i'm visiting the fam for the holidays, and i took my brother who is a beginning home brewer down to the fox valley home brew and winery supply in downtown Aurora, IL for a few odds and ends he needs. i found a winter news letter on their site that mentioned 50lb bags of rahr 2row for $40. i couldn't get anyone on the phone so i printed the flyer and headed down. when i asked the obviously oblivious clerk about the price she said the bags were $56 but that she'd have to honor the price in the flyer. good, i'll take 2 bags!!! i had the feeling as i was loading them into the trunk that the clerk is gonna have some 'splaining to do when the boss gets back. over all the store was well stocked, but VERY pricey. instead of having bins of grain for the customers to weigh out and bag they had both specialty grain and base grains pre-bagged in different weights. not only can i not fathom the time and effort that would take, but what a waste of plastic bags. the owner is quite obviously a little OCD/a control freak. hop selection was poor, and almost all pellet. one plus is that they had a lot of random stuff for draft dispensing. if i lived in town i'd go there in a pinch on brew day but otherwise i'd order online exclusively.
