roastquake
Well-Known Member
Well I saw that there was no review for one of my favorite shops. I found them on a trip to Charlotte, NC, had a great experience and now the vast majority of my supplies and ingredients come from them. Initially it was because the shipping was cheap compared to ordering from my old regular shop Midwest Supplies (who by the way have never done wrong by me), but I have become a loyal customer because they are good folks and I think they should be represented here. They have just as good a selection as any other large brew shop, however it seems strange that they do not carry Briess extracts, only Muntons, Coopers and Montmellick, BUT, the have the the cheapest DME prices I have seen online. The lack of Briess extract doesn't matter to me since I do mostly all grain but always keep DME on hand for starters and gravity fixers, and I find Muntons to be equal in quality. It is also strange that they only carry white labs for liquid yeast and no wyeast, again, doesn't matter to me because I use mostly dry yeast and when I've used liquid I've found white labs to be of equal quality to wyeast and they offer a comparison chart of the two brands products. All of the ingredients have been fresh, they seem to do a lot of business, when I was there they where pretty busy and that says a lot. They have really good prices on hops,but the selection is kind of lacking. The staff is extremely helpful, I've been in telephone contact with them a few times and they want nothing more than to help their customers. One drawback is that their website isn't quite as modern as the other players in the game and it seems that product availability inst updated as often as it should be. For example I ordered some hops that where out of stock, they weren't listed as such HOWEVER they called me the same day I ordered and talked me through some substitutes and the beer turned out awesome with the substitute. That being said they are very professional when handling issues with orders, I only had one problem with an order and when I called, they where apologetic and offered a credit which was fine by me. I don't make much wine but it seems like they dedicate as much of their business to winemaking as they do to brewing. Makes sense really, since lots of fruit grows here in the south and lots of people here like to make country wines. I think that's all, I really like these folks and I would encourage everyone to check them out, especially those in the Carolina's. their warehouse/store is in Belmont, NC just outside of Charlotte, and their website is www.ebrew.com. Slaithe.
