Northern Brewer - Buyer Beware

[user 338926]

That strange indeed. I’m across the border in Maryland (near Hagerstown) and it’s not unusual for me to place an order mid-morning on Monday and have it in hand by Wednesday afternoon.

I started back Brewing or at least buying stuff in february. I would say the first 7 weeks that I bought ingredients and components, I ordered on Monday or Tuesday and not one time did I have my stuff by Friday so I could Brew on the weekend. Every single week. Years ago when I dealt with them I could place my order on Wednesday and have it by Friday. Keep in mind I'm only 150 Mi away. It would appear they are getting a handle on that lately, but it's still not back where it was in 2010 to 2016.

 

[Broothru]

I recently put in an order for NB and was happy with my purchase. I've eyed that smallish "cold crank" immersion chiller for sometime for smaller batches. I think NB was phasing it out as I got it $20 off. I went ahead and ordered some yeast and some hops to try to buy enough for free shipping. The immersion chiller killed the free shipping as it was one of many exceptions. That's about the only complaint I had, but it was $20 below retail so meh, all's good.

@Brooothru I've noticed the bulk grain thing with More Beer as well. I think for bulk grain, I'm going to use Delta Brewing Supplies. My last order was 50 lbs Briess pilsen malt for $67 shipped.

Thanks. I’ll check them out.

 

[Jakfri]

I know this thread has been quiet for a while but I thought I'd share some news. I recieved an email from Northern Brewer stating they are closing their retail locations August 31st. I stopped by the store and asked an employee if they were being offered other positions within the company. Apparently, they are not. They were the last physical home brew store in my area, central Minnesota, which bums me out as I hate online ordering.

 

[Saunassa]

@Jakfri I believe there is a lhb store in the west metro, maybe Plymouth. Now when I head to the cities I won't have a place to buy grain by the sack.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Minnesota - NB and Midwest Stores Closing (Potentially affecting MN People). The /r/homebrewing threads mentioned in #2 of that topic discuss the closing in more detail, including locations of other brick-and-motar stores. AHA also has a web page with a list of stores.

@Jakfri

 

[Rpalm517]

I placed an order a week ago online from Northern Brewer and, besides an email that says there's been a "delay", have been unable to get any further update from NB about my order. It's been a week, and the order is still unfulfilled despite their website still indicating that they're shipping most orders in 2-3 business days.

Today, I saw that there were several threads both on HBT and Reddit about the delays brewers have experienced with NB over the past year--some up to two weeks or more!!! I understand that there are staffing issues and other logistics affecting nearly every business, but it makes no sense that NB's competitors can deliver same day while they are struggling in this regard.

For reference, I sent three texts to the textable number provided on the NB website, sent two emails--one for an update, one to cancel the order, and attempted to call the textable number as well as the Milwaukee retail store as there is no number to reach customer service available anywhere that I've been able to find (and I've looked HARD).

Because I've heard nothing back from them, I called my CC company to dispute the transaction. I hate doing this to any merchant, but this lack of customer service and responsiveness makes me lose faith that NB will come through on their promise to either provide the goods I've ordered or refund the money. Quite frankly, I've never experienced such a poor customer service/ordering experience. I'm not the kind of person that expects immediate service or shipping, but I do expect some degree of responsiveness from the merchants I buy from.

I know that there are plenty of quality suppliers out there, and I intend on giving them my business. I'm equal opportunity as I don't have a LHBS anywhere near me, and the one I've always used (Texas Brewing, Inc.) decided to pare down their homebrewing operations and focus on their commercial brewing supplies after covid.

Unfortunately, I have to recommend against anyone ordering from Northern Brewer. My experience was horrible at best. I know that I'm not the only one, and I also know that others have had good experiences, but I need to share my experience to protect other brewers from having a similar experience to mine.

Going through same issue and while two different someone's have responded to emails I sent after two weeks of nothing, order is still :unfulfilled. All past orders had been fast turnaround and nearly flawless; the one order with issue was remedied within days and a credit was issued to my account. My future homebrew shopping will not be through any entity associated with Northern Brewer. Had to say.

 

[Dancy]

The service you received is not acceptable. However, the last post previous to yours is last August, telling me NB must’ve resolved some issues, so at this point we have no reason to believe they’re back to the rash of customer service and shipping issues that went on for some time. Fingers crossed.

 

[RyPA]

Why order from NorthernBrewer over MoreBeer?

 

[mac_1103]

Why order from NorthernBrewer over MoreBeer?

Sales. 20% off a single item right now for instance.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Has anyone else noticed a couple of patterns around "hating" on home brew suppliers?

Spoiler

 

[Yesfan]

Has anyone else noticed a couple of patterns around "hating" on home brew suppliers?

Spoiler

View attachment 843042

View attachment 843043

Seems like it's always on Northern Brewer too.

The worst experience I had from NB was getting a severely mangled box that has the contents spilled out. Luckily, the bags containing the all grain kits were not breached. My email to them was to bitch about UPS more than NB and I didn't consider NB was at fault for that order. They went ahead and just sent me three more all grain kits as replacements. I wasn't expecting that and thought that was pretty big of them to do that.

I used to buy from them a lot back in the day. Mainly because I was still newish to brewing, I would binge watch the BrewingTV episodes, etc., etc. After Chris Farley sold them to AB/InBev, I went to other vendors like More Beer, Adventures in Homebrewing, and Brewhardware.com (Bobby M). They're still not like they were back in their glory days (the slow shipping sucks, sorry), but I think they are better now that Chip Walton's back with them.

 

[JoeSpartaNJ]

Even with 20% off, their prices are still high.

The only time I ordered from them in the recent past was when they use to do their 3 for $60 kits sales, but now they only on that for extract brews.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

While it's true the the plural of anecdotal is anecdotals (and not data that 'proves' a point) ...

Spoiler

... there may be "things that make you go hmmm".

Or not.

 

[redrocker652002]

Why order from NorthernBrewer over MoreBeer?

I have always had great experience with Morebeer and if I need something fast, they are about 30 mins from me drive time

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Over in /r/homebrewing, there's a current topic on Best Brewing Sites. For those around MI or CA, there are a couple of stores are mentioned that I don't see mentioned here.

 

[MaxStout]

Has anyone else noticed a couple of patterns around "hating" on home brew suppliers?

Spoiler

View attachment 843042

View attachment 843043

Seeing more complaints is an indicator that vendors are cutting corners. I've noticed a lot of that in many industries recently. Cutting staff, cutting services, cutting back on QC, or just post-pandemic money grabs through higher prices.

 

[PCABrewing]

Even with 20% off, their prices are still high.

The only time I ordered from them in the recent past was when they use to do their 3 for $60 kits sales, but now they only on that for extract brews.

On my last order I was taking advantage of the 3x kit deal and the system let me put a all-grain kit in the cart.
I didn't complete that order but it seemed like it would let me do it.
Or it might have gotten hung-up and delayed while they sorted it out, I'll never know.

 

[user 344105]

I've ordered from Austin Homebrew Supply for years and they were always dependable, fast, quick to respond to communication and their inventory of European clones was unrivaled. As soon as they were bought by whoever owned NB and AIH at the time, they became slow to ship, prices rose, free shipping went up to orders over $99 and there is no longer an extensive list of clones. You can still find them if you search for them by name, but they are all listed as "Sold Out". I've been saving the brew sheets from all the ones I like and buying them by ingredient list from Great Fermentations. Problem is, AHS uses their aggravatingly mysterious "HBU Packs" for bittering and I have to search other recipes for the bittering hop varieties.

I just ordered a kit from AHS to use up my rewards points and, after 8 days, I received a box that was larger and lighter than I was expecting. It contained an Air Still that I did not order. The contents list of the beer kit that was supposed to be in the box was right there on a label inside the top flap. How do you screw that up? Is this stuff packed by robots? I ended up having to contact them, get a return label and ship it back. My kit came a day later.

I guess the point of this is that, IMO, as soon as the NB conglomerate takes over another established HBS, they get brought down to their level of service - or below. Kinda sad, really. My last hold-out of good service, reasonable prices and shipping is GF. I hope they stay off the radar of the AB Inbevs and Blackstreets of the world. We need more local shops that give a crap and less Home Brew Amazon wannabes.

 

[redrocker652002]

I've ordered from Austin Homebrew Supply for years and they were always dependable, fast, quick to respond to communication and their inventory of European clones was unrivaled. As soon as they were bought by whoever owned NB and AIH at the time, they became slow to ship, prices rose, free shipping went up to orders over $99 and there is no longer an extensive list of clones. You can still find them if you search for them by name, but they are all listed as "Sold Out". I've been saving the brew sheets from all the ones I like and buying them by ingredient list from Great Fermentations. Problem is, AHS uses their aggravatingly mysterious "HBU Packs" for bittering and I have to search other recipes for the bittering hop varieties.

I just ordered a kit from AHS to use up my rewards points and, after 8 days, I received a box that was larger and lighter than I was expecting. It contained an Air Still that I did not order. The contents list of the beer kit that was supposed to be in the box was right there on a label inside the top flap. How do you screw that up? Is this stuff packed by robots? I ended up having to contact them, get a return label and ship it back. My kit came a day later.

I guess the point of this is that, IMO, as soon as the NB conglomerate takes over another established HBS, they get brought down to their level of service - or below. Kinda sad, really. My last hold-out of good service, reasonable prices and shipping is GF. I hope they stay off the radar of the AB Inbevs and Blackstreets of the world. We need more local shops that give a crap and less Home Brew Amazon wannabes.

I have a 60 dollar gift card for Austin Home Brew. I was looking at getting something I could use over and over, like a spunding valve or something like that. I guess I better get it going or I will lose out on it.

I still think Morebeer is a great place to go. It is easy to hit the free shipping dollar amount, they get the stuff to me within two days most of the time and it is packaged up right. Like I said, if I need anything faster they are about a half hour from me with some really cool folks that run the store.

 

[Dog House Brew]

I still have a nice local. I try to use them for everything I can. MB has never let me down. GFermentations hasn’t either. Ordered foam stoppers for my 5l flasks from Willams. They were the only place I could find them. They came in 2 days with economy shipping at $7.99 There are some good mail orders still out there. I quit NB and MW 10 years ago. I hope the good ones can stick around. Mom and Pop businesses just get squeezed out.

 

[RyPA]

@BrewnWKopperKat Not sure if that was directed at me, but for the record I am not hating on Northern Brewer, I've actually ordered from them in the past and had no negative experiences. But over the past 2+ years, MoreBeer's prices are consistently better, they have an awesome selection, and they ship stuff out super fast with free shipping over $59, so I stopped bothering with other retailers. I do go elsewhere on occasion depending on what I need (Yakima for hops, Farmhouse for recipe kits/yeast, etc).

I wish Yakima would get on the free shipping train. I have to hold off until I need a large order to justify the $10 on shipping. It's not that I'm cheap, no wait a minute, I am cheap.

 

[mac_1103]

MoreBeer's prices are consistently better, they have an awesome selection, and they ship stuff out super fast with free shipping over $59, so I stopped bothering with other retailers.

I order from MoreBeer quite often. I've never received an order in less than six days. I can live with that, but I wouldn't call it super fast.

 

[RyPA]

I order from MoreBeer quite often. I've never received an order in less than six days. I can live with that, but I wouldn't call it super fast.

Depends on where you live I guess. They have a warehouse in Pennsylvania and I live in NJ, so its usually 3-4 days. So it's not Amazon Prime fast, but fast enough in my book.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

@BrewnWKopperKat Not sure if that was directed at me,

Nope - the criteria in #170 noted that the OPs had a post count of one and never posted again to the topic. The most recent instance included posting on full moon.

FWIW, over the years, I've had problems with most on line home brew stores that I have used more than once (the problem is almost always shipping/shipper related).

'just in time' delivery (order on Monday, brew in Saturday) often works, but with a little bit of planning and some storage space, I can brew what I want when I want. And I don't have to 'hate on' a supplier because the delivery didn't arrive on time.

 

[user 344105]

I'm not hating on any shop either. Just relaying true experience and if that's a dud, so be it. I've ordered from dang near everybody at one time or another. Williams, NorCal, Northern, AIH, Austin, Atlantic, GF, MoreBeer. Seems like just when a store has it all working right, they get bought because they are doing well and then, they immediately dump the employees, facilities and systems that made them outstanding and dumb them down to mediocre - missing the whole point entirely. If you don't buy the shop for anything but the clientele, what sense does it make to wreck that relationship and lose them?

I would love to buy exclusively from my local HBS. I do so for cleaning stuff and whatever I can think of when I pass there. And I'm always thankful their sign is still up. But...the only wet yeast they stock is White Labs. You can't walk in there with a recipe and expect to get out with everything on the shopping list. It's substitutions and close but no cigar on anything remotely specialized or non-standard. So, I walk away 2 ingredients short and now don't have the volume to get to free shipping when I have to go back online for the rest.

You can't stock everything for everybody - I get it. My hat is off to folks that run a shop for the love of the craft. I respect your skills and hope you too will get that InBev call when you are ready to retire. It's just so much nicer to get it all like it says on the list. Only way I can do that is online.

I'd buy from a guy in a trench coat behind the skating rink if he had what I want at a reasonable price and it was consistent quality.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

From a different perspective ...

Seems like just when a store has it all working right, they get bought the owner(s) sell because they are doing well

... and that's how privately held businesses work.

---

It's been almost two years since AIH/AHS was sold. Maybe it's time to ...

---

That being said, polite commentary on suppliers that are hard to contact is certainly appreciated.

And, FWIW, it appears that much that HomeBrewTalk revenue is advertising. Suppliers can be a source of advertising revenue.

 

[McMullan]

that's how privately held businesses work

From whose perspective? Customers or shareholders?

 

[MaxStout]

I haven't seen any discussion in this thread that rises to the level of "hating."

People here are sharing their experiences, good and bad. We have to be consumerists. It's our money. If the experience is bad, and we've given the vendor chances to remedy the issue and the issue is not remedied, then it should be brought to our attention as a warning to others.

I don't care if the vendor is a mom-and-pop or if it's corporate-owned. I don't care where it's located. I don't care if they advertise here or not. I only care about the customers, because no one else is going to look after them. We're the ones who must be vigilant. Throwing our hands up and saying "that's how business works" is disingenuous.

It's our money, folks. We shouldn't stand idly by and let some vendor rip us off. Try to get them to do the right thing. Give them a chance to make good within a reasonable time frame. And if they won't, call 'em out. Then move on to another vendor.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

From whose perspective? Customers or shareholders?

 

[mac_1103]

Throwing our hands up and saying "that's how business works" is disingenuous.

This completely ignores the context in which the comment was made. Do you really think that a business owner doesn't have the right to sell her business because the new owners might not take care of the customers the way she did?

 

[mac_1103]

And the point about being skeptical of members who register solely to make a single post complaining about a vendor is also valid.

 

[IslandLizard]

Stay on topic, guys!
And leave politics out of our public forums.

 

[MaxStout]

This thread should be in the Company Reviews section, anyway.

 

[IslandLizard]

This thread should be in the Company Reviews section, anyway.

Ideally, yes.
But let's not nitpick.

 

[BongoYodeler]

I order from MoreBeer quite often. I've never received an order in less than six days. I can live with that, but I wouldn't call it super fast.

Depends on where you live I guess. They have a warehouse in Pennsylvania and I live in NJ, so its usually 3-4 days. So it's not Amazon Prime fast, but fast enough in my book.

Definitely depends on where you live. I'm about 5 hours south of MoreBeer's California location and my last order, a couple weeks ago, arrived less than 24 hours after placing it. On a previous order they had to split the items, some from CA and some from PA. The CA items arrived within a couple days, and the PA items within 5 days. That's fine. I like MoreBeer's prices, fast shipping, and inventory (they stock most things I look for). But I still make regular trips to my LHBS (40 mile round trip), to support them whenever it makes sense.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

FWIW, the phrase wasn't "hate", it was "hating on" (with a mention of posting on full moon).

Different words, different meanings.

Like I said earlier:

• polite commentary on suppliers that are hard to contact is certainly appreciated.

... and I'd like to add

• Report slow order filling and/or shipping?
  • That's a good to know.
  • Over time, these problems tend to correct themselves.
  • Acquisitions tend to take 6 to 12 months for things to get back to normal.

• Report slow filling and/or shipping, drag in the ownership history of one of the related store fronts, and then promise to never buy again from any store front in the ownership history?
  • That might discourage other businesses from ...
  • 

 

[PCABrewing]

I don't have to 'hate on' a supplier because the delivery didn't arrive on time.

I don't advocate that either but I do think it is worth giving them the feedback if their shipper of choice is in a rut of bad service. Just do it constructively while keeping the focus on the shipper not the vendor.
They might not even know they are getting poor service from their business partner.

 

[ncbrewer]

And leave politics out of our public forums.

Could you explain what you mean by this? I didn't think there were any political comments.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

@ncbrewer : a 'side topic' went down a very short cul-de-sac before being removed.

 

[redrocker652002]

Depends on where you live I guess. They have a warehouse in Pennsylvania and I live in NJ, so its usually 3-4 days. So it's not Amazon Prime fast, but fast enough in my book.

I live in the SF Bay area and they have a warehouse in the Central part of the state, so two to three days for me. Usually way before my brew day which is cool.