When I'm out in the Chicago area I make sure to swing by a couple Binny's every trip to grab some good local stuff like FBS, Hoppin Frog, 3F, Bell's, CW, Clown Shoes etc... that aren't available in my homestate of Cali When a Liquor Barn opened up in the area a colleague mentioned that it gave Binny's a run for it's money. I checked it out yesterday and was far from impressed with the selection. The staff was very receptive and nice but it seemed like they just gave out shelf space to the big guys for mainstream national bulk varieties. I'm not sure how long this chain has been around but there is a lot of opportunity to get good beers in there. Any local guys have any experiences there?
You might get more colorful replies to this over on the Great Lakes forum. Fwiw, Liquor Barn is a place I've only heard wonderful, boozy-stories about over the years, and have yet to pay it a visit myself*. Sam's was always the place I'd hit when I used to visit regularly -- now a part of Binny's *I've hit plenty of nameless packies in the area, too. Plenty of past-code "Polish Tallboys" for dirt cheap!
