Minnesota NB and Midwest Stores Closing (Potentially affecting MN People)

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There's also an Airgas store in that vicinity, it's right around where Hwy 280 ends on its north side, nearish the NB HQ building. You can get to it from 280 if you're traveling north, or from 35W & C exit and backtracking. I kind of quit using them because they were about 1 time in 3 being out of tanks. After I had to next drive to Linde a few times, who always had stock, I just started going straight to them instead. Airgas was pretty close to that price IIRC and so I started to think of it as normal. Silly enough I never bought CO2 at NB or MW stores in town. In retrospect - duh!

 

[MaxStout]

Don't know if there's a Minneapolis Oxygen near you. Their Ham Lake store is close to me, and there's one in Shakopee. Not sure what they might have in/near St. Paul.

 

[Serverator]

Most any welding/gas supply place will do swaps. If you want to fill your shiny aluminum tank and get it back, not all locations have filling stations, and even if they do, there is likely a wait. that's what happened to me. one advantage to doing swaps is you never have to pay for hydro testing...

For Minnesota and surrounding areas, these are the major players. there are probably some small single location places that I'm not aware of:
Oxygen Service Co
Minneapolis Oxygen
Mississippi welding supply
Praxair/Linde
Airgas/Air Liquide
Central McGowan
Toll Welding
Huber
AOx
Weldstar
American Welding and Gas

 

[Immocles]

Cloud’s bee closed awhile. Or at least The Hop Shop has been. Used to stop there while taking my dad to the VA.

Saw Kato mentioned a few times. If you’re going in for dry yeast, a few popular white labs yeasts, or basemalt, they’ll have you covered. 55# bags were more than reasonable to me.

And if you’re in a bit of a beer desert like me, MGM is only a couple blocks away to stock up on all sorts of beers.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

So has anyone been to Beermeister's new store in Medina? Work is taking me that direction (Plymouth), wondering if it's worth the 15 minute detour...
Things I need: a new spigot or three, some hops that I'd like to see in-person (website doesn't list AA% for anything), and maybe a 50 lb sack of base malt.

 

[Cool_Hand_Luke]

I heard they had moved again. I have some family that lives out that way so may drop by as well.

 

[MaxStout]

So has anyone been to Beermeister's new store in Medina? Work is taking me that direction (Plymouth), wondering if it's worth the 15 minute detour...
Things I need: a new spigot or three, some hops that I'd like to see in-person (website doesn't list AA% for anything), and maybe a 50 lb sack of base malt.

I haven't, but am curious. It's a bit of a hike for me, but would like to have it as a backup if I needed something pronto.

If you decide to run over there, please followup in this thread with your thoughts.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

I was going to stop in, but then gps told me they didn't open until 3pm, and that timing just didn't work

 

[orono]

Luckily, for me, in their latest move, Beermeister moved to Hamel/Medina - which is closer to my house. This is the third move they have made in my short brewing history. One, maybe more, of their owners used to work for NB and MW. Customer service is not their strong suit, store perusing and self service is not nearly the experience it was at MW - but they are a brick and mortar store offering some quality products. Maybe things will change with this new location...maybe? I will continue to use them as long as I can keep their address updated

 

[MaxStout]

Luckily, for me, in their latest move, Beermeister moved to Hamel/Medina - which is closer to my house. This is the third move they have made in my short brewing history. One, maybe more, of their owners used to work for NB and MW. Customer service is not their strong suit, store perusing and self service is not nearly the experience it was at MW - but they are a brick and mortar store offering some quality products. Maybe things will change with this new location...maybe? I will continue to use them as long as I can keep their address updated

Thanks for the reconnaissance! I'm not too worried about "customer service," as long as they let me browse and not hover.

Since you've been there, and you're really local, a few questions for enquiring minds:

Do they have a grain room, or do they just sell pre-packaged bags of malts like so many other small outfits?
Hops and yeast--are they stored in freezers and coolers?
How's the selection? Do they have a wide variety, or just the "top hits"?

I've been meaning to run over there, but it's close to an hour drive each way for me. If they have decent hops and yeast selections, and things are fresh, it might be the place for me to drive to in warmer months when I don't like to risk having those perishables shipped. I realize brewing ingredients isn't their primary line. Maybe they'll see the vacuum in the brew supplies market and step up to be the Twin Cities only LHBS.

I do miss Brew & Grow, which closed up in 2019, due to flagging sales (and the owner wanting to retire). I sometimes wonder if it would thrive today, given the MW/NB move out of retail.

 

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I do miss Brew & Grow, which closed up in 2019, due to flagging sales (and the owner wanting to retire). I sometimes wonder if it would thrive today, given the MW/NB move out of retail.

Kevin was great, I was shopping there back when they were by Northtown Mall and my roommate was working there. If you ever had their "American Dream" kit, that was our recipe. Looking back it probably wasn't that great, but we did actually brew it a dozen or so times to get it where we were happy regarding the ingredients - canned syrup (John Bull, I think), yeast (Wyeast 1056) and hops (Cascade). Funny that looking back it was such a simple American Ale recipe, but at the time none of these things were obvious like they are to many of us today. No beer forums yet or anything much other than try, try again.

 

[orono]

Thanks for the reconnaissance! I'm not too worried about "customer service," as long as they let me browse and not hover.

Since you've been there, and you're really local, a few questions for enquiring minds:

Do they have a grain room, or do they just sell pre-packaged bags of malts like so many other small outfits?
Hops and yeast--are they stored in freezers and coolers?
How's the selection? Do they have a wide variety, or just the "top hits"?

I've been meaning to run over there, but it's close to an hour drive each way for me. If they have decent hops and yeast selections, and things are fresh, it might be the place for me to drive to in warmer months when I don't like to risk having those perishables shipped. I realize brewing ingredients isn't their primary line. Maybe they'll see the vacuum in the brew supplies market and step up to be the Twin Cities only LHBS.

I do miss Brew & Grow, which closed up in 2019, due to flagging sales (and the owner wanting to retire). I sometimes wonder if it would thrive today, given the MW/NB move out of retail.

Sorry for the confusion. I have not been inside the new location yet. I'm going to be by there tomorrow morning and I'll swing in and report back - don't know if they are open on the weekends at the new location and I'll ask specific questions (how many grains, yeasts, hops, etc. do you stock) to get the answers to the rest of your questions: Here's what I do know from their location off of 6 and 494: Zero ingredients were able to be obtained on your own. You could buy full sacks of grains and yes you could get smaller bags of pre-packaged grains - they stock(ed) Briess, Avangard, Swaen; yes their hops and yeast were in a cooler (in another room that you could see from the checkout). MW's and NB's selection dwarfed theirs (BM's) selection at their last location. Their retail space was literally a small 20 x 30 space. I never made it in to any other area in their space. If history repeats itself, they will not hover and will leave you alone. One of the things I liked that they did during Covid was that they offered to package your order and then all you had to do was swing in there and pick it up. That was very convenient and I hope that may still be an option going forward. I'm hoping that I can get in there tomorrow. If not, I'll be a "window peeker" - so if I call any of you from jail please accept the charges

 

[MaxStout]

Sorry for the confusion. I have not been inside the new location yet. I'm going to be by there tomorrow morning and I'll swing in and report back - don't know if they are open on the weekends at the new location and I'll ask specific questions (how many grains, yeasts, hops, etc. do you stock) to get the answers to the rest of your questions: Here's what I do know from their location off of 6 and 494: Zero ingredients were able to be obtained on your own. You could buy full sacks of grains and yes you could get smaller bags of pre-packaged grains - they stock(ed) Briess, Avangard, Swaen; yes their hops and yeast were in a cooler (in another room that you could see from the checkout). MW's and NB's selection dwarfed theirs (BM's) selection at their last location. Their retail space was literally a small 20 x 30 space. I never made it in to any other area in their space. I'm hoping that I can get in their tomorrow. If not, I'll be a "window peeker" - so if I call any of you from jail please accept the charges

Don't get thrown in jail.

I was trying to pick your brain, thinking you'd already been in there. Don't want to send you on a wild goose chase. But if you ever stop in there, let us know your thoughts.

 

[orono]

Don't get thrown in jail.

I was trying to pick your brain, thinking you'd already been in there. Don't want to send you on a wild goose chase. But if you ever stop in there, let us know your thoughts.

It's the weekend - at least I wouldn't miss work.

 

[orono]

I went there earlier today. The new place is in the same building as a mattress company. BM is on the west end of the building and you access it by a single service door - My first impressions were that this space was way larger and way better than their other locations I had been to. One of owners that was there still needs social and customer skills. That being said, there was an employee that I recognized from MW and he and I chatted for a little while. He's very social and fun to chat with, too. There were a couple customers in the store while I was there. The gentleman that I was speaking to said that "at one time BM was in this exact building just in another corner of the building. They do offer self serve grains now - along with call in orders if you wish to do those. Their grain selection was more than adequate (see pics I took while I was there). Their plan is to keep the hops and yeast quantities and brands similar to what they had prior. That could change if they see an uptick in business. There was (1) - 3 door fridge that these were kept in that was semi-self serve. The hours of operation per their website are: Monday: 10am-4pm, Tuesday: 10am-4pm, Wednesday: 10am-4pm, Thursday: 10am-5pm, Friday: 10am-6pm, Saturday: 10am-4pm, Sunday: 11am-3pm. Although the message on their recording (I called before going this morning) says differently.

Overall I was impressed by the new much larger retail space, the newly hired MW guy that in now working there and their grain selection. It's very expensive to relocate - and with the amount of relocating that BM has done - wowza! Hopefully they stay here for awhile.

 

[MaxStout]

Looks nice, thanks for running point for us! Bigger than I expected, and looks like a typical small warehouse. No worse than the warehousey-looking MW retail space.

I hope they make it with their ingredient segment of business.

 

[kartracer2]

FWIW, For the Twin Cities local folks.
I saw this in a NB Facebook post a few days ago. It was in a Phat Tyre promo post.

Cheers,
Joel B.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Just noticed that Beermeister's webpage now says that if you buy (in-store) $50, you get an extra 10% off everything (must mention it)!

www.beermeister.com

 

[rkhanso]

I've been shopping at Beermeister the last few years (3 different locations of theirs). I didn't know about the "Spend $50, get 10% off" deal. I'll try to remember that next time.
Beermeister has good prices on most everything. I recently exchanged a 5lb CO2 cylinder for about $23 after tax.
I think they only sell Wyeast brand liquid yeast.
They've always been friendly and helpful.
I liked it when they were closer to the metro, but it's still not a far drive from the west side (I'm in Plymouth).
Since the homebrew ingredient/supplies/gear seems to be a side-business for them, I've always wondered if they'd drop that and stick to the Kegerator business. I hope they don't. I'll do my part to keep them going.

 

[Immocles]

Had to do a tank exchange yesterday so I ended up at brew n wine in Kato. Side note, that new four lane from new ulm to Mankato is amazing. Twenty minutes? Are you kidding me?!? Anyways, I didn’t see any liquid yeasts (which I don’t use anyways but I used to pick up if it was fresh) but I snagged a bag of rahr 2row for 65$. Prices still going up but I didn’t think that was too bad. It’s a shame they’re as small as they are but I’m grateful for them.

 

[MaxStout]

Wife has family in Katoland and we go there a lot, being only 2 hours away. I should check out that store, haven't been in there since before Covid.

Sometimes I just need a few items that wouldn't justify an online order.

I get it that they wouldn't stock liquid yeast. That's a lot of $$ to have tied up in something with a short shelf life.

 

[MikeCo]

I ordered grain and yeast from RiteBrew last week and they arrived the next day. Prices were great and shipping was only $7.99.

 

[mnbrewr]

I've done several orders from Ritebrew as well since NB/Midwest closed. Good experience so far.

 

[whoaru99]

Another satisfied recent Ritebrew customer, albeit only one order.

That said, I've not had any problems through multiple orders from NB/MWS either.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

PSA: Northern Brewer et al. sold and moving to S. Carolina (link to /r/homebrewing).

 

[Snuffy]

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Slightly off topic (but still ), I pitched the last half of a sachet of London (best by Aug 24, originally opened 4-6 months earlier) at 68F into a 2.5 gal OG 60 wort (mashed low at 151F for 60 min). Forgot to add setup fermentation temperature control ( ).

Active fermentation finished in about 24 hours (at 77F).

I guess the good news is that with the kettle wrapped (two layers of Reflectix), lid covered with towel, and a mash cap, the mash was still 151F (no change) after 60 minutes.

 

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PSA: Northern Brewer et al. sold and moving to S. Carolina (link to /r/homebrewing).

OK, wow! I guess I'll never get the warehouse pick-up option I'd been hoping for. Well not here in MN anyhow!

Seems like a strange business idea, but it must make sense to someone.

 

[Broothru]

OK, wow! I guess I'll never get the warehouse pick-up option I'd been hoping for. Well not here in MN anyhow!

Seems like a strange business idea, but it must make sense to someone.

Guess they won’t be “Northern Brewer” anymore if they’re in ’South’ Carolina. Ditto for “MidWest Supplies.”

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

OK, wow! I guess I'll never get the warehouse pick-up option I'd been hoping for. Well not here in MN anyhow!

For those in the west Twin Cities metro, there is Beer Meister (west side of Plymouth). Those on the east side have to decide if a 45 min (cross metro) drive is still "local" or not. I need to revisit their web site when I get to my next online order.

Seems like a strange business idea, but it must make sense to someone.

speculation: The process for online ordering and fulfillment of garden supplies (Park Garden) may not be that much different from ordering homing supplies. Assuming a seasonal pattern to ordering garden seeds, offering home brewing supplies could offset any seasonal slowness.

I may take a fresh look at NB/MWS/AIH/AHS in six and twelve months.