France 44 is a whale of a liquor store -- when you initially step into the sprawling Linden Hills showroom, your first reaction may well be bottle shock. Saying nothing of the wine and liquor, the store carries well over 1,000 beers, ranging from domestic swill to seasonal imports esoteric enough to stump dedicated beer nerds.

Matt Fisher is the store's beer guy, the man who is paid to help you navigate the shelves, fridges and big old walk-in cooler that he stocks himself. Like any good gastronomic guru, Fisher's enthusiasm is palpable and contagious -- ask him, for example, about the best beer to serve with a Thanksgiving turkey, and he'll give you four or five solid suggestions with cogent explanations for each.

Q: Did you have an original lightbulb moment with beer?

A: For me, it was a Belgian brown, or a "brun." It was just entirely new. It had a lot of malty yeasts, so that malty characteristic was there, but now you're adding a slightly fruity, biscuity element to it that was just like -- when I saw [the movie] "Sideways," I laughed a bit because they were asking: What bottle of wine really just opened your world up? It was never wine for me that did that. The first time I had that beer, it just blew my mind as to what a beer really, truly could be.

Q: Why is being a beer guy such a good fit for you?

A: I've always liked the fact that beer was around before wine, but when wine came around, beer was considered the more "barbaric" drink or whatever. There was never any of the real pretentiousness and mysticism with beer that there is with wine. People are a lot more willing to ask questions, whereas they're a little bit afraid to do that with wine.

Q: Do you have any favorite local beers? I know that no matter what you say it's gonna bother people, but I'm curious.

A: Hands down, for local beers: Surly. No question. I mean, I like some of the other guys that are out there doing stuff locally, but as far as getting out there and trying new things, I think Surly's doing a fantastic job. With their -- it's a horrible name, but -- Teabag Furious, that was one of the most delicious beers I've ever had. Having the big hops and the nice little malty flavors to go along with that herbal tea bit was just perfect. And then their Darkness, their Russian imperial, that's a black hole in a glass. That was so good, I can't wait to get that here this year. It is a really big beer, but can you imagine doing a monster roasted stout like that with a piece of charbroiled beef? Just really smoked outside, let it out rare, it would be amazing.

The Churn

If you've never gone to a Gastro Non Grata, get your head in the game -- the latest merger of good food and loud music takes to the Triple Rock Social Club this Sunday, starting at 6 p.m. A $5 cover gets you Landon Schoenefeld of the yet-to-open Haute Dish and the Wienery, 21st Amendment Brewing and Northern Brewer, a Clancey's Meats and Fish door prize, and bands including the Annandale Cardinals, Cadillac Kolstad and Cornbread Harris, School of Rock, Arctic Universe and Falcon Crest.

  • The Heavy Table team writes about food and drink in the Upper Midwest five days a week, twice a day, at www.heavytable.com.