Best Online Store For Ingredients and Equipment?

Hello. I'm a new at this and looking for opinions.
I live in the Boston area and have found a few home brew supply stores. Wondering what's best online or if others in the Boston area have any recommendations. Thanks for your input!

i have ordered from:

morebeer.com
northernbrewer.com
midwestsupplies.com
austinhomebrew.com

all are good

I'm partial to Northern Brewer, but there's quite a few good ones out there.

NORTHERN BREWER

I've gotten items from
Welcome to Beer-Wine.com
Listermann.Com - Home Page
NORTHERN BREWER
Austin Homebrew Supply

I've been happy with the service from all and I usually go by price

Listermanns free shipping even on heavy items is nice and beer-wine is in your area

These guys are my LHBS. Great folks.

The Home Brewery - Beer and Wine Making Supplies

I've ordered from Austin Home Brew, Homebrew Heaven, MoreBeer and Williams.

I strongly recommend Austin Home Brew for their flat rate shipping and incredible customer service. (Forrest from AHS is a supporting member of this site).

To be fair though, some of this comes down to region. In my experience, UPS has done better on the east coast and FedEx does better on the west coast. Depending on what courier the supplier uses, it might affect your opinion.

All in all, you're working with very good companies all!

austinhomebrew.com

Because the owner posts here and I have had great luck with them

I'm a big fan of Midwestsupplies.com.... AHS, MoreBeer and NorthernBrewer are all great choices as well.

oh, by the way, Northern Brewer reached me the fastest when I lived in New York City, so that might be your best bet for shipping to Boston. Speed isn't always important, but if you order liquid yeast it can make all the difference.

All of the recommendations so far are excellent.
I'd also recommend Maryland Homebrew. I've never made an online order, but I go there in person nearly every weekend and they're all great people.

Hello! I too live in the Boston area, and I ordered my kit from Midwestsupplies. The LHBS is located on Cambridge. It is on Mass Ave. The people are quite nice and helpful, although the prices on some things are not as cheap as online. Here is their website. Homebrew Emporium Lineup hope this helps!

The online ones have been covered.

Locally I go to beer-wine.com. They are located in woburn just off 95. Prices are a bit above ahb/northern but no shipping to worry about.

I'd like to make a pitch for patronizing the brick-and-mortar supply stores (and no I don't own one). I think if everyone buys most everything online, there won't be anywhere to get stuff when your hydrometer breaks or you sneeze in your yeast and need more or whatever.

I do some shopping at the local hole-in-the-wall shop and some online. Pay attention to where the online stuff comes from if time is an issue. Here in Oregon I find stuff from Northern Brewer (Minn.) takes more than a week to arrive. On the other hand orders from William's Brewing (central Cal.) take a day or two.

I've had very good service from Northern Brewer and AHS. Northern Brewer seems to get things out the door sooner.

I like ordering my kits through northern brewer. They threw in some ice packets for my yeast for free even though it is an option to pay for. I also just ordered from midwest supplies but i haven't gotten them yet....

However I have been finding that for things like carboys and kegs you are crazy if you don't just go to your local shop becuase you will pay out of the nose for shipping. Plus you get the instant satisfaction of holding what you just bought, compared to tracking your shipping number every couple of hours

Also my LHBS will help me put together kits from a recipie so when you want to make something but you can't find a kit that is a nice option.

Happy brewing!

Can you narrow down where in the Boston area would be convenient for you? There is a great LHBS in Foxboro called "The Witches Brew" that I go to frequently.

gimmebeer said:

I'd like to make a pitch for patronizing the brick-and-mortar supply stores (and no I don't own one). I think if everyone buys most everything online, there won't be anywhere to get stuff when your hydrometer breaks or you sneeze in your yeast and need more or whatever.

I do some shopping at the local hole-in-the-wall shop and some online. Pay attention to where the online stuff comes from if time is an issue. Here in Oregon I find stuff from Northern Brewer (Minn.) takes more than a week to arrive. On the other hand orders from William's Brewing (central Cal.) take a day or two.

Click to expand...

Good Post. I agree on supporting your LHBS, but they arent present too often in smaller communities. I don't know the consensus of members here, but I would bet the majority order their supplies online not because of price or selection, but because they don't have an LHBS in their hometown or within a reasonable drive.

I weigh who I order from on two things; Delivery Time and Price. MOST of the online sites are comparable in price. Occasionally, there is some vast discrepency. But I'm willing to pay a little more on the cost of the goods knowing that they will get to me days before the cheaper alternative. Northern Brewer for example tends to be on the high side on hops. I know they have raised their prices on hops a little in hopes to slow the demand so they can keep more available. I could get them a little cheaper from say hop nation or Austin, etc. But Northern gets to me the next day with basic UPS ground. I order 90% of my stuff from them becuase of delivery times.

I have actually written yelp reviews of two of the homebrew stores in the Boston area.

Beer & Wine Woburn | Yelp
Modern Homebrew Emporium - North Cambridge - Cambridge, MA

Thanks for all your replies. Tried Beer and Wine Hobby. Great selections, friendly knowledgeable staff and convenient hours.
I picked up theur Recipe kit of Harvest Feast Pumpkin Ale. It's in bottles now and carbonation has started!

My favorite is Home Brewing Supplies, Kits from Homebrew Heaven. Of course, I shop there in person since I work in Everett, but lots of folks order from the online as well.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/anheuser-busch-inbev-acquires-northern-brewer-midwest-supplies.html

**I know this is trolling, but I just can't help myself.