Random observation.

[rneculai19]

Has anyone noticed a difference between Brewer's Best and Northern Brewer? My first 3-4 batches were all Brewers best since it was available at my local store but I've recently ordered a recipe kit off of Northern Brewer and I have higher hopes then anything I've made before. My current batch is Northern's Mosiac IPA and its finishing up in the primary and it smells like a mango/grapefruit ipa should. All of my Brewers best recipe kits were all over the place in regards to flavor, with most of them being nothing memorable. I've made their kolsch, coffee porter, honey blueberry ale and I can't remember the last one.

I am taking into consideration for user error since I am fairly new but I'm just curious to see if anyone has had any similar experiences.

 

[MaryB]

Northern Brewer provides top notch kits, many award winning on their own. Fresh ingredients, steeping grains in extract kits put them a step above others in my opinion.

 

[unionrdr]

Northern brewer & Midwest kits have been better than brewer's best in my experiences. Better recipes all around than BB's, as theirs seem a bit plain to me, over-all.

 

[dmtaylor]

I've never been impressed by anything that BB puts together, with the possible exception of their ESB which was alright. NB is all good stuff.

 

[KeninMN]

Let's not forget that Northern Brewer has awesome customer service and support. I'm fortunate enough to live close to both of their Minnesota retail stores, as well as Midwest Supply's retail store.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

I've done a few of the BB kits, and I feel like they are just cobbled together with whatever ingredients are laying around. The extract also seems like it has been sitting around for a while. I too live close to the NB retail stores, and I have always been impressed with their recipe kits. I have actually won some medals with them.

 

[chickypad]

Doesn't surprise me, I think you're always better off going with a high volume, reputable vendor. Anything that comes in prepackaged boxes and sold everywhere from Amazon to Ebay would make me nervous, as in who knows how long its been sitting on the shelf.

 

[rneculai19]

I'm happy that I came across northern Brewer. It seems to me that their ingredients are definitely fresh and their prices for some of their kits in comparison to Brewers best are much better. You can get two kits from northern Brewer for the price of one premium Brewers best kit.

 

[unionrdr]

Midwest has their " just beer" kits for $19.99 right now. Don't know how good they are, but they could make a nice pipeline filler?

 

[DromJohn]

I have never brewed a Brewers Best, though I've tasted a couple brewed by another home brewer. Good enough.

I have brewed kits from Austin Homebrew, Maltose Express, Northern Brewer and Xtreme Brewing. They have all been very good with Maltose Express the best of the bunch.

 

[KeninMN]

Midwest has their " just beer" kits for $19.99 right now. Don't know how good they are, but they could make a nice pipeline filler?

Midwest is owned by Northern Brewer. I also know several people who have used their kits in the past and they gave Midwest great reviews.

 

[unionrdr]

Actually, they share a warehouse. NB doesn't own them, as I was told by them when I questioned why my order at the time was taking so long?

 

[dmtaylor]

Midwest is owned by Northern Brewer.

That's what I heard as well. There was media press about this about 4-5 years ago. If you look at their websites, all the ingredients and pricing are the same. However I do believe they have different deals at each division of the one company. I order through my LHBS or MoreBeer these days anyway, but I used to be a faithful NB customer until they went from cheapest to most expensive. Still good folks though.

 

[KeninMN]

Actually, they share a warehouse. NB doesn't own them, as I was told by them when I questioned why my order at the time was taking so long?

This guy claims that they merged:

http://adirondackgrowthcapital.com/Adirondack_DK_Bio.pdf

 

[unionrdr]

I stand corrected. Maybe I miss-remembered?...

 

[eadavis80]

My first three kits were all Brewers Best - did their amber ale, pale ale and English brown ale. I was happy with all 3. Since then, I've gone with NB and AIH pretty much exclusively as their deals are better. I think the beers were all pretty good, but you can't beat the customer service and value of NB and AIH - between the two, there is almost always a good promo that tempts me.

 

[Sand_Pirate]

I've used Brewer's Best kits to make Irish Stout, Holiday Ale, and Belgian Trippel. I thought the Holiday Ale was exceptionally good, and the others were fine.

I then used a Northern Brewer kit called Garden Hoe, and was VERY happy with it. Duplicated a Northern Brewer Phat Tyre recipe with ingredients from my local home brewing store, and was very happy with that as well.

I believe I'm going to stick with Northern Brewer kits until I begin doing all-grain brews. They seem to taste better than Brewer's Best. Just my opinion. Cheers.

 

[kh54s10]

My opinion is that Brewers Best seems like a factory made product that is then distributed to almost any retailer that wants to sell them. How the kits are stored and for how long is a question.

Northern Brewer, Midwest etc. sell direct to their customers. I am not sure if they pre-package the kits, but I doubt they have a lot sitting around for great lengths of time. I started with NB kits and they were excellent.

I also like that NB publishes the recipes online. I have gone to making my own recipes and will use theirs for guidance in mine. I don't feel too bad about using the recipes and not buying the kits since I wouldn't be buying the kits anymore anyway.