Niko Brew

Ordered Rhizomes from them this year. Rhizomes arrived in a normal amount of time etc. 1 of the 3 I ordered was dead on arrival. I planted anyways to make sure. I contacted them and they said to pick another one from the site and they would send it out to me. After 2 weeks and no word, I wrote back and they said they were out of that kind too and pick something else. At that point it was late in the season and there was nothing left I wanted. The worst part is they even knew there may be a problem with some of them which was told to me in an email. The other 2 rhizomes I got from them were really small also. It will be at least 2 years before they get anywhere. I ordered and planted a little over a month later a rhizome from freshops, and that rhizome in the same area grew to 15 feet and produced hops the first year, so the place where they are planted isnt the problem. Very disappointed in the quality of rhizomes they had.

Overall I wouldnt buy from there again. Customer service was very lacking.

Purchase:
3lbs of hops from 2010 crop purchased in November of 2011 (close-out prices)

Pros:
Rather fresh hops
Decent prices
Fast shipping
Good, easy to use website
Good communication
Flat rate shipping is a nice selling point

Cons:
Packaging was poor

Other comments:
-Presumably due to the way the hops were stuffed into a cardboard envelope, two out of three of the bags of hops had lost their vacuum seal by the time they arrived. I understand that this sometimes happens, but I wonder if it would have happened had they been boxed or something.

-The hops weighed in right at 16oz to the pound...no less, no more.

-The refrigerator magnet was a nice touch.

I would probably shop at Nicobrew again, but will also continue to shop around at some other hop suppliers. I have yet to assign my loyalty...

Anyone order hops from Nikobrew? Good/bad?

I've ordered pellet hops from him three or four times over the last ~3 years and have been happy.

They were the first site to offer a Black Friday deal of $30.00 a pound for hops.

all the time, good.

How is their shipping?

5 bucks flat rate shipping, IIRC.

iaefebs said:

They were the first site to offer a Black Friday deal of $30.00 a pound for hops.

Click to expand...

$30/lb for hops?

I personally find his hop prices to be extremely high. $30/pound is roughly $2/ounce. That's what almost every LHBS charges for hops on a per ounce basis. I don't see the reason to buy in bulk in that case.

If the prices don't bother you though, I've heard great things about him as a vendor.

$2/oz is a good deal if you're buying an ounce. If you're buying a pound, it should be closer to $1/oz or less.

ajwillys said:

$2/oz is a good deal if you're buying an ounce. If you're buying a pound, it should be closer to $1/oz or less.

Click to expand...

That's what I'm talking about. I got 2# of Simcoe for $32 from Labelpeelers! EDIT: it was $29 plus $7.99 shipping.

!

Is Niko affiliated with 21st Amendment Brewery? Maybe it is another Nico, just wondering? The prices are too high for me. I will continue to give my business to company's that provide me with a good price all the time.

I just wanted to give some love to NikoBrew. I recently placed an order for a few pounds of hops during their $10 sale.

Hops arrived at my door and the bag was torn open, as it had been raining and apparently somewhere along the way someone decided to poke a hole in the bag to see if what was inside was worth taking. One bag of hops had spilled open a bit due to whoever poked a hole in the package but the other two were still intact.

I contacted NikoBrew and they shipped me a replacement for the bag that had been poked open within a day or two with no hassle.

I just wanted to thank them for resolving this problem, through no fault of their own. Shipping was very fast and I am very happy with the customer service!

I too give a thumbs up to nikobrew. I also ordered 3lbs of hops during the ten dollar sale. I almost took a picture of what mine looked like when they arrived as my package was busted all to hell and hops were falling out of the corner of one of my cascade packs.. I figured only an ounce at most had fallen out of the pack so I quickly loaded the remaining pellets into a ball jar and threw them in the freezer... It did not bug me enough that I felt to contact them but they should work on packaging a bit... All in all the majority of my hops got here (minus the hand-full which are probably rolling around on the floor in the usps truck [think of it as a free hop-air-freshner mrs usps gal]) in good time and for a decent price.

Just hope they work out their packaging before I place another order...

Neil

Neil thanks for your order we greatly appreciate it and I'm sorry for the shape your order was delivered in. If you have any issues at all with your order please let me know ASAP and we'll figure out a resolution. We had some issues with a batch of defective bags we got in the middle of the sale and didn't know until some of them had shipped out.

On another note, within about a month we will have super awesome thick mylar type bags (not Mylar brand, most people's aren't Mylar brand but they call them that like when people say Xerox something and it's not on a Xerox). Anyway we've done testing with these new bags and they are awesome. A pound of hops stayed hard as a rock in shipment and I've slammed it against walls and the edges of door frames to test them We only had a sample one cut and since these are being custom made for us there is a lead time and then there will be a period of time that we turn over all our hops to the new bags. The bags we use now are 3mil (on each side), the new ones will be 5mil and dual layer for extra protection. These are the same bags used by the larger distributors that sell to breweries, etc. When we switch over to these I will make a post in the vendor thread.

That being said thanks for your feedback and support, cheers!

Neilyboy said:

I too give a thumbs up to nikobrew. I also ordered 3lbs of hops during the ten dollar sale. I almost took a picture of what mine looked like when they arrived as my package was busted all to hell and hops were falling out of the corner of one of my cascade packs.. I figured only an ounce at most had fallen out of the pack so I quickly loaded the remaining pellets into a ball jar and threw them in the freezer... It did not bug me enough that I felt to contact them but they should work on packaging a bit... All in all the majority of my hops got here (minus the hand-full which are probably rolling around on the floor in the usps truck [think of it as a free hop-air-freshner mrs usps gal]) in good time and for a decent price.

Just hope they work out their packaging before I place another order...

Neil

Click to expand...

I once ordered a pound each of willamette and warrior from niko and when I was breaking them down further, I got the labels mixed up. Niko was able to describe size and color of the pellets so I could get 'em labeled correctly.

AZ_IPA said:

I once ordered a pound each of willamette and warrior from niko and when I was breaking them down further, I got the labels mixed up. Niko was able to describe size and color of the pellets so I could get 'em labeled correctly.

Click to expand...

That story amuses me, because it sounds like something I would do

Once I use up my two lbs of cascade and my lb of summit ill be back for more buddy!!
Good stuff I know packaging and shipping can be a pain... no worries im sure you will get it sorted!

Neil

I'd give mad props to Niko. Ordered a few times now from them. Everytime I know when everything is shipped and expected dates. I love that.

First order from them was multiple Rhizones, one type of the 3 I ordered was mostly sickly looking, so instead of shipping the sick looking ones, they contacted me, offered a solution asking if it was OK and apologized. THAT's how customer service is supposed to be. Love it. Love the guys there.

Good company, fast shipping. Mylar bags will help them. I use them for my short term supply of "what incase food" . Will help from USPS bad shipping/transhportation.

I personally will go with a different vendor due to packaging issues. But people have won awards with Niko's hops.

Hey folks - Thanks for your feedback we just got our first shipment of mylar bags. These are also green in color which is awesome They are 40% thicker than our previous clear bags and should prevent any issues with seals breaking etc. We've done some testing which involved shipping a pound sealed in a new bag from Washington to Idaho, where I smacked it against a wall.. then another wall.. and it stayed hard as a rock (my job is fun lol). I'm going to announce this on the vendor thread and include a pic but I wanted to post this here, I hope this is an appropriate please to do so. Thanks!

I have had two different orders with niko brew, and they are top notch. Quick and reliable. You can't go wrong with them.

I ordered three pounds of hops from Niko on Black Friday. I received my order on Monday!

The prices were awesome also.

Everything shipped cost me less than a buck an ounce.

Hi guys
I placed an order 5 days ago with nikobrew. After that i received a confirmation email for my order, only problem the link to check my order status was showing nothing. When logging in to my account at nikobrew.com, it also shows that i have not placed any orders. I also received an automated email saying they created an account for me, but i already had an account, and was logged in when placing the order. I sent them 2 emails since then, but no one responded.
Anyone else had any issues? Should i wait or ask paypal for a refund? Thanks

geobotsar said:

Hi guys
I placed an order 5 days ago with nikobrew. After that i received a confirmation email for my order, only problem the link to check my order status was showing nothing. When logging in to my account at nikobrew.com, it also shows that i have not placed any orders. I also received an automated email saying they created an account for me, but i already had an account, and was logged in when placing the order. I sent them 2 emails since then, but no one responded.
Anyone else had any issues? Should i wait or ask paypal for a refund? Thanks

Click to expand...

Merged your thread with the Nikobrew company review thread. I don't have any experience with Nikobrew, sorry. Good luck!

My only order with Niko was a pound of cascade pellets. Perfectly handled. I loved the prompt email notification and follow up. Will use them again and will recommend them.

So it appears that niko was away on holidays, today I received an email that my order is about to be shipped, so i am waiting to see what will happen

I had placed an order with Nikobrew on black friday 11/29 for a bunch of hops at good prices. The order came on 12/5 pretty quick turn around considering it was a black friday order. There was an issue with the seal breaking on one of the pound bags of hops. I took the hops out of the bag in question and resealed with my own vacuum sealer. I contacted them about the hops and they offered to have me sent a new pound of hops and a return shipping label to send the hops I had back or get half of my money back on the pound of hops in question. Pretty happy with the customer service from Niko. Would definitely recommend.

^ By chance, was it citra? I ordered several pounds from Niko over BF weekend and everything went smoothly except the pound of citra was not air tight.

For the prices and selection, I'd still recommend Niko. They are how I plan to purchase all my hops going forward.

No it was actually Northern Brewer. There was a slight fold in teh bag where it was sealed shut... I think that let it lose it's vacuum.

Placed an order for 10 pounds of hops around noon today. Come back from lunch got an email that said it shipped in two boxes, here's the tracking #s.

Wow, that's pretty awesome service, the price was great too about $150. My lhbs is $2-3/oz. So, I saved myself ~$250.

Thanks Niko,

Yeah, I purchased a few pounds from them a couple months ago. Great prices, instant shipping. I put their magnet on my fridge. I usually throw that type of crap away. Wanted it there to make conversation because I would like to promote a great business. I always shop around, but their process are hard to beat and the service is great. The product was vacuum packed in THICK o2 barrier bags and clearly labeled with the variety, aa%, and year.

Look at me, in a walking billboard :-D

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Home Brew mobile app

I've ordered 6-10 times from them. Always quick shipping, well packaged. A+

First, 10 lbs is awesome. Second, I don't order from them much but the few times I have, it's been great.
I hope they know their service is appreciated.

Beer-lord said:

First, 10 lbs is awesome. Second, I don't order from them much but the few times I have, it's been great.
I hope they know their service is appreciated.

Click to expand...

Update it was 12#. Thanks Dert for clueing me in on a good outfit!

I ordered 14# today as well, supposed arrive Monday!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

I just ordered 9# 2 weeks ago or so. Had them in a few days. And $5 shipping is worth it!

For sure, sandy!

They emailed me and said my order was too large to fit into one $5 box, so they were sending it in two boxes instead. However, they would send both for the advertised $5 rate.

Sweet,

sandyeggoxj said:

I just ordered 9# 2 weeks ago or so. Had them in a few days. And $5 shipping is worth it!

Click to expand...