October 3, 2009
Went there again (after a very long time) a couple of weeks ago with a couple of friends. One friend has been a San Francisco chef for some years and was amazed at the quality and selection available at Surdyk’s. We primarily went for the beer, but they had a good wine and liquor selection too. However, they didn’t have my two favorite bourbons. Beer selection was decent with a lot of single bottles and six pack of both local, regional, national, and international micro and macro beers on both sides of a decent sized aisle. Staff was pleasant and helpful. I’ll go again.

September 2, 2009
I’ve known this as more of a wine and spirits place than beer spot, but now I live in the cities and had to see the beer selection. First, though, stopped in the cheese shop. Absolutely amazing, way too expensive, but fun to go through. The selection of spirits and wine is great. However, I was happily surprised by the beer selection. Although they don’t have quite the import selection of Blue Max, they carry a similar array of domestic brands, my usual choices, like Victory, Founders, Flying Dog, Goose Island, and Ommegang, plus some usuals, like Summit. Staff is friendly and will truly try to help you out. I knock them a bit on service and overall because their website is horrible. Many of the beers they have in store are not listed on their website, which would be incredibly useful.

March 5, 2009
Some local brews, some micros, some imports, but nothing impressive. Wine, liquor, and food are great, but the beer is just not in the same category.

December 4, 2008
Have a decent macro beer selection but their micro selection is rather slim.

September 22, 2008
I went on a Saturday night and this place was absolutely hopping. I assume that people were loading up for the dry Sunday and a Vikings game. A solid selection. Lots of stuff in coolers, but the much of the craft stuff was on shelves. I found that some items were out even though they had tags on the shelf. If I find myself in downtown Minneapolis again I will check it out.

May 13, 2008
This place has a fairly decent beer selection, although there are better places in the metro that have bigger selections and more rare brews. The wine selection is probably more what they are know for, and it is huge. Frequent tastings and samplings. There is plenty of staff to help along with many checkout counters. The cheese selection is also very good from what I have seen.

April 7, 2008
Beer selection is big, but they tend to get into specialized ruts. They’ve got a couple beer experts on staff, and they’re very helpful. Wine selection is great, and the descriptions are very helpful if all the staff is busy. Love the liquor selection. The cheese shop is good, but most of their deli items are a little bland for my taste. I go for the cheese and olive oil selections more than anything else.

February 25, 2008
Any liquor store that offers tastings is great in my book. A classy one is all the better. Great wines and whiskeys available for sampling on Saturdays. The beer aisles was impressive in sheer quantity. The Belgian and British selection was top notch. I picked up two large bottles of Jolly Pumpkin (Luciernaga and Bam Noire), which excited me to no end. JP is not available in my area of SE Wisconsin, so this was a highlight of my Twin Cities trip.

January 27, 2008
This place reminded me of a liqour supermarket. They also had a nice little food shop. If you want liquor this is the place to go. There was even a bottle that cost $2,000! They have a ton of liquor and quite a bit of wine too. The beer selection is not bad but not huge either. They have some Heather Ales and Rodenbach and Boon as well as other Belgians and quite a few Polish lagers. There were plenty of cashiers so check out was quick.

January 21, 2008
My go-to place when it comes to Minneapolis liquor stores. While perhaps a bit lacking in truly special American micros, the selection for more standard fare like Rogue, Bell’s, Tyraena, and what-have-you is solid. Fairly recent additions like a section for 750ml full-form bottles of American micros (Victory, Avery, Ommegang, etc.), a *slight* smattering of singles, and a healthy (if not stunning) Belgian and other international brew selection makes me think they might be moving in the right direction. The solid humidor and delicious gourmet shop next door aren’t to be missed either.