As some remember from early May, I worked with France 44, a store that is able to ship beer to approximately 90% of the U.S., on a sponsored post here. The Minnesota-based shop is the only one offering Surly beer for purchase online but they also have a solid selection of Midwest and West Coast beers from other breweries, too.
From the feedback I’ve heard, people have been really satisfied with their orders. The shipping is hard to beat both in terms of price and speed of delivery. Because they are centrally located between the coasts, shipments generally don’t take more than a few days to arrive wherever you are. If you get an order in early enough in the day, they’ll even typically pack it up and ship it out on the same day.
With all of that said, I’ve invited them back for another post…this time, with a new selection of beers.
What breweries/beers does France 44 carry?
Use the website search and/or click some of the suggestions below. Have questions? Call 612-925-3252 & ask for Matt or Carin in the beer department or send an email.
Surly Brewing: NEW…Hell and Bitter Brewer, also in stock…Furious, Bender, Coffee Bender, CynicAle
Epic Brewing: ALL NEW…Brainless on Peaches, Brainless on Cherries and more than a dozen others
Great Lakes Brewing: NEW…Lake Erie Monster Imperial IPA, also in stock…Edmund Fitzgerald, Dortmunder Gold & Eliot Ness
21st Amendment Brewery: NEW…Hop Crisis Imperial IPA, also in stock…Monk’s Blood and Back in Black
Great Divide Brewing: 17th Anniversary Oak-Aged IPA, Espresso Oak Aged Yeti, (original) Yeti and Old Ruffian
New Belgium: Super Cru, La Folie, Grand Cru, Dunkel, Ranger IPA and (of course) Fat Tire
Two Brothers Brewing: Askew Sour Ale, Resistance IPA and Domaine DuPage Biere de Garde
Bell’s Brewery: Two Hearted Ale and Kalamazoo Stout
Some local picks: Olvalde The Auroch’s Horn, Dave’s Brew Farm Matacabras, Rush River Uber Alt
…and just like last time, many others including: Central Waters, Goose Island (Big John still in), Deschutes, Boulevard, Dark Horse, Summit and so on.
Automated System:
The France 44 online shop is relatively advanced in that: 1) You can order beer online with a modern shopping cart system and 2) online stock counts are accurately tied to what’s on the floor at the store.
Very transparent. Fill up your cart and then click on “My Cart” in the upper right corner. Put in your zip code in the Destination Zip Code input field in the lower right part of the order screen and hit enter on the keyboard. It will then calculate your shipping (without having to sign up or enter a credit card).
Shipping increases incrementally with each package you add to the cart (but less each time). There is no need to try to plan out an order of exactly 6 or 12 beers to fit a certain box. For an indication of cost, four 4-packs of Surly ran me about $67 total, shipped to the coast. Considering the expense and time it takes to do beer trades, this is almost a no-brainer if you’re looking to try some Midwest/West Coast beers.
As mentioned above, France 44 ships to all but a handful of states so 90% of readers here are all set. Note: France 44 does not ship internationally.
New Arrivals/In-store Tasting Updates:
Sign up for the France 44 newsletter.
A Quick Word:
I’ve said it before and I will say it again. As with all of the businesses I feature here, supporting them is a great way to support Beernews.org (in this case, while even getting yourself some beer in the process). Chris, Carin and the rest of the crew are big on delivering good great service so give them a try if you haven’t already.
If you find yourself in/around Minneapolis:
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