Wednesday 1st of September 2010 10:20:07 AM

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2010: Still too much old beer sitting around... I don't take a gamble on imports here anymore. Tons of last years holiday stuff. Staff said the Sculpin hiding on the shelf was relatively fresh, but it turned out to be old and faded. Beer guy was friendly though, and tried to point out a few other recent arrivals. Still a bunch of KBS and Nemesis '10 on the shelf here.

Memorial Day weekend 2009
For the last couple years i've been heading to the Friar Tucks in Bloomington, because it seemed that the selection and turnover were slightly better there. This weekend I received help right away (not always the case) locating specific beers and getting info on the ETA for seasonals. They had a few nice limited items like Dark Horse Double Crooked Tree, Ballast Point Sculpin & Victory at Sea, and a whole rack of the Boulevard Smokestack series. Newer lines from Green Flash, Eel River, Clipper City Heavy Seas series, Issaquah & others. There was still dust on some things, so i'm not sure of the turnover, but overall I felt that the store had improved in the last year. If you know what you're looking for, this can be a fantastic place for finding beer.

Original review 03-19-2007:

I've visited this location several times, and feel that the other reviews accurately describe the quality and selection here.

Service is a weak point, the place often feels like a ghost town, but there are a couple helpful employees here if you can track them down. After asking a stocker about a particular regional beer, he silently pointed it out on the shelf. Not particularly happy to be working with beer it seemed, but not a big issue. Another guy later asked me directly if I needed any help, so that improved the score.

Selection includes some unusual stuff, thanks in large part to Specialty Import Distributing, i'm guessing. However, maintenance seems to be an issue, lots of dusty, out of code singles in the import section. Lots of empty spots as well, so there has to be some turnover/rotation.

Regional oddities in the US craft shelves, such as Schlafly, Barley Island, New Holland, Lakefront, plus a few others seldom seen elsewhere in the state. Many more unique options in the German, Czech, Eastern Euro imports, but "caveat emptor". Last summer I tried a bunch of random Hefes from here, and got a few stale ones (Flensburger, Aktien, Hirsch Bavarian-Weissbier) Check for dates, dust, and flaky bottle sediment. Belgian section was ok, mostly located on the kiosk in the back left corner, some near the singles section, and a few more on the right end of the import aisle. One good thing I can say is that they have a good assortment of Cantillon. Some items were seriously overpriced (Kapsreiter Landbier 16oz./$6) (St. Sebastiaan Golden 16oz. $8) but for the most part prices were in line with other stores. Oh yeah, as jpm30 mentioned below, there is a walk-in cooler, which can be fun to poke around in.

There actually wasn't anyone at the checkout on the last visit, so we had to track someone down. Is it worth the hassle? I say yes it's worth a visit, you may be impressed the first time, but pay close attention to quality of what you want to buy.