Well, you may think this thread is a complaint about others but you would be mistaken. Since the hop shortage started to rear its ugly head I have a story and question about what to do given a certain very lucky opportunity that has popped up. There is a homebrew shop locally that only sells brewing related equipment and ingredients. They, like all dedicated homebrew stores have been rationing hops and have a hard time getting any right now. There is another local shop that carries homebrewing items as a side business, they are mainly a high-end kitchenware and gourmet food/coffee store. This shop didn't seem to get the memo about the hop shortage. I had a safety reward payout from work and I had my supervisor buy the gift certificate at this store and then used it all before the new year. We had a perfect safety year so it was a hefty check and I spent it all on brew ingredients. Well this place still sells 1 oz vacuum sealed LD Carlson
US hops at $1 and European for $1.50, no upcharge for leaf hops either. He had one pound bags of several varieties for only $10. When I got there all the Cascades were wiped out but he had at least 20 more varieties on hand. So now I find myself with 7-8 lbs of 20 different hop varieties, after another trip today, and I could probably stretch these out for like 3 years or more with as much as I brew. I don't prefer the really hoppy beers so I just use maybe 3 oz total when making a batch. My question is, do you guys think it is my right to use these as I see fit, I mean selling them to other brewers at profit either locally or online? The other question is should I go back and buy-out the store of all that he has at those prices? I don't think the guy that owns the store knows how close he is to running smooth out since I did go back and buy about 2 more pounds today when I knew he wouldn't be there and the ladies running the register don't know the difference. He still has most of a pound bag of Kent Goldings leaf left and lots of pellet Cluster, Sterling, Perle, and others in the smaller bags. I feel kinda bad about doing this but know that I have a rare opportunity here to keep ahead of the curve on hops and make some profit.
US hops at $1 and European for $1.50, no upcharge for leaf hops either. He had one pound bags of several varieties for only $10. When I got there all the Cascades were wiped out but he had at least 20 more varieties on hand. So now I find myself with 7-8 lbs of 20 different hop varieties, after another trip today, and I could probably stretch these out for like 3 years or more with as much as I brew. I don't prefer the really hoppy beers so I just use maybe 3 oz total when making a batch. My question is, do you guys think it is my right to use these as I see fit, I mean selling them to other brewers at profit either locally or online? The other question is should I go back and buy-out the store of all that he has at those prices? I don't think the guy that owns the store knows how close he is to running smooth out since I did go back and buy about 2 more pounds today when I knew he wouldn't be there and the ladies running the register don't know the difference. He still has most of a pound bag of Kent Goldings leaf left and lots of pellet Cluster, Sterling, Perle, and others in the smaller bags. I feel kinda bad about doing this but know that I have a rare opportunity here to keep ahead of the curve on hops and make some profit.
