Northern Brewer Support (or lack of)

CornyKegs 728
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We have a couple malt houses, Malteurop and Proximity that I need to try.
 
I ordered a new megapot 1.2 from NB and it arrived at a reasonable time, but arrived with a broken thermometer. I let them know, and they sent me a new thermometer which arrived a few days later.. Excellent service. Granted, this was a few weeks ago, so maybe the dip everyone is experiencing is more recent? IDK I have no reason to be unhappy with them.
 
I've always had good luck with NB over the years. M
experience during this Covid crisis is as follows. I placed an order with Morebeer!, waited almost a week and still wasn't even picked from the warehouse so I gave up and cancelled. I've ordered 3 separate times in the past 3 weeks from Williams Brewing and no matter how large or small, I get it in 3 days. I live near Houston so I'm not even that close to California. I'm guessing Morebeer must have cut back staff so I would highly recommend Williams Brewing if ordering online right now
 
I've always had good luck with NB over the years but I can't say I've used them recently.
My experienceduring this Covid crisis is as follows. I placed an order with Morebeer!, waited almost a week and still wasn't even picked from the warehouse so I gave up and cancelled. I've ordered 3 separate times in the past 3 weeks from Williams Brewing and no matter how large or small, I get it in 3 days. I live near Houston so I'm not even that close to California. I'm guessing Morebeer must have cut back staff so I would highly recommend Williams Brewing if ordering online right now. I've had good luck with AIH/Austin Homebrewing as well
 
I recently ordered ingredients from Northern Brewer that were listed as in stock and received it in about 3 days. No problems for me.
 
There is something up with Northern Brewer now or at least on their web site. I went surfing through the Extract Ale kits looking for some deals and most of them were "sold out" . I then looked at Midwest Supplies (their sort-of the same company right?) and all seemed good. I didn't think to snoop around to see if was maybe a yeast issue or extract but something is amiss. Going to go back and snoop some more, News @ 11:00;)

Edit> It looks like is just an issue with "Kits" in general. Extract and All-Grain/BIAB kits are both mostly out of stock. Every thing I looked at was in stock except Briess Pilsen & Maris Otter LME. Must just not be putting kits together @ NB. Could be a staffing issue with the C-19 deal, who knows. Back to your regular programing. :popcorn:
 
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kartracer2 said:
There is something up with Northern Brewer now or at least on their web site. I went surfing through the Extract Ale kits looking for some deals and most of them were "sold out" . I then looked at Midwest Supplies (their sort-of the same company right?) and all seemed good. I didn't think to snoop around to see if was maybe a yeast issue or extract but something is amiss. Going to go back and snoop some more, News @ 11:00;)

Edit> It looks like is just an issue with "Kits" in general. Extract and All-Grain/BIAB kits are both mostly out of stock. Every thing I looked at was in stock except Briess Pilsen & Maris Otter LME. Must just not be putting kits together @ NB. Could be a staffing issue with the C-19 deal, who knows. Back to your regular programing. :popcorn:
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It also could be a pricing issue. Although they are the "same" company, an advantage to having two websites is to provide two tier pricing. For example, (pre covid) i think the spend threshold minimum for free shipping was different on each site.
Lots of companies will do this- essentially sell the same product through different channells. It allows for them to maximize pricing.
 
Nate R said:
It also could be a pricing issue. Although they are the "same" company, an advantage to having two websites is to provide two tier pricing. For example, (pre covid) i think the spend threshold minimum for free shipping was different on each site.
Lots of companies will do this- essentially sell the same product through different channells. It allows for them to maximize pricing.
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You are probably right on that. I did a little more looking and saw something about the difference in how each site is dealing with their store front sales with the Covid situation. I guess I just got a little wound up for nothing. Easy to do that lately with every thing going on as it is.
Cheers :mug:
Joel B.
 
kartracer2 said:
You are probably right on that. I did a little more looking and saw something about the difference in how each site is dealing with their store front sales with the Covid situation. I guess I just got a little wound up for nothing. Easy to do that lately with every thing going on as it is.
Cheers :mug:
Joel B.
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I often wind myself up on purpose...
Just so i can RDWHAHB!!!
Ha ha.

I am such a cheapskate i scour the web for the best deals!!!
 
I’ve been using MoreBeer for over a decade now and have been more than pleased. Their customer service has been quick and easy when needed. And since they opened up their second warehouse free shipping has been rather quick, as in days instead of nearly a week. Their pricing is good and free shipping on orders over $59. And it’s not owned by the evil AB/InBev!
 
Steveruch said:
I love in extreme northern California and the last order I placed with Williams arrived the next day.
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I was just commenting to a buddy of mine that lives a couple of states over that I've placed at least 3 orders with Williams Brewing in the past few weeks and they've all arrived within 2 days or so. The more impressive part is that:

1. Their prices are super competitive
2. They process their orders with shipping information and provides updates REALLY quickly.

Meanwhile....I ordered something on MoreBeer over a week ago..and the amount of communication I've received from them has been lackluster to say the least. According to their website, they haven't even picked the damn order yet. Hasn't stopped them from charging my CC straight away though...

These orders have been mostly equipment odds and ends, stuff that is specific to their Kegland distribution relationship. Other stuff, I've been getting from my LHBS, which started offering curbside shortly after the stay at home order.
 
Austin Homebrew Supply is a great alternative. I've ordered twice from them since sheltering-in-place, and their customer service has been incredibly responsive, often replying in a couple hours. They also still have free shipping for orders over $55. Grain prices are much higher than NB, though. Also, they don't have as big a grain selection as NB.
 
***edit: apparently they are no longer owned by AB***

NB is owned by AB InBev. Don’t shop there! Every dollar you give them is used against your interests (assuming you value independent, craft beer)
 
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I don't care who owns northern brewer I have not bought anything from them for nearly a decade. My LHBS has everything I need or can get it for me at cost. They have online sales, reasonable delivery or free curbside pick up.
 
NB_CS_TJ said:
Hey guys, It's Todd from Northern Brewer. One of our crew pointed me to this post. I am sorry for the slip in service from what you are used to. We are working hard to get back to the normal that you are used to (including live support via text and/or chat) but we had some challenges to work through and a huge backlog of emails to get through. I know it has to be frustrating and hope that we are back much sooner than later.
If you emailed us, we will be responded as quick as we can. Sorry again for the delay.

As far as shipping, we try to keep that transparent... full details can be found here: Shipping Information

@canvasoso - we will get a response back to 1 of your 3 emails as soon as we can. Happy brewing. - Todd J
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I’m done with northernbrewer now. I don’t think I’ve had an order arrive on time or with all my items EVER in the 4 years using you guys. I ordered some grains even just this last Sunday and here we are on the following Monday and the order hasn’t even been processed.
 
God…they keep buying up their competitors and now everywhere I go I have to order from these idiots. My last three orders

1. 19 days to fulfill
2. 14 days to fulfill
3. 14 days and counting
 
Hurphy said:
God…they keep buying up their competitors and now everywhere I go I have to order from these idiots. My last three orders

1. 19 days to fulfill
2. 14 days to fulfill
3. 14 days and counting
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You said you were done with them:
Hurphy said:
I’m done with northernbrewer now.
Click to expand...
Why did you order from them again?

AFAIK, 2 additional homebrew supply outfits were recently acquired (3-6 months ago, IIRC) by NB / Midwest Supplies: AIH (Adventures In Homebrewing) and AHB (Austin Home Brew), without any public disclosure of such,
This unfortunate event has become common knowledge in our HBT circles.
 
I never used them. Even when they had good and fast service they cost too much. When I lived in NH I shopped at my LHBS Jaspers and they taught me to brew. After I moved I kept ordering from them at their website (boomchugalug). They ship me my stuff to MA sometimes the next day! I don't know how anyone could order weeks in advance. I'm not close to being that organized! I will keep buying from independent places like this until NB buys them too
 
YankeeBrewer09 said:
I will keep buying from independent places like this until NB buys them too
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The smaller local shops are probably safe from predators as such. They're after the bigger, national presence ones with larger or even national sales coverage.

Northern Brewer/Midwest Supplies, and their other acquisitions are owned by a "capital investment company" in nearby Rockville, MD, one of the northern suburbs of DC.
 
YankeeBrewer09 said:
I don't know how anyone could order weeks in advance. I'm not close to being that organized!
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Start this idea as a new topic. If I see it, I'll probably contribute ideas.

YankeeBrewer09 said:
I will keep buying from independent places like this until NB buys them too the independent store sells to someone else (perhaps a holding company) willing to buy them or closes the business because no buyers can be found.
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FTFY.
 
1662154648124.png
 
IslandLizard said:
You said you were done with them:

Why did you order from them again?

AFAIK, 2 additional homebrew supply outfits were recently acquired (3-6 months ago, IIRC) by NB / Midwest Supplies: AIH (Adventures In Homebrewing) and AHB (Austin Home Brew), without any public disclosure of such,
This unfortunate event has become common knowledge in our HBT circles.
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I am for the most part. The only reason(s) I had two more orders was because I couldn’t find a particular grain anywhere else for an Irish red I wanted to do and the other reason was totally an accident as I didn’t realize until I checked out that Midwest is northernbrewer in disguise. I face-palmed pretty hard after that.
 
So are they still a decent place to order grain if you don't mind waiting a month to get it? (seriously) I have plenty of malt already, but would like to get a whole sack of vienna. Of course I'd rather have it in a week, but if it takes a month that's okay. If they charge my credit card immediately and don't ship the 2 or 3 months, that's a big problem.

I have ordered from them before their current backlog problems, and I've been to their store a few times. But not since before Covid.
 
z-bob said:
So are they still a decent place to order grain if you don't mind waiting a month to get it? (seriously) I have plenty of malt already, but would like to get a whole sack of vienna. Of course I'd rather have it in a week, but if it takes a month that's okay. If they charge my credit card immediately and don't ship the 2 or 3 months, that's a big problem.

I have ordered from them before their current backlog problems, and I've been to their store a few times. But not since before Covid.
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I ordered some grain, actually a kit that I opted to have crushed, this was done on August 20th. The shipment is arriving today, (September 3) which is two weeks to the day.

They did however charge PayPal on the day of the order and not the ship date.

I had no issues with waiting for this shipment, so I am okay with it.
 
They are too expensive for everything. I pay $9.50 for White Labs yeast in Canada. Why $13.00 in the US?
 
Conehead said:
They are too expensive for everything.
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For you perhaps. For me, not so much.

On occasion, when my travels bring me near their in-person store, I find that my total purchase price is similar to on-line pricing elsewhere. Yes, some items cost more. And some items cost less. And some items are not otherwise easily available to me.

And did I mention that they appear to have the best in-person grain room in the upper mid-west?
 
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z-bob said:
So are they still a decent place to order grain if you don't mind waiting a month to get it? (seriously) I have plenty of malt already, but would like to get a whole sack of vienna. Of course I'd rather have it in a week, but if it takes a month that's okay. If they charge my credit card immediately and don't ship the 2 or 3 months, that's a big problem.

I have ordered from them before their current backlog problems, and I've been to their store a few times. But not since before Covid.
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What kind of Vienna? The selection isn't as big, but the prices are better at Delta. They have sacks of Swaen (55lb) and Briess (50lb) vienna for about $67 with free shipping. I ordered 4 sacks a few days ago and they shipped the next day.

https://www.deltabrewingsystems.com/products/goldpils-vienna-malt-3-5l?_pos=3&_sid=81af9a2aa&_ss=r
https://www.deltabrewingsystems.com/products/swaen-vienna-4l-1?_pos=1&_sid=81af9a2aa&_ss=r
 
BrewnWKopperKat said:
There is no disguise.
  • The relationship is clearly described on the "About Us" page of their web site.
  • Various internet archives sites have snapshots of that page going back years.
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Yeah, I guess I should take more time to be an internet sleuth before I commit to an order. I was in a hurry, also a bind, saw the familiar UI and had thoughts but a lot of sites also do that are not affiliated, but I digress. In the end, the service is ****.
 
rnorman57 said:
Just noticed 55 lb sack of grain was about $55 shipped with the free shipping and now is $39 plus about $60 shipping. Have shipping rates gone up that much?
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Yes, shipping rates world wide have gone through the roof and in the US particularly. There are just not enough truckers joining the Industry as many of the old timers retire juring Covid. Not quite as bad up here in Canada but bad just the same, until things normalise again in a couple of years, expect to see both disruption and delays in deliveries. All the more reason to buy local if you can.
 

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