It’s a niche thing. If they sold wine & booze, they wouldn’t be getting the press. I think its indicative of the fact that people are taking beer seriously in MN.
I personally try to shop there as much as I can because I appreciate the fact that such a store exists near me, and would be really bummed if it disappeared. Cheers to the guys there for always giving me great service!
US Liquors (formerly The Cellars) just a couple miles down the road at Highway 7/Hopkins Crossroad beats them on both fronts, for one. Cheap liquor, too.
US Liquors, unfortunately, needs some work. They have a lot of old stuff on the shelves. Pricing is good and the owner is nice, but a lot of the pricier Belgian beers have been gathering dust for a couple of years. I can’t say that they have a wider selection though. For my dollar Four Firkins (or many of the Cellars on the east side of the metro, or Blue Max for that matter) is/are the places to go. US was great when it was a Cellars, but it’s suffered in the past few years.
How about the fact that a guy is able to succeed with a specialty store for craft beer. I have my other preferred stores to go to (Zipps, better prices), but Alvey and his staff are very helpful if needed. I say congrats to them for the press, and we can all be happy it is (still for now) a free country and we can choose to go where we want.
It was talked about on BeerAdvocate when the owner of Four Firkins stated that places like Surdyks and other stores don’t care about beer and only want your money. Simply untrue but it shows that he’s looking to attempt to profit by slamming others with untrue statements.
As beerfan stated, they can’t get anything you can’t ask Blue Max, Dennis Brothers, Zipp’s, Cellars or anyone else to order. Plus you get the benefit of a knowledgeable staff at the other stores and you’ll pay less.
Careful what you say about them here cause they’ll kick you out like they have others that have said anything they believe is negative about them. There have been several stories of them kicking customers out of the store for not wanting to buy high priced bottles the staff have tried to pressure them into also.
OH MY GOD, Beer! Don’t say anything with the slightest whiff of negativity or you’ll get slammed for being a hater!
Keep repeating to yourself: Nice write up, nice write up, nice write up. Which is all you’re supposed to say or the Beer Thought Police will come a knocking.
I guess I just don’t understand the negativity — sure the article is a feature on the Four Firkins, but the story is really that there are enough people in the Twin Cities with an interest in craft beer to support a store that offers that and only that. No two-gallon jugs of Captain to draw in the campus crowd, no 36 packs of Special Export, just a wide selection of good beer (and a staff that understands it). It took some balls to disregard the easy business and cater exclusively to a small, but growing, group of beer enthusiasts… so I’m personally of the opinion that they deserve the press.
I’m sure there are plenty of other great liquor stores around with a wide and affordable collection of beers (Cellars Roseville is my favorite), but “Local Liquor Stores Carry a Huge Array of Reasonably Priced Beer” isn’t as compelling, or easy to write, as a profile on Alvey and his little beer store that could.
As another person in the industry I think write ups like this are great. Alvey is a great guy and has only had a positive effect on the craft beer segment of the liquor store industry. Him and I get along great. I think it is awesome. Things like this only help the industry. Keep it going Alvey.
Beer (if that IS your real name…) All three of the guys at The Four Firkins are knowledgeable about beer – certainly averaging on the level of folks at the places you mention. Obviously there are going to be some people that know more or less at any given place, but to imply that you won’t have a knowledgeable staff at The Four Firkins is untrue.
I’m not sure about the “several stories” of customers being kicked out for “not wanting to buy high priced bottles” and pressure from the staff. Anyone who knows the three guys working at the store should find this absolutely laughable. All three guys are more than willing to suggest beers, but I can’t even begin to imagine any of them putting the pressure on for a sale. That’s just a joke. That being said, I can picture Alvey kicking someone out if he thought the person was continually talking shit about his store on public forums. Quite frankly, I’d probably do the same thing. 🙂
“Beer”, I have no problems with people expressing their opinions, I may not agree with them but hey, it’s a free world. Go nuts!
Going out of your way to rip on my store, telling people on forums not to come here and ripping on me personally is not expressing an opinion, that my friend, is “Being a Douche Bag”. If you do that and then come in here expecting to buy something, well, that’s just kinda Douchy.
The only people I kick out of my store are Douche Bags and Thieves.
Claims that we kick people out for not buying high priced items that we force on them are the ramblings of a mad-man, again, the level of Douche Baggery is impressive!
No matter what you think of my store, I’m having a great time doing it and my customers seem to love what we do. We are spreading the love of craft beer, there are plenty of customers to go around, more and more every day! Don’t forget all that free press I get helps other liquor stores that sell Craft Beer too, it increases awareness in general. More craft beer drinkers for all of us. More money being spent on Craft Beer and ultimately more Craft Beer coming to Minnesota. We all win. It’s a big picture thing…
There are stores in the TC with better selections and prices, but no place gets more press then FF. Good to see them succeed in the crap economy.
It’s a niche thing. If they sold wine & booze, they wouldn’t be getting the press. I think its indicative of the fact that people are taking beer seriously in MN.
“There are stores in the TC with better selections and prices…”
Care to name these stores with better selections and prices? I don’t know of any in MInnesota that beat FF on both fronts.
Are you kidding?
Four Firkins can’t get anything any others stores can’t get. If you happen to live close to them they’re OK.
Cellars, Zipps, Blue Max and Surdyks are all as good. Better if you ask me because they carry wine and booze too.
Yeah niche thing definitely.
I’m soooooo sick of hearing about the Four Firkins, but then I don’t live close by.
Great. This debate again. Didn’t this get beaten into the ground a couple of months back?
Did it? Didn’t know that….sorry…
Four Firkins is way to expensive for me. Been there once, won’t go back.
I personally try to shop there as much as I can because I appreciate the fact that such a store exists near me, and would be really bummed if it disappeared. Cheers to the guys there for always giving me great service!
US Liquors (formerly The Cellars) just a couple miles down the road at Highway 7/Hopkins Crossroad beats them on both fronts, for one. Cheap liquor, too.
US Liquors, unfortunately, needs some work. They have a lot of old stuff on the shelves. Pricing is good and the owner is nice, but a lot of the pricier Belgian beers have been gathering dust for a couple of years. I can’t say that they have a wider selection though. For my dollar Four Firkins (or many of the Cellars on the east side of the metro, or Blue Max for that matter) is/are the places to go. US was great when it was a Cellars, but it’s suffered in the past few years.
Heritage and Dennis Bros are better in selection and customer service, I feel. Prices are typically less as well.
How about the fact that a guy is able to succeed with a specialty store for craft beer. I have my other preferred stores to go to (Zipps, better prices), but Alvey and his staff are very helpful if needed. I say congrats to them for the press, and we can all be happy it is (still for now) a free country and we can choose to go where we want.
It was talked about on BeerAdvocate when the owner of Four Firkins stated that places like Surdyks and other stores don’t care about beer and only want your money. Simply untrue but it shows that he’s looking to attempt to profit by slamming others with untrue statements.
As beerfan stated, they can’t get anything you can’t ask Blue Max, Dennis Brothers, Zipp’s, Cellars or anyone else to order. Plus you get the benefit of a knowledgeable staff at the other stores and you’ll pay less.
Careful what you say about them here cause they’ll kick you out like they have others that have said anything they believe is negative about them. There have been several stories of them kicking customers out of the store for not wanting to buy high priced bottles the staff have tried to pressure them into also.
OH MY GOD, Beer! Don’t say anything with the slightest whiff of negativity or you’ll get slammed for being a hater!
Keep repeating to yourself: Nice write up, nice write up, nice write up. Which is all you’re supposed to say or the Beer Thought Police will come a knocking.
I guess I just don’t understand the negativity — sure the article is a feature on the Four Firkins, but the story is really that there are enough people in the Twin Cities with an interest in craft beer to support a store that offers that and only that. No two-gallon jugs of Captain to draw in the campus crowd, no 36 packs of Special Export, just a wide selection of good beer (and a staff that understands it). It took some balls to disregard the easy business and cater exclusively to a small, but growing, group of beer enthusiasts… so I’m personally of the opinion that they deserve the press.
I’m sure there are plenty of other great liquor stores around with a wide and affordable collection of beers (Cellars Roseville is my favorite), but “Local Liquor Stores Carry a Huge Array of Reasonably Priced Beer” isn’t as compelling, or easy to write, as a profile on Alvey and his little beer store that could.
As another person in the industry I think write ups like this are great. Alvey is a great guy and has only had a positive effect on the craft beer segment of the liquor store industry. Him and I get along great. I think it is awesome. Things like this only help the industry. Keep it going Alvey.
Beer (if that IS your real name…) All three of the guys at The Four Firkins are knowledgeable about beer – certainly averaging on the level of folks at the places you mention. Obviously there are going to be some people that know more or less at any given place, but to imply that you won’t have a knowledgeable staff at The Four Firkins is untrue.
I’m not sure about the “several stories” of customers being kicked out for “not wanting to buy high priced bottles” and pressure from the staff. Anyone who knows the three guys working at the store should find this absolutely laughable. All three guys are more than willing to suggest beers, but I can’t even begin to imagine any of them putting the pressure on for a sale. That’s just a joke. That being said, I can picture Alvey kicking someone out if he thought the person was continually talking shit about his store on public forums. Quite frankly, I’d probably do the same thing. 🙂
“Beer”, I have no problems with people expressing their opinions, I may not agree with them but hey, it’s a free world. Go nuts!
Going out of your way to rip on my store, telling people on forums not to come here and ripping on me personally is not expressing an opinion, that my friend, is “Being a Douche Bag”. If you do that and then come in here expecting to buy something, well, that’s just kinda Douchy.
The only people I kick out of my store are Douche Bags and Thieves.
Claims that we kick people out for not buying high priced items that we force on them are the ramblings of a mad-man, again, the level of Douche Baggery is impressive!
No matter what you think of my store, I’m having a great time doing it and my customers seem to love what we do. We are spreading the love of craft beer, there are plenty of customers to go around, more and more every day! Don’t forget all that free press I get helps other liquor stores that sell Craft Beer too, it increases awareness in general. More craft beer drinkers for all of us. More money being spent on Craft Beer and ultimately more Craft Beer coming to Minnesota. We all win. It’s a big picture thing…
Cheers and thanks for caring about good beer!
Alvey