinson, and the St. Anthony village muni on hwy 88. Sinson cause the selection is top notch and the guys there are great. SAV because the selection is good, the people are good, and spending money there keeps my property taxes at insane instead of ludicris.
I'm probably in the minority, but MGM Calhoun has been my favorite for a while now, even with their high prices. I've never met a nicer staff of people who are always very generous. Being able to get BC Variants out of season and a staff that's always willing to keep me in the loop of what they're receiving and when, really highlights this store for me. I'll continue to drive out of my way and pay a couple more dollars to shop here.
44th and France for reasons stated previously. If you're a member of their "club," the prices become quite reasonable indeed. One of the more knowledgeable and friendly staffs around. And great tastings... All in all, best I've come across in the Twin Cities.
the club only works once you've spent the second $500. the $44 fee negates the discount and gift card on the first $500. granted, i assume most people on here spend way more than $500 a year, but that fee for how often i head over there killed it for me.
I keep thinking about spending the fee & joining, but like @Evilyak, I don't go there quite often enough to cause me to spend the up-front cash. Great store, though.
i get that, but that shop is 5 miles away and i'd be driving past a dozen other packies in the process, all for a discount that doesn't really start to make sense until i've spent at least $1,000. that's not a month's worth of beer; that's going to take some time. to be fair, the guy at the counter did say it's a good deal if that's your local shop.
Similar to others, I think my top three would S Lyndale, F44, and Zipps. There are a ton of great shops out there though...
