greenacarina
Active Member
So, generally speaking, I am an advocate of supporting the local brick and mortar store versus buying everything online (although I do buy a ton of stuff online...often things not found at local business).
The LHBS is the prime example of this. My introduction to homebrewing, sometime in the early 90's, was through the local brew store in my old neighborhood.
The guys that owned it were passionate about brewing and very helpful and supportive in getting me set up with the right stuff, answering technical questions, diagnosing problems, etc...
Fast-forward to the current century...I live in an area that, thankfully, has a LHBS. I have been in there a number of times, bought many ingredients, pieces of equipment, etc... but there has always been a general lack of enthusiasm.
Now, just to clarify, I don't have "high expectations" of any retail establishment...just some level of common courtesy..."Hi, how's it going", "Help you find anything", "Have any questions", that kind of thing.
The ability to answer beginner-to-intermediate type questions.
Generally I have had a pretty solid idea of exactly what I want when I go in (because I know I'm not going to get any guidance from the staff).
Having not brewed for a couple years, I am now getting back into it and stopped by the LHBS on a whim one day to pick up the ingredients for a basic brown ale.
Almost instantly had the "Oh yeah! That's right" moment realizing that nobody gave a damn that I was in the store or wanted to buy anything and further realized that I was done with this crap.
SO....here is my conundrum.
There are a couple other LHBS in my general area, but they would be a bit of a drive.
I haven't bought any homebrewing ingredients online before, so I don't know how well that would work for shipping costs on grain (for example).
Are there any recommended online suppliers?
Should I just drive the extra miles to a different LHBS?
What do you guys think?
Thanks
Chris
The LHBS is the prime example of this. My introduction to homebrewing, sometime in the early 90's, was through the local brew store in my old neighborhood.
The guys that owned it were passionate about brewing and very helpful and supportive in getting me set up with the right stuff, answering technical questions, diagnosing problems, etc...
Fast-forward to the current century...I live in an area that, thankfully, has a LHBS. I have been in there a number of times, bought many ingredients, pieces of equipment, etc... but there has always been a general lack of enthusiasm.
Now, just to clarify, I don't have "high expectations" of any retail establishment...just some level of common courtesy..."Hi, how's it going", "Help you find anything", "Have any questions", that kind of thing.
The ability to answer beginner-to-intermediate type questions.
Generally I have had a pretty solid idea of exactly what I want when I go in (because I know I'm not going to get any guidance from the staff).
Having not brewed for a couple years, I am now getting back into it and stopped by the LHBS on a whim one day to pick up the ingredients for a basic brown ale.
Almost instantly had the "Oh yeah! That's right" moment realizing that nobody gave a damn that I was in the store or wanted to buy anything and further realized that I was done with this crap.
SO....here is my conundrum.
There are a couple other LHBS in my general area, but they would be a bit of a drive.
I haven't bought any homebrewing ingredients online before, so I don't know how well that would work for shipping costs on grain (for example).
Are there any recommended online suppliers?
Should I just drive the extra miles to a different LHBS?
What do you guys think?
Thanks
Chris