Northern Brewer Replacement

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dustinthompson85

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So looking for opinions in whi will be your online supplier for those no longer using NB. Some people are not lucky enough to have a local shop to visit. Would love to know who the community frequents that is trusted / reliable. Thanks!
 
1) I'm a fan of Barley & Vine. Other than being nice people, with an email request, they will sell malt to the recipe amount, whether ounces or grams. They have also added their first organic malt, Gambrinus Organic Pilsen. I will tweak my second in the queue brew so that I dutifully include this malt since I have been haranging them quite awhile about organic options.

2) OTOH, I'm sticking with Northern Brewer/Midwest Supplies as my backup, because they are the only OHBS I've found with organic LME that also sells non-organic, and are only half a continent away. I currently have a cart with organic LME, organic DME, a yeast that was not in-stock at B&V, and (since I was already buying from NB for this brews,) oak cubes that I preferred for this brew over the B&V offering. I intend to purchase when the flat rate delivery date projects to Thursday 3 November, for a Saturday 5 November brew.

3) If I was going anti-InBev, Seven Bridges Cooperative would be my choice, but they are a full continent away and don't have enough options for me. Co-ops are almost the opposite of InBev.
 
I have a LHBS but I also use these places regularly
Farmhouse Brewing Supply - http://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/
Yakima Valley Hops - https://www.yakimavalleyhops.com/
MoreBeer - https://www.morebeer.com/

Heard good things about or used infrequently

NorCal - http://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/index.html (Bought stainless Keg hopper tube thing from them- have not used yet)
NikoBrew - http://www.nikobrew.com/pellet-hops/
Barley Haven - https://barleyhaven.com (Bought some Patagonia Malts and a 1Liter container of Biofine clear, don't use a lot but don't care for the 4oz bottles)

Bought 5 gallon Kegs from
Adventures in Hombrewing - http://www.homebrewing.org/ - shiny, easy to clean, keg posts use a different wrench size than my other kegs. Poppets easy to clean.
Homebrew Supply - https://www.homebrewsupply.com/ - Standard keg posts, Rubber on top and handles smells like ass when in contact with StarSan. glad I only bought two. but their customer service was great when the sent the wrong kegs.
 
Austin homebrew/Adeventures in homebrewwing, morebeer, I think theres a place called TX homebrew I may look into and also my LHBS. Williamsbrewing
 
Local LHBS doesn't have a whole lot, so I'll be using:

Adventures in Homebrewing - http://homebrewing.org
  • $5 Shipping to the Great Lakes Region when you spend $50. Plus they offer a rewards program.
Farmhouse Brewing Supply
http://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/
  • Tons of different hops. 10# specials on malt (and they'll double-mill).
I might try out Austin Homebrew Supply as well, as I just heard about Adventures in Homebrewing buying them. (Stay away In-Bev!)
 
Homebrewing.org Greatest Customer service EVER.

Ritebrew.com seems to have the best online grain prices that I have seen. and shipping is 8 dollars for 2 days or less shipping.

Disclaimer for this year:
Growmasters my local store = 60% of my purchases this year
Northernbrewer got around 10% or my purchases
AIH (homebrewing.org) got around 28% or my purchases.
Amazon got around 2%

Regardless of the Northernbrewer buyout, I was so impressed with the AIH customer service, speed of shipping, and kit quality (and quality of the kegs) and prices that I was already planning on increasing their percentage and limiting my northern brewer purchases to their 20 dollar kits when offered, and will still do so. (25 individual batches brewed this year, started kegging, switched to all grain, needed an 8 gallon kettle, this was an expensive year for me (don't tell the wife))
 
Austin homebrew/Adeventures in homebrewwing, morebeer, I think theres a place called TX homebrew I may look into and also my LHBS. Williamsbrewing

You might be talking about Stubby's Texas Brewing Inc. Not sure. I shop there in person (so I've never ordered online) but they have just about everything you could want. Extremely knowledgeable as well.

https://www.txbrewing.com/
 
So, the solution to the AbInbev buyout of NB & MWB is to use someone else and potentially put 100's to "maybe" a 1000+ employees out of work?

Its not my fault that their company leadership made a bad move. The business I have to give will simply provide to someone else and a company that's based in the US. There are many things I don't care about. Home brewing and craft brewing I care about and I want the movement to stay US based and moving forward. Giant corporations only serve to limit the quality and diversity of the beer market and the diversity and ingenuity of the home brewing industry.
 
I will not stop using NB because of a buy out if they have what I need and I can't find it anywhere else. which is why I have a long list.

I tend to look local first then to Farmhouse or Yakima (mainly for hops), Otherwise it's because I'm looking for a particular malt or yeast.

Also Great Fermentations- http://www.greatfermentations.com/ - got a Nice 5 gallon used whiskey barrel from them. After 4 month aging it is carbing up wonderfully. Note the MoreBeer Gas transfer tool is too big for the Bung hole, but works when pressed against a tri-clamp gasket.
 
I have a LHBS but I also use these places regularly
Farmhouse Brewing Supply - http://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/
Yakima Valley Hops - https://www.yakimavalleyhops.com/
MoreBeer - https://www.morebeer.com/

Heard good things about or used infrequently

NorCal - http://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/index.html (Bought stainless Keg hopper tube thing from them- have not used yet)
NikoBrew - http://www.nikobrew.com/pellet-hops/
Barley Haven - https://barleyhaven.com (Bought some Patagonia Malts and a 1Liter container of Biofine clear, don't use a lot but don't care for the 4oz bottles)

Barleyhaven is local to me. Great store and he's a helpful guy. Has had some Colorado-grown hops from time to time as well
 
So, the solution to the AbInbev buyout of NB & MWB is to use someone else and potentially put 100's to "maybe" a 1000+ employees out of work?

Wouldnt all the other companies that benefit from NBs old business have to compensate for their increased volume by hiring 100's to 'maybe' a 1000+ employees?
 
1) I'm a fan of Barley & Vine. Other than being nice people, with an email request, they will sell malt to the recipe amount, whether ounces or grams. They have also added their first organic malt, Gambrinus Organic Pilsen. I will tweak my second in the queue brew so that I dutifully include this malt since I have been haranging them quite awhile about organic options.

ooooo didnt know about these guys, they have some super fun extract kits. Im eyeballing you dragons milk clone.
 
Adventures in Homebrewing or RiteBrew are the 2 I use when I can't get it at my LHBS. As stated before AiH has $5 shipping (in state), rewards, and great customer service.
 
You might be talking about Stubby's Texas Brewing Inc. Not sure. I shop there in person (so I've never ordered online) but they have just about everything you could want. Extremely knowledgeable as well.

https://www.txbrewing.com/

They are located about an hour away from me, I order what I want online and they usually give me a call and ask any questions they might have and its at my house the next day. Soooo easy and sooo worth the few dollars in shipping to not drive out there.
 
I'll put in another vote for Ritebrew. I have had nothing but great experiences from them. They have very good prices, very reasonable shipping, and great customer service. I just ordered a 5 gallon corny keg and 20# CO2 tank from them last Thursday. I missed the same day shipping cut off time, so my items shipped on Friday, and I got them on Saturday (FedEx home delivery). I live on the opposite side of Lake Michigan from them, but still shipping on a 41 pound package was only $15.
 
Only if they are located in Minneapolis.
OK.

Would not be surprised to see InBEV start slashing jobs anyway. Me buying ingredients is not a charity with the sole purpose of keeping someone in Mpls employed.

I used to be a NB customer.

Now i used Williams. I will be searching for something closer to Atlanta that does good shipping so i can feel good about ordering yeast.
 
I'm casting my vote for Williams Brewing. They're fast, and reliable. I have a lhbs, but for the unusual, harder to get stuff, I look here first. I also use Morebeer, but in the past it's been frustrating to wait a few days before you see it shipped. If I use them, I factor that in.
 
Would not be surprised to see InBEV start slashing jobs anyway. Me buying ingredients is not a charity with the sole purpose of keeping someone in Mpls employed.

I'd not be surprised either. Never said making a purchase was a charity. But choosing to go elsewhere solely on the basis of who's name is on the title does nothing but punish those who are still employed by a domestic enterprise.

It'd make more sense to embargo any new ventures the previous ownership attempts to create.
 
So, the solution to the AbInbev buyout of NB & MWB is to use someone else and potentially put 100's to "maybe" a 1000+ employees out of work?

I don't do business with AB Inbev.

Period.

NW/MW management decided this is what would happen.

Not me.

I only stick to my personal choices.

IF people are put out of work, it is on NB//MW management/owners and AB Inbev.

Not me.
 
Shop where you like ; like where you shop...

If NB maintains good prices, cheap shipping, huge inventory, I'll probably shop there occasionally still.

Just like I'm going to drink what I like. I'm not going to drink a nasty ass diacetyl-bomb, under attenuated beer just because it was made by #not-InBev....
 
I'll probably keep buying from Midwest Supplies (I like their simply.beer series) and Northern Brewer both. However, I buy most of my recipes from Jaspers and will probably keep doing that. I have bought from Ritebrew, Morebeer, Brooklyn BrewShop, among others. I've also got a semi-local HBS that I've bought from and will probably increase my buying ingredients there.
 
Got to give a shout out to the peeps over at brewhardware.com. Bought a bunch of stuff from them, bulk heads, tubes, camlocks etc. Great pricing, shipping and customer service.
 
I'm casting my vote for Williams Brewing. They're fast, and reliable. I have a lhbs, but for the unusual, harder to get stuff, I look here first. I also use Morebeer, but in the past it's been frustrating to wait a few days before you see it shipped. If I use them, I factor that in.

I've used mb exclusively and they ship within like 2 hours every time. That is my experience anyway.
 
So, the solution to the AbInbev buyout of NB & MWB is to use someone else and potentially put 100's to "maybe" a 1000+ employees out of work?

A few things wrong there.

NB owners and their highest in management knew that there might be a backlash and that they would at least see a temporary drop in sales, and that they'd lose a few customers. They also knew that, with a change in ownership, there would probably be a restructuring in their middle management. Remember when they brought in investors and the guys on BrewingTV were let go (that is how it worked, right?)? InBev will want to make changes to the personnel structure to better match their own.

This isn't on the customer, this is on management. I don't consider them greedy or evil, but we have a right to shop at places that do business the way we approve of.

The wholesalers who supply NB/MWS will sell their stuff elsewhere. Homebrewers will keep buying, maybe other people get jobs at the places that are seeing an increase in business.
 
Another vote for ritebrew.com. Shipping is great, quality is 100%, prices are the best I've been able to find, he'll double-mill for you, and most importantly, he does grains by the ounce. I got so sick of using bigger places and having to buy 1 lb of chocolate malt for a 5 oz addition.
 
A few things wrong there.

NB owners and their highest in management knew that there might be a backlash and that they would at least see a temporary drop in sales, and that they'd lose a few customers. They also knew that, with a change in ownership, there would probably be a restructuring in their middle management. Remember when they brought in investors and the guys on BrewingTV were let go (that is how it worked, right?)? InBev will want to make changes to the personnel structure to better match their own.

This isn't on the customer, this is on management. I don't consider them greedy or evil, but we have a right to shop at places that do business the way we approve of.

The wholesalers who supply NB/MWS will sell their stuff elsewhere. Homebrewers will keep buying, maybe other people get jobs at the places that are seeing an increase in business.

Except that former management will have their payout and move on. Not buying from NB will effect them in zero ways. New management hasn't done anything and yet are being blamed by association only. So, yeah, right now it is on the customer.
 
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