Its always a sad day when corporate behemoths take over the little guy. But come on folks, sacks of grain are much cheaper picked up locally from the LHBS. And hops are much cheaper by the pound from hops folks online (like YakimaValley). Hardware is better sourced from the few hardware guys online and yeast is easily propagated so how often do you really buy new yeast. This isint a big deal. And there are choices out there, welcome to free market capitalism. Ive always preferred Morebeer.com and AIH anyway on the rare occasion I buy online. NB has a new boss who will be skimming the profits and demanding a certain margin %. Long term NB WILL have to change to accomodate this, contrary to their press release. I wish them the best, may the strongest survive.
I appreciate the optimism, but I feel like adding my $0.02 here.
My LHBS has a very limited variety of malts. They aren't about to start stocking MCI Stout Malt or debittered black malt because of little ol' me. That isn't to say that they aren't good, I do buy from them when I can and I always like to talk with them, but they just don't have the variety. I've visited some other LHBS and they just don't stock a big variety of malts.
Hops by the pound? Not for those of us who brew batches under 5 gallons and don't usually go for the hop bombs. Lots of people start out with 1-gallon batches, and I've settled on 3 gallon. Sure there are a lot of homebrewers making 5 gallons of IPA on a regular basis, but I rarely use more than a couple ounces per brew, and I doubt I'm alone. And I'd rather not get a vacuum sealing system and take up more space in my freezer, and I've heard that it takes that kind of system to keep hops long-term.
Yeast being easy enough to propagate is debatable. I have reused yeast, but being an apartment brewer with few people to share with I just can't brew frequently enough and I don't have enough fridge space to keep a yeast bank going to my liking. A yeast cake can be rinsed and kept reliably for a few months, but anything more long term probably requires some lab equipment. And this is all assuming that you're happy with one kind of yeast strain, but I like to brew bockish lagers, sweet stouts, and the occasional saison, and then just whatever I feel like brewing on a whim that week. Also, my LHBS only carries White Labs yeast (I prefer Wyeast) and I've gotten burned a few times not checking the expiration date. Counting on the LHBS or my rinsing of yeast cakes just doesn't work for me, and again, I doubt I'm alone.
"Welcome to
{obvious part of the environment/situation/surrounding}" is cliche. I don't know how that statement helped you make any point.
I do appreciate your optimism, but people have a right to be annoyed that a company they've been doing business with suddenly sells out to a company that many of their customers don't like. I bet a lot of people are upset that they'd be supporting InBev if they bought that pumpkin ale kit from NB that they wanted to have ready for thanksgiving, or whatever kit they wanted to make for Christmas or New Years or the SuperB owl.
But I think one of your main points here is that life goes on, there are plenty of other places to shop, and options to explore. That is a good message. Today I found out that MoreBeer has malts from the Malting Company of Ireland, besides just their stout malt. I also found that their webpage is a little glitch-y.
I also think it is nifty that the homebrewing market is being taken seriously, and I think it makes perfect sense for a company like InBev to want to "Double Dip" (now I'm using cliches) in the fermented beverages market by getting into the homebrew supply market. They obviously know beer is big business and getting into the homebrew market is a way to diversify within that fermented beverages market. And now I'm overusing the word "market".
I liked doing business with NB because I liked BrewingTV, I liked the huge variety of ingredients I could get through them, I liked that they are based in the Twin Cities, and I thought that most of the investors were still in the U.S., but things have been changing for a while now. I don't know if I will completely stop shopping there, but I definitely wont do as much business with them.
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