Northern Brewer/Ab InBev - What's the prognosis 1 year on?

[NeoBrew]

As many of you know, in 2016 Ab InBev purchased a significant stake in Norther Brewer/Midwest Supplies in 2016. (The two were previously purchased and merged by another venture capitalist.)

At the time nobody was quite sure what their motives were or what it meant to homebrewing. This article by Brulosophy had a good roundup of some of the theories.

I was not very happy about the purchase as I live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Minnesota area. The two stores were so good that they had suppressed other competitors in the area. At the time of the buy out only one other store (Brew and Grow) existed withing the metro area of over 3.5 million people. I immediately switched my purchasing to them and online sources.

Every time I see NB mentioned in the forums I fight the urge to troll and let everybody know about their relationship with Ab InBev. I mostly succeed in keeping my mouth shut.

So, am I being overly paranoid? Does anybody have any new news on the merger and it's results? I've not been able to find any positive news on the merger yet. Here are a few links to pessimistic ones.

Limiting Access to Hops
Buying Information and Access
Targeting Homebrewers
Blurring the line between craft and macro-brew
And even the PicoBrew

What has your experience been?

 

[flars]

Ingredients are still fresh and customer service is still exemplary.

 

[UncleAvis]

I'm interested in some feedback on this as well. I took a break from homebrewing and when I restarted learned of the buyout. Midwest was always my store of choice but now have been using beermeister. Beermeister is closer to me, has good service and decent hop/grain selection but the store is pretty small so instore equipment perusing is limited. Im not sure id go back to midwest even if reviews are good because i like to pay attension to the l in my lhbs. I really enjoyed Midwest and was disappointed that ab/inbev and their overall shadyness got involved.

 

[MaxStout]

I still get paper catalogs from Northern and Midwest, and I've noticed the marketing has gotten more slick recently. That's OK--they probably had a good ad agency behind that. I don't often go to their stores (Brew and Grow is much closer and I've built a rapport with their people), but my overall experience at Northern remains positive when I do go there. Grains are fresh, store still well-organized and well-stocked, staff are helpful. I don't think there's much difference from where I stand.

 

[daveMN]

I go to the St Paul store, since it's closest. Brew and Grow is at least twice as far. Mostly I just get ingredients. It seems like some of the staff turned over around the transition. They have been helpful, but I'm pretty self-suffucient in there these days. I think they added Yeast Bay and Omega in the last year. The Pro Series kits are ABI brands now, but I haven't tried any of them. Overall, I haven't noticed much for a change.

 

[jheinikel]

For myself, I will not shop their because of who they are owned by. That said, many people don’t care. My first 1 gallon kit came from there and they are still a quality Homebrew shop with many great resources. I’ll still mention them if someone is looking for something that only they sell. My opinions shouldn’t change giving good information, especially when they may not feel the same way I do.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

What has your experience been?

Many of my purchases have gone online and elsewhere (including to BrewNGrow).

The staff in the NB & Midwest stores are still friendly and helpful, which keeps me coming back on occasion. My personal experiences are that the staff at BrewNGrow are as good.

When I get back to brewing some kits, the "Brew Local Series" at BrewNGrow has appeal to me --> buy & brew the kit, get a growler of the original, compare & enjoy.

 

[Roland_deschain]

I shop at the Milwaukee store, no complaints.

 

[d3track]

To be honest, the only difference I have really noticed is the lack of White Labs yeast. I live within about 1.5 miles of the Minneapolis store, which has been remodeled. At the corporate level, I think there have been some changes, but from a retail experience it seems to not have deviated from the industry to date.

 

[bassmang4]

I live near the Milwaukee store. I really haven’t noticed much of a difference. Staff is great there. Prices are competitive on grain if you plan accordingly. Buy gift cards when they do the buy 100 get 20. Use AHA discount. Then buy sacks when they run 20% off one or all items...

Pretty much just get grain and yeast there now. I don’t buy much equipment and I get hops mainly from Yakima.

 

[Transamguy77]

I made a purchase of 3 extract kits in late 2016 (just moved and didn't have my all grain stuff set up yet) before I knew of the purchase and it took 1 week for the order to even be filled and 1 more week for me to receive them. I don't feel that their prices are so great that it's worth waiting 2 weeks for an order so I'll shop elsewhere.