Hops Question

So i have 2 home brew stores i can go to.

Store #1, about 2 miles away, hops are not refrigerated, sell for $2.59/oz, same hops i see see everywhere else vacuum sealed in the silver bag

Store #2, about 20 miles away, hops are refrigerated and sell for $3.95/oz

so the question is ... are the refrigerated hops worth the extra $1.40/oz and 36 miles (round trip) worth of gas?

Hmmm...very tough question to answer. Rule of thumb - you want your hops stored properly; i.e. refridgerated/frozen. However, how busy would you say this store is? Is it reasonable that they are buying and selling hops on a regular basis?

Personally, if it was me, I am in homebrewing for the quality, not the price. I would wait until one day I was out close to the 20mi away LHBS and just buy a bunch of different hops so I wouldnt have to go back for a while. Risking hops that have not been stored properly is not worth it IMO.

the closer one is fairly busy, but not necessarily due to selling home brew supplies as they also sell beer and wine.

Are you 20 miles from Grape and Granary in Akron? That's where I get all my stuff online for years now and they are great!

Akron is a little farther away, maybe 30 minutes. The 20 minute drive is to Leeners in Northfield. Pretty awesome store, you can buy buy everythign you need to make wine, beer, root beer, bubble gum ... all kinds of stuff. check it out.

Fermented Foods You Can Make Yourself

You know my LHBS sells hops they repackage in non-vacuum sealed bags. They pride themselves in always having the most variety of hops but since they are repackaged I don't know where they came from or how old they are and since they sell 3 oz pre-weighed priming sugar as 3/4 c I don't trust them anymore. (Not only does thier sugar only wiegh out to 3 oz, when put in a measuring cup it doesn't come close to filling 3/4 c. Somethings fishy there I tell ya!)

yeah ... think i'll stick with leeners for now.

Is the closer store Rozi's in Lakewood? I have had good luck with hops from them, even though they are not in temp controlled storage. The receive regular deliveries and have good turnover in stock, from what I have gleaned from the guys working there.

Nah, the closer one is Warehouse Beverage on Mayfield in South Euclid i wanna say?