Laughing_Gnome_Invisible
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- Joined
- Jan 4, 2008
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Part 1
So, I got tired of paying too much for shipping on 55lb bags of Maris Otter from Midwest. I searched again for a LHBS near me, and decided to try a store that I had previously overlooked because of their damned awful web site.
I phoned them, and spoke to some kind of octogenarian lobotomy patient. I just wanted some prices. He told me that to get those, I would have to go to his supplier's website, look up the product numbers, then call him back and ask for prices.....I did this (While making sure with the suppliers that I could not buy directly from them, instead of this weird old guy) I then called the old guy back, and got some prices on my most common ingredients. He was cheap enough. It was a go for the future.
2 weeks later, I a ready to make an order. I decide that based on how difficult it was to get any information worth a damn from the old guy on the phone, that it would be better to make the short 20 mile drive and order in person. Things are always easier face to face, right? WRONG!!!
I went along with my Son in Law as he wanted to place an order too. We arrived at this "store" which was some kind of house filled with **** (Some of it brewing related) and met the old guy. He was pleasant enough, and we battled through my order. He operated the new fangled computer thing, while I told him which page to go to, where to scroll down to, when to stop.....And finally, when to write down the correct product code. He made a list of all the numbers and amounts while I watched him like a hawk. I was pleased to notice that despite the hard time he was having understanding any of the strange beer making ingredients (He is a wine man) or, in fact just about any of the entire process, he was, in fact taking good clear notes.
We finally got out of the store about an hour later in a complete zombified state. In fact, I was so screwed up, I almost killed us a couple of times on the road with my frazzled brain driving.
A week later (Would have been two days if he had phoned me like he bloody said he would) I go to pick up my order. Old man seems a little more lively, but not much. He recognises me, which was a surprise if I'm honest, and starts to get my order together.....I hid my surprise at the fact that he didn't do that before, as he never wasted any time on other stuff, like cleaning the place.
Going through the packing was just as painful as ordering the stuff! I had to use total recall to make sure I had everything, explain the order AGAIN to him, and double check it was all there, despite his vain attempts to replace my sack of Maris Otter with a 5 gallon tub of someone else's extract. He eventually managed to total it all up on his electric abacus, and told me the price $160.74.....That sounded close enough to me, so I got out my visa card.....Yep!! You guessed it, and I already had a clue before I even arrived there.....So, after my trip to the ATM, I come back ready to pay.
Part 2
There are now two other customers in the place. Two guys somewhere between 55-65 maybe....They are talking, they welcome me back and everyone is friendly. Old guy is now talking to someone he knows well. We all get talking. Old guy has been making wine for 60 years (Kudos to you, old guy) One of the other customers is an AG brewer.
Customer brings in a mini-cooler and plls out a bottle of stout. His ususal self-formulated stout recipe, he says, except with fruit this time. It was very good!! I yak with him a little while about brewing beer while Old guy gets jokingly pissy because we are not talking wine.......Some kind of yeast knowledge fight ensues between them, while I am now thinking "hey! This is great!!"
We then taste a cup of this guy's spiced pumpkin. I don't even like pumpkin, but this is good! More talk about beer, more talk about wine......And how beer guys could kill a wine guy with his eyes closed.....
Eventually, I gotta leave. Now, all of a sudden, Old guy who could previously not even use an electric abacus is calling me by my first name, which I had only ever told him once before on my first visit! Laughing and handshakes all around, and I leave.
Old guy's name is Tom. He proudly proclaims on a sign in his store "Come as a customer, leave as a friend"
Tom is good to his word. Sure beats buying online if you have the patience.
So, I got tired of paying too much for shipping on 55lb bags of Maris Otter from Midwest. I searched again for a LHBS near me, and decided to try a store that I had previously overlooked because of their damned awful web site.
I phoned them, and spoke to some kind of octogenarian lobotomy patient. I just wanted some prices. He told me that to get those, I would have to go to his supplier's website, look up the product numbers, then call him back and ask for prices.....I did this (While making sure with the suppliers that I could not buy directly from them, instead of this weird old guy) I then called the old guy back, and got some prices on my most common ingredients. He was cheap enough. It was a go for the future.
2 weeks later, I a ready to make an order. I decide that based on how difficult it was to get any information worth a damn from the old guy on the phone, that it would be better to make the short 20 mile drive and order in person. Things are always easier face to face, right? WRONG!!!
I went along with my Son in Law as he wanted to place an order too. We arrived at this "store" which was some kind of house filled with **** (Some of it brewing related) and met the old guy. He was pleasant enough, and we battled through my order. He operated the new fangled computer thing, while I told him which page to go to, where to scroll down to, when to stop.....And finally, when to write down the correct product code. He made a list of all the numbers and amounts while I watched him like a hawk. I was pleased to notice that despite the hard time he was having understanding any of the strange beer making ingredients (He is a wine man) or, in fact just about any of the entire process, he was, in fact taking good clear notes.
We finally got out of the store about an hour later in a complete zombified state. In fact, I was so screwed up, I almost killed us a couple of times on the road with my frazzled brain driving.
A week later (Would have been two days if he had phoned me like he bloody said he would) I go to pick up my order. Old man seems a little more lively, but not much. He recognises me, which was a surprise if I'm honest, and starts to get my order together.....I hid my surprise at the fact that he didn't do that before, as he never wasted any time on other stuff, like cleaning the place.
Going through the packing was just as painful as ordering the stuff! I had to use total recall to make sure I had everything, explain the order AGAIN to him, and double check it was all there, despite his vain attempts to replace my sack of Maris Otter with a 5 gallon tub of someone else's extract. He eventually managed to total it all up on his electric abacus, and told me the price $160.74.....That sounded close enough to me, so I got out my visa card.....Yep!! You guessed it, and I already had a clue before I even arrived there.....So, after my trip to the ATM, I come back ready to pay.
Part 2
There are now two other customers in the place. Two guys somewhere between 55-65 maybe....They are talking, they welcome me back and everyone is friendly. Old guy is now talking to someone he knows well. We all get talking. Old guy has been making wine for 60 years (Kudos to you, old guy) One of the other customers is an AG brewer.
Customer brings in a mini-cooler and plls out a bottle of stout. His ususal self-formulated stout recipe, he says, except with fruit this time. It was very good!! I yak with him a little while about brewing beer while Old guy gets jokingly pissy because we are not talking wine.......Some kind of yeast knowledge fight ensues between them, while I am now thinking "hey! This is great!!"
We then taste a cup of this guy's spiced pumpkin. I don't even like pumpkin, but this is good! More talk about beer, more talk about wine......And how beer guys could kill a wine guy with his eyes closed.....
Eventually, I gotta leave. Now, all of a sudden, Old guy who could previously not even use an electric abacus is calling me by my first name, which I had only ever told him once before on my first visit! Laughing and handshakes all around, and I leave.
Old guy's name is Tom. He proudly proclaims on a sign in his store "Come as a customer, leave as a friend"
Tom is good to his word. Sure beats buying online if you have the patience.
