As I said in a previous blog the QC area does not have a great beer store, but I have been able in my travels to find a few. First and closest is John's Grocery in Iowa City, IA http://www.johnsgrocery.com/. They have a great selection of US craft beers as well as a large selection of Belgium, British and German beers. They also have a few meads and a nice selection of wine and liquors.
In Rochester, MN I found a good liquor store with multiple locations, Apollo Wine and Spirits http://www.apolloliquor.com/ . They have an extensive US Craft section including a personal favorite Surly. Also they have a very good selection of bomber bottles and they have a nice selection of Imports but I have seen better at other stores.
In La Crosse, WI is where I pick up my supply of beers from WI that do not distribute outside the state. These include New Glarus Brewing, Hinterland Brewing and Pearl St. Brewing. There are no great liquor stores but the Festival Foods in Onalaska has a very good Wisconsin beer section.
Another favorite Beer store is Blue Max in Burnsville, MN no web site available. This place has the best beer selection I have seen in person. A very strong European section including multiple Cantillion offerings, John Hardy multiple years and just about any other Belgian, English or German beer you would want. Since they are in the Twin Cities metro area, they always have Surly on hand, even some of the special brews. Beyond the beer selection they do have an extensive wall of Scotch. If its made it is probably at the Blue Max.
If you can not make it to these stores how about buying on the web? I have on site I like in particular since it has a good selection of California beers including Stone brewing http://www.stonebrew.com/ , Lost Abbey http://www.lostabbey.com/ and many others. The website is http://beeronthewall.com/beer-store/beershop.html , you must order in quantities of 6, 12 and so on. They ship the beer in well designed boxes that help the beer arrive safe at your residence.
Another promising website is Beer Geek http://www.beergeek.biz/. I have never purchased from them but they do have a good selection. Brewforia http://brewforia.com/ is another site that has quite an extensive list. I am sure there are more sites out there and you may have your own favorite. So keep purchasing your fine beer how you have, but if you need somewhere to find that special beer check these out.
QC Beerguy
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