This morning I took a journey out of my comfort zone with the girls. We went on a driving adventure which ended just as if I found the end of a rainbow. I had to stop at Midwest Brewing Supplies … ok, no, I didn’t have to stop there, but we were visiting my wife at work and she’s just a few exits away from Midwest, anyway, I heard about a new beer store that opened a while ago and planned this excursion.

I Googled the way between Midwest and The Four Firkins and saw that it was a couple left turns and maybe three miles apart. Aw man. If I timed it right I could get my Fleet Farm stop in, see my wife, hit Midwest and then find The Four Firkins just as they open at noon. The idea was to get back home before the kids melted down because of the late lunch.

On to the store. I found it without a problem. It is situated in between a couple other nondescript shops. Frankly I didn’t even notice what was on either side as I was walking up to it, holding two little hands and trying to take in all the beer displays in the window.

Inside it was nice and cool, with an unbelievable amount of bottles stacked neatly in the shelves. They were organized by style: Belgians here, Pale Ales and IPA’s there, some wine here… I felt like a five year old in a candy store! Usually when I enter a liquor store looking for some decent beer I have to walk past rows and rows of macro beer, peering into cooler after cooler to find something interesting. The Four Firkins was nothing like that. I walked in and had to put my tongue back in my mouth. The person who greeted me was very helpful narrowing down my first foray into his shop.

After I made my selections he gave me a small card with a temp range and recommended vessel to drink the saison. The monster IPA I also bought didn’t really matter, you get the flavor profile of that no matter how you drink it.

Not only was the selection mind blowing, the fellow helping me was incredibly knowledgeable and friendly. If you are in the MSP area of Minnesota I highly recommend planning a stop there.

Cheers!
Tony