LHBS shut down.

I took a bit of a break from brewing for various reasons, the biggest of which is that we purchased a new house and have been remodeling it. Anyway, things are slowing down with that finally, and I was getting the itch to brew again. So, I gathered up what ingredients I had and ordered a few extras online and brewed up a Stout last weekend. I planned on brewing a Red ale this next weekend, but was low on 2-row (I used to buy it in bulk at a LHBS down in Santa Fe - which is about 40 minutes from me). So, I checked online to see when the LHBS in Santa Fe was open only to find that they shut down some time ago. What a drag - that was a pretty cool store. Plus, it allowed me to buy grains in bulk. Now the closest one is almost 2 hours away.

I can get some grains ordered online in bulk, but the shipping prices suck.

Ah well. Rant over.

 

Make nice with a local brew pub. See if they will add a bag or two of your base malts to their next order. Offer them some profit margin on it, while you still get a good or fair price. Possible win-win. Then just order the smaller quantity specialty grains online.

 

Buy $60 worth of malt 'n' stuff and have it shipped to you for free. Their prices aren't bad, either.

If my LHBS ever goes tits up I'll be right behind you...

Cheers!

 

Are you saying that shipping prices suck more than driving 80 minutes in traffic. I'd be willing to pay quite a bit to avoid that drive, Driving isn't free and online stored can give you more selections.

 

I would say that it is on right at the edge where I will probably go ahead and pay the shipping prices instead of making the drive. I do like the suggestion about the brew pub above. We do have a local small brewery - I might go in and talk to them.

 

I have an hour drive each way to my closest LHBS, and that is closer than the store I really like that is 2.5 hours each way. Seems online offerings have seriously impacted the small LHBS that depend on limited walk in sales daily. It is much easier to order online in my situation.

The flip side of that coin is that I find it rewarding to go to my LHBS in person (rather than order online all the time) just so we can talk about beers and compare notes. These owners are usually knowledgeable and there is always lots of beer to discuss and topics that we find interesting. That's hard to accomplish online so I do some of both.

 

Yeah, that is definitely a bummer about this. I really did enjoy going in and talking with the store owner. He was very knowledgeable and offered great advice, and was a nice guy to boot.

 

Good thought, and I've checked it out because I'm in the same boat as others with no LHBS close to me (90 minute drive to nearest). Unfortunately, the linked establishment excludes bulk grain from free shipping. For my location shipping adds ~$20 which, as others point out, may be preferable to the drive. My usual strategy is to search out and visit stores when traveling and haul bags home - my wife tolerates this behavior, and co-workers don't care while on work trips because I share the final product.

 

Yeah, I make grain runs to the store 2.5 hours away and get 4 or 5 sacks at a time of base malts like two row, pils and wheat.

I think the linked site ships free with $59 purchase if you buy grains in increments of 10# sacks. Haven't done the math yet to see how that works out if you were to buy 5 sacks at 10# each compared to a 50# sack plus shipping.

NOTE: I just did some quick math. If you buy Breiss 2 row in 10# sacks in the quantity to get free shipping, the cost is $1.07 per lb. If you buy a 50# sack and pay shipping, the cost is $1.08 per lb so its virtually the same price. I also checked to see if 2 or more sacks of bulk would reduce the shipping rate per sack, but it scaled up at $16 per sack equally to my location.

FWIW, my LHBS charges me right at $50 per sack of this grain plus sales tax. Then I have my time and gas involved to add in, so shipping may not be quite as bad as it initially sounded.

 

^^Exactly what I do.

I buy my grain in 10# sacks from morebeer and get the free shipping. It isn't as cheap as getting a full sack but is much easier to store especially if you aren't brewing that often (summer for me).