going to the not so lhbs today

[fluketamer]

the lack of hbs in the nyc 5 boroughs is appaling. one in brooklyn thank god. ZERO in manhattan???. one in long island (so far out on the island it might as well be in another state). and a few in NJ.

im taking the trip to new jersey. 25$ gas and tolls still cheaper than shipping. and nothing like supporting a not so local hbs.
as a plus they also brew in house and have a decent taplist - perfect time killer for when the wife and kids are at the mall.

some goodies on my shopping list.

a case of swing tops for the mead i just made.
bottle tree - i have been kegging for a few years now and forgot what its like to bottle beer.
some eva tubing , an ounce or two of hops, likely 20-30 lbs of grain and of course a few nips of whatever stout they have on tap. hopefully they still have the 4 ounce sampler glasses.

anyone else feel like a 5 year old about to head to the toystore when they go to the hbs?

with so much online purchasing, brick and mortar shopping is like a mini adventure these days.

brew on!

 

[jschein]

Good luck on your journey. What store are you going to?

 

[Sammy86]

Good luck! Where ya headed?

 

[fluketamer]

i dont have any association and they arent sponsers so i dotn wish to post publicly. im not sure of the rules.
ill message you

there inventory grew tremendoiusly from precovid. they used to just sell kits and had a tiny room in the back with limited grains . now they have a huge inventory . hopefully thats a sign of increased interest in local homebrewing and not just all online business.

 

[Bobby_M]

I hope it's not the place I tried when I first started associated with a very mediocre brewpub. I picked up a sack of Maris and when I got home, I realized it was 2 years past its best by date and when I opened it, half the malt was soaking wet.

Since I'm pretty familiar with the costs associated with running a LHBS, I would say the reason there are none in Manhattan is that you'd have to charge $200 for a sack of 2 row to break even on the rent and no one would buy it at that price.

 

[fluketamer]

the store is interesting. they have a decent selection of ingredients. no more beer on tap but they have over 100 craft beers. the owners are obviously new and i hope they are learning cause they were pretty much clueless. any questions i had they googled. and they didnt know the diference between vinyl and silicon. and they werent 100 percent sure of there own inventory. like i said i think they are new. they also gave me halertau blanc when i asked for halertau and i didint notice til i got home . oh well.


but prices were good and they are very friendly.

i got the ferrari of bottle trees literally its made by ferrari! - so cool
a case of really hiigh quality fflip top 16 ounce clear bottles for mead
and also grain.

toys! yeah!

hey bobby . ididnt realize your store was so close to thee city i will try your place next time.

and that makes sense why no stores in city.

 

[mashdar]

My "L"HBS is 30min away and is mostly focussed on wine (the owner is a winemaker who serves the local brewing demand). He doesn't do anything online AFAIK.

He has a fair selection of 55lbs and 1lbs grain, good 1oz hop selection, and fills CO2. I go for CO2 and stock up on other stuff, then fill in with online orders.

Bobby is 75min away. I've never been but I'm tempted to make the hajj some time.

I just looked and the store I used to walk to in Cambridge MA closed in 2022. Looks like the woodworking shop closed too. Bummer.

 

[Sammy86]

just looked and the store I used to walk to in Cambridge MA closed in 2022

I visited that HBS many times when visiting family in Boston, was a nice place to shop.

 

[Bobby_M]

the store is interesting. they have a decent selection of ingredients. no more beer on tap but they have over 100 craft beers. the owners are obviously new and i hope they are learning cause they were pretty much clueless. any questions i had they googled. and they didnt know the diference between vinyl and silicon. and they werent 100 percent sure of there own inventory. like i said i think they are new. they also gave me halertau blanc when i asked for halertau and i didint notice til i got home . oh well.


hey bobby . ididnt realize your store was so close to thee city i will try your place next time.

I wouldn't call my shop close to the city, but we are not far off RT78 which makes it a long but straight shot barring any overturned tractor trailers.

I'm pretty sure I know what shop you went to but I didn't know it had new owners. There's a downside to running a dual business like bottle shop and homebrew supply in that one or the other is already pretty challenging. You also can't (I mean shouldn't) put a non-brewer inside the store to help customers. It's such a niche hobby that people expect expertise. You'll meet one of three possible people in my store and all three brew regularly. 2/3 are BJCP judges and have expertise in recipe creation, yeast starters, mash pH, water chem, and other advanced topics. We may also be the only shop that has kettle mods/TIG welding while you wait but I'm not sure about that.