Quad cities bottle shops

HyVee in Bettendorf is your best bet on the Iowa side. Illinois side HyVee's would be John Deere Rd., Rock Island and Milan. Those are my go-to stores. Illinois side has better variety and somethings that Iowa doesn't have.

 

It's a little ways out, but HyVee on Kimberly (down by Wal-Mart) has surprised me from time to time. Have picked up Bourbon County Coffee and other equally limited bottles there when everyone else was sold out.

 

I should have mentioned there, too. Here and Bettendorf are the only places to get TG when it hits town.

 

Iowa side- HyVee on W. Kimberly
Illinois- HyVee on John Deere Rd. and Avenue of the Cities

 

No, it's the HyVee Wine and Spirits in the Wal Mart strip mall, all the way on the west side of the mall.

 

Just returned from the Quad Cities. Did not see much difference in the selection between the Illinois side HyVees and did not stop at any of the Iowa locations. Good thing Firestone Walker bottle dates their beer. I picked up a 6-pack each of the Revolution Brewery beers and a somewhat fresh sixer of FW Union Jack. Skipped everything else.

 

Any good stores in downtown Des Moines?

 

There are not really any bottle shops downtown. What you want to do is go to the Fleur Hy-Vee that's south of downtown. You need a car but its like 5 minutes away so not far. That's your best bet if you're downtown.

The best downtown BAR is El Bait Shop. Over 100 beers on tap and something like another 150 bottles. They currently have 3-4 Toppling Goliath beers on tap last i was there. No Sue or Sosus but they rotate through. If you're looking for Pseudo Sue check with Zombie Burger in east downtown. It's also great for food and they get it now and then. I've also seen it at Up Down bar from time to time.

 

Is there any benefit in checking out multiple stores or do they have about the same selectiong. Going to be in the quad cities next weekend and am planning on stopping by the John Deer Rd store to pick up a haul. Should i also go by the Rock Island and Milan stores? ... or the Kimberly store?

 

I was just at the West Kimberly store yesterday and their selection has gotten better. Had more Prairie, but no Bomb! or Bible Belt, Evil Twin, Stillwater and Crooked Stave. Picked up a Evil Twin Aun Mas Cafe Jesus and a Madhouse VIP. Really depends on what your looking for. Illinois side has some Chicago stuff, Stone, Unita, FW, Hoppin' Frog, Smuttynose. Milan store was my go to for FW 17 and Sucaba.

 

Just wanted to clear up what I said above. They currently don't have any Bomb! or Bomb! variants. They do have Evil Twin, Stillwater and Crooked Stave.

 

I'm looking for the IL side to get some stuff we can't get here: Southern Tier, Revolution, Firestone Walker, Lagunitas, Three Floyds (unlikely to get anything but will be looking), Bear Republic, Ballast Point, etc.
Would i benefit from going to a few different stores? My plan was to just stop by one of them (likely John Deere Rd) and see what's available. Being from Des Moines and only there for the night i'm not planning on scoring any rare stuff but just getting a haul for a group of friend that we're all pitching in $ to split everything/try some new stuff. Think I'm good with just the one store? I dont have a ton of time so not wanting to go to 2-3 stores if they all have the same basic stuff. Whatdya think? Thx!

 

John Deere Rd. and Rock Island have a better selection of bombers with Milan having the least but like I said they did have FW 17 and Sucaba where the others didn't - at least when I was looking - if that helps. I've seen everything you were looking for except I'm not sure about Three Floyds. It's limited in Illinois and I could have seen it but just don't remember. If I had just one store to go to I'd go to John Deere Road. IMO they've got the best selection when I've had the chance to go to all 3 stores. The 3 stores aren't really that far apart so depending on time you could hit more than one. And one more thing, I'm not an IPA guy at all so I'm not really sure about how fresh their IPA's are. Cheers!

 

Hey, if you don't mind, post what you are able to find in Quad Cities on here. I'm from DSM as well, and next time I am in Quad Cities area, I am planning on doing the exact same thing as you, and would love to know what your experience was. Cheers!

 

Will do. I'm assuming it'll be a treasure trove of hard to find FFF stuff haha. Jk. I'm hoping they have Revolution Anti-Hero IPA. Really like that stuff. I'm hoping someone can give me insight as to whether its worth anything to travel from store to store. I'm assuming it's similar to HyVee's here where they pretty much have the same selection minus maybe Fleur and Pleasant Hill. From what i read on here and ratebeer i'm thinking the John Deere Rd store will have the "best" selection so not expecting that the other stores will have anything different.

 

You will not find any FFF stuff in QC. I have lived here 3 years and never seen it.

 

I've heard FFF is kind of like TG here. A buddy of mine went to a Binny's in Naperville a couple weeks ago and didn't score any FFF and was told they drop on Fridays there and are sold out by that night.