North Country Malt Group to stop selling to homebrewers

[babalu87]

Thread on Beer Advocate

http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/2970833

We recently acquired Brewcraft and intend to open up other distribution points in the near future.

However, we appreciate the continued business our loyal homebrew customers have given us. With that being said we intend to continue to make our current product line available to our current home brew accounts but we will not be accepting new home brew customers. Homebrew customers who have done business with North Country Malt Supply and Mid Country Malt Supply over the past 12 months can place orders by calling our toll free number (NC: 888-368-5571 - MC: 866-428-1438) or by e-mailing: [email protected].

Thank you for your continued support.

Kelly J. Kuehl - Director of Sales
The Country Malt Group

 

[Hammy71]

Wow. I wonder what the logic is........a pallet of malt is a pallet of malt. Guess they just want to be a wholesaler.

 

[Reelale]

I know they have to sort and stack different malts based on orders. The last one we did was quite an assortment. It's probably much easier for them to load full pallets of one kind and ship that way. Regardless, that's sad news....they were great to work with.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Keeping track of all the tax percentages at the POS, doing the paperwork, and paying the tax for it is a real PITA. That alone is worth not selling to the public.

 

[remilard]

Wow. I wonder what the logic is........a pallet of malt is a pallet of malt. Guess they just want to be a wholesaler.

They bought a homebrew supply company (brewcraft?) and it makes sense for them to change their distribution model.

They have said they will continue to sell to individuals who have purchased from them in the last 12 months.

 

[samc]

The logic is that "retail" brew suppliers probably are screaming at them to stop as it kills the profit margins.

In a previous life my main supplier sold equipment and supplies to me at the same time as they were operating a business that directly competed with me. I spent years screaming at them but they were so big they did not care. Eventually they closed down all the competing locations as someone bigger than me must have pressured them.

 

[Bobby_M]

It's still not clear to me if they are discontinuing their previous single-customer homebrew supply business (e.g. a single sack of malt shipped by UPS) or if it also includes pallet orders. Frankly, the only distinction would be whether they will sell a pallet of malt to a business vs. end user and even that is hard to differentiate. Just about everyone knows someone with a business tax ID.

Frankly, I don't think they will stop selling full pallets of malt to whomever wants to pay for it.

 

[babalu87]

It's still not clear to me if they are discontinuing their previous single-customer homebrew supply business (e.g. a single sack of malt shipped by UPS) or if it also includes pallet orders. Frankly, the only distinction would be whether they will sell a pallet of malt to a business vs. end user and even that is hard to differentiate. Just about everyone knows someone with a business tax ID.

Frankly, I don't think they will stop selling full pallets of malt to whomever wants to pay for it.

This is my hope as well Bobby but just the fact that they arent accepting "new homebrew customers" is what took me aback.

I guess a few of us that get grain in bulk will have to get ourselves a company name and tax#

 

[Sigafoos]

Is it really cost effective to buy one sack at a time? My LHBS sells them for $60-65, and so ordering a small amount is about a break even proposition for me. The only time it made sense was when a group of us went in on a pallet.

 

[Beerrific]

Frankly, I don't think they will stop selling full pallets of malt to whomever wants to pay for it.

Most homebrew supply distributors will not sell to anyone other than legit homebrew shops. On top of that they only accept new accounts for shops that meet fairly strict guidelines. The logic is that they only want to sell to shops because selling to the individual kills the profit for the homebrew shops and if the homebrew shops go out of business there goes their customers as they can't rely on homebrew clubs for consistent business.

It just seems that they are adopting the approach that the other distributors have. If you called Crosby & Baker or LD Carlson and asked about ordering a pallet for a homebrew club they would quickly say "no."

 

[JJL]

I have to admit I was pretty surprised when I first heard that these guys would do individual sales in the first place. It's really an exception to normal retailing. Most manufacturers in any type of business prefer not to sell direct to consumer. The one's who do usually sell at a higher price than they sell to wholesalers. They usually set an MSRP for the product and sell it for that price only direct to consumers, which allows their wholesale customers to adjust their retail pricing to be competitive. Retailers get a little upset when they are being undercut by the manufacturer.

 

[TheMan]

Is it really cost effective to buy one sack at a time? My LHBS sells them for $60-65, and so ordering a small amount is about a break even proposition for me. The only time it made sense was when a group of us went in on a pallet.

Lol, it's VERY cost effective to buy straight from them. I get a 55# sack of two row for $32. That's half the LHBS cost... $0.58 a pound. Including gas to get there in my gas guzzling Mustang it's still $0.69 a pound...

 

[FromZwolle]

i'm just happy i made my first purchase with them about 6 months ago. shame they have to cut out new homebrew customers, but they really aren't set up well for that type of retail market.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

Is it really cost effective to buy one sack at a time? My LHBS sells them for $60-65, and so ordering a small amount is about a break even proposition for me. The only time it made sense was when a group of us went in on a pallet.

Last single sack I got (just got it) was Franco-Belges Pils malt for $57 delivered to my front door. No tax, no driving, just pull it inside my door.

I was about to order another sack today. We'll see what happens. Maybe I should get two.

EDIT: And I was recently thinking the new NC depot might reduce my shipping and was all excited about that. Woopsie.

 

[TheMan]

The key question here is...where is the grain list for us to look at now? So that we know prices and what else they have?

This is obviously for those of us that have bought within 12 months.

 

[mosquitocontrol]

This is definitely bad news for extract brewers like myself. DME is double the price anywhere else. Hopefully I can still continue to order even if its only a bag or two at a time. I have no idea what I'll do if I can't. Drink and brew less?

 

[claphamsa]

yeah this would be crushing.... hopefully since i order regularly Ill still be allowed to order. Also I wonder what it would take to be considered a legit store...

 

[remilard]

yeah this would be crushing.... hopefully since i order regularly Ill still be allowed to order. Also I wonder what it would take to be considered a legit store...

Probably a distribution deal that would include buying a heck of a lot of brewcraft stuff.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

yeah this would be crushing.... hopefully since i order regularly Ill still be allowed to order. Also I wonder what it would take to be considered a legit store...

Legally, a FEIN and Tax ID. But in reality, what Remilard sed.

 

[AnonyBrew]

The arguement about the competition for bulk grain purchases shutting down local supply stores irritates me. If the supply stores want to stay in business, maybe they shouldn't charge $60 for a fricken bag of 2row. That's gouging us consumers if you ask me and is probably why bulk grain buys exist in the first place. At $60 a bag what's the mark up profit to the retail store? 100% or more? That's ridiculous.

I understand marking up smaller quantities though. Besides, what percentage of a LHBS's business is from bags of grain anyways. I'll bet it's low.

 

[Tepe]

Well here in South Jersey we usually do a pallet (42 bags) buy on average once every 5-7 weeks. It dont take our group long to get 2,000#'s of grain ordered.

I hope they will continue to let us do the pallet buys.

 

[claphamsa]

Well here in South Jersey we usually do a pallet (42 bags) buy on average once every 5-7 weeks. It dont take our group long to get 2,000#'s of grain ordered.

I hope they will continue to let us do the pallet buys.

ive emailed with Trish, she said were fine... so im sure you are too.

 

[Tepe]

Great!
Order was just placed and delivery is next thursday

 

[ferman]

I guess we are safe either way since we've ordered 6 bulk buys in the past few months.

 

[OLDBREW]

It's still not clear to me if they are discontinuing their previous single-customer homebrew supply business (e.g. a single sack of malt shipped by UPS) or if it also includes pallet orders. Frankly, the only distinction would be whether they will sell a pallet of malt to a business vs. end user and even that is hard to differentiate. Just about everyone knows someone with a business tax ID.

Frankly, I don't think they will stop selling full pallets of malt to whomever wants to pay for it.

I think what they are doing is getting rid of the single sack homebrewer orders. They are so busy and have no time or room for handling the single sack orders. Their pallets are flying out of there, and they are having problems keeping up with the volume. The guy is looking for a bigger location. They have already added a couple more workers.

I don't think pallet orders will be effected.
Edit:
I don't think walk-in customers will have any problems either. Just the UPS shipped hombrewer orders

 

[VictorWI]

I think what they are doing is getting rid of the single sack homebrewer orders. They are so busy and have no time or room for handling the single sack orders. Their pallets are flying out of there, and they are having problems keeping up with the volume. The guy is looking for a bigger location. They have already added a couple more workers.

I don't think pallet orders will be effected.
Edit:
I don't think walk-in customers will have any problems either. Just the UPS shipped hombrewer orders

I hope the walk-in customers won't have problems. I was just planning a trip down to the Chicago area. Never bought from them before but have plenty of others I know who have.

 

[TheMan]

I hope the walk-in customers won't have problems. I was just planning a trip down to the Chicago area. Never bought from them before but have plenty of others I know who have.

Sorry to inform you, but even before this new issue came up they require you to call ahead of time to place your order. They won't give you anything if you just show up at their door and ask to buy grain. Highly suggest you call before going there...

 

[buffalobrewer]

Is it really cost effective to buy one sack at a time? My LHBS sells them for $60-65, and so ordering a small amount is about a break even proposition for me. The only time it made sense was when a group of us went in on a pallet.

If you get another group buy going can you let me know?

 

[Clayton]

The key question here is...where is the grain list for us to look at now? So that we know prices and what else they have?

This is obviously for those of us that have bought within 12 months.

Yeah all the link to the price lists on there webpages are no longer any good.
But i was able to find it on there webserver with wild cards in the url.
http://www.countrymaltgroup.com/downloads/NC%20Malt%20Supply%202010%20Sales%20Book%2008-04-10.pdf

*edit* for mid county change the N to an M
http://www.countrymaltgroup.com/downloads/mC Malt Supply 2010 Sales Book 08-04-10.pdf


i would attach a copy but the size restriction are crazy small and the pdf is 2.4mg..


I have only placed large pallet orders (2-3) and I dont see that channle closing,, I think they just want to shuck the 1 and 2 baggers that call and email bugging the piss out of them ,, they prolly dont make but 3 bucks a bag and the clerical labor is nearly the same on a large order VS one bag and then if they call gipping about there tracking number they have lost money on the deal.

 

[Austinhomebrew]

The arguement about the competition for bulk grain purchases shutting down local supply stores irritates me. If the supply stores want to stay in business, maybe they shouldn't charge $60 for a fricken bag of 2row. That's gouging us consumers if you ask me and is probably why bulk grain buys exist in the first place. At $60 a bag what's the mark up profit to the retail store? 100% or more? That's ridiculous.

I understand marking up smaller quantities though. Besides, what percentage of a LHBS's business is from bags of grain anyways. I'll bet it's low.

No homebrew store can compete when you can purchase it for less than a homebrew store can. No one is gettting rich running a homebrew store. Then the customers don't want to pay for milling the grain. It costs about 25cents per pound to mill the grain. I am sure that you can buy a bag of 2 row for a lot less than $60.

Forrest