Seven Bridges Cooperative

[DromJohn]

Seven Bridges Cooperate, in Santa Cruz, CA: http://www.breworganic.com/index.aspx describes itself as Certified Organic Homebrew.

I found Seven Bridges from a pointer by Pappers.
SWMBO wishes that I brew with more organic ingredients.

The combination of key ingredients were Briess Organic Pale LME, Weyermann Organic Rye Malt, and Organic Flaked Rye. Seven Bridges was the only OHBS I could find with both the LME and the rye. As far as I can tell, (including emails from Briess and Briess' southeast distributor), Seven Bridges may be the only current source for Briess Organic LME. Other ingredients, Gambrinus Organic Munich, and Briess Organic Chocolate Malt are more readily available.

The crushes were quality, and they split my 1 lb. Chocolate malt order into two 1/2 lb packages, one for the recipe, the other for inventory.
I ordered late Thursday 12 December 2013, and the order arrived Friday 19 December 2013. The main problem with the delivery, is that Seven Bridges is a left coast company. That's a minor issue in December. I could imagine that this distance would be a deterrence during the summer.

 

[Pappers_]

I buy organic hops from Seven Bridges, they have a good selection. An issue for me, as a customer, with Seven Bridges is the one you mentioned - delivery, which is pricey for those of us who are in a different region of the country. But I haven't found another option for organic hops - other suppliers will have one or two varieties, but not more than that, at least that I've found. I am able to buy organic base malt in bulk through another avenue, but do buy organic specialty malts from them if I'm already placing an order.

As for the review of the company:

• good selection of organic hops and malts
• good information about organic sources
• every order I've received has been perfect, no mistakes
• shipping is prompt, usually receive it within a week via their cheapest shipping
• on the downside, the shipping is pricey, but of course its not their fault that I live at a distance from them

One interesting item that has made me less eager to purchase from them (if I could find another supplier of organic hops) was that because I've been a reasonably good customer, I asked if they'd be interested in sponsoring our club's competition by contributing a prize - say 10lbs of specialty grain or 1lb of hops. Was told that they only sponsor competitions that are geographically near them. I couldn't help but think that they have no trouble taking orders from customers who are not local. I would rather that they had said no and left it at that, rather than give me an explanation that makes me feel like a second-class customer, not as valuable as their local customers.

 

[And1129]

Seven Bridges CoOP is great! I guess i'm fortunate in that I live pretty close to them and i've gone to their shop a few times. It's a small shop as HBSs go, but very nice people, very knowledgeable, and they do have (almost) everything a homebrew could need. Just a few times when i was buying grain from them, they didn't have one grain or another (i think it was brown malt), and I had to pick up a pound of it somewhere else in order to fill my recipe. A minor inconvenience. That's good for most organic folks as if it's not organic, they don't carry it! I was just there last weekend and I picked up a new grain mill from them, and it's awesome!