Thoughts on Northern Brewer

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monty3777

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I have begun buying kits from Northern Brewer. As of now I have purchased 9 kits through them. I switched to NB when the beer I was making from my LHBS tasted "off" almost every time I brewed with their ingredients. What a difference. I suspect that the quality of ingredients - and the fact that I don't always have to substitute grains and hops due to the lack of inventory at my LHBS has made all the difference in the world!

The taste of the products is wonderful and I am always shocked when the package arrives within 2 days of my order.

I'm really happy with their service! FWIW.:mug:
 
Norther Brewer does it right. I have also had excellent service from Midwest, B3 & williams. Home brewers are a relatively small market, so I try to spread the love and buy from a variety of sources including my LHBS a lot. Customer service and speedy delivery are key to having happy customers.
 
My first homebrewing orders were with NB. No issues with them and great service. Still get their catalogs all the time.

I switched online retailers recently, but not due to anything NB did wrong.
 
Northern Brewer is a favorite of mine, second only to my LHBS. They've got a great selection, quality products and prompt (and affordable) shipping.

The IPA I'm brewing today has ingredients from both NB and my LHBS. Between those two places I have access to everything I need.
 
They have a very nice looking site and catalogue. I don't use them anymore, but only because they are expensive, I don't remember ever having problems with their service.
 
Really? I've done several of their kits and all came out terrible

I buy my kits from The Home Brewery

Their kits are $10 more on average but the quality is unbelievable compared to NB

Maybe its just me but I really don't like Northern Brewer
 
I live in the twin cities and go to northern brewer now and then for special grains or hops if my other LHBS (midwest) doesnt carry them. I have no gripes with them, except for that I can usually get hops and grains a bit cheaper at midwest, and when the price is 50 cents difference on a lb of grain, it adds up quick when you are doing big beers or buying in bulk.
 
I buy my kits from The Home Brewery

I can't find the full ingredient lists/amounts for those kits--am I missing them? Northern Brewer gives the full recipe online.

I can't imagine buying ingredients for a random recipe without knowing exactly what I'm going to be making (and hence putting in just one order for the kit + anything I want to tweak it, rather than waiting for it to arrive and having to order again if I want to substitute/add anything).
 
I buy nearly everything from my LHBS. But then, I work there part time and get to buy at cost :) My job there is basically to order homebrew supplies from one of our three wholesalers each week, so we almost always have the ingredients for the brews I am planning :D There are a few things, especially the newer type ingredients like Pale Chocolate that none of the wholesalers are carrying yet so if I had to get it I would have to have one of them special order a 50# sack.
 
Northern Brewer is great, but they will only ship UPS to Canada - and will not ship USPS to Canada.

Shipping by UPS to Canada means the customer has to pay about an extra $60 in special UPS hidden fees to UPS upon receiving the goods.

:mad:
 
Northern Brewer has always been good to me, even a full refund on poorly crushed grain, and I didn't even ask for my money back. I only wanted to alert them to the problem.

Midwest has been my go-to lately when the LHBS(Niagara Tradition) falls through. They're cheaper, and you can buy 1/2 lb bags of specialty grains, that's huge. Takes a couple bucks of my batches easy.
 
I get NB shipments 2 days later, their website works great. One time they shorted me a pack of Irish ale yeast but I called and 5 minutes later they shipped me another one. Their just highly organized and they make it pretty easy.

I have plucked a few things off of ebay just because they were really good deals, but IMO you can't beat northern brewer.
 
Northern Brewer is GREAT. For my most recent batch I put together shopping carts on multiple websites, and Northern Brewer was cheaper than the rest by at least $10. I always get my orders within a couple days of ordering, and I've never been disappointed by them. Lots of good things to say about NB.
 
Northern Brewer is great, but they will only ship UPS to Canada - and will not ship USPS to Canada.

Shipping by UPS to Canada means the customer has to pay about an extra $60 in special UPS hidden fees to UPS upon receiving the goods.

:mad:

Well, that IS a problem. I wonder why they don't switch to serve the customer better. I have read a lot about shipping UPS to Canada and it certainly sounds like UPS is a crap load of extra cost. Have you talked to the owner? I wouldn't think that using USPS for Canada would be that hard to get going.
 
Man I love Northern Brewer for the woody, spicy, earthy notes that it gives my beers..... oh wait you meant the retailer.

I started my brew career by order from Austin, but my friend that helped me since he had brewed before always used Northern Brewer so I gave them a try too. never had a problem, I usually order to batches at a time to save on the shipping.
 
NB is my favorite supplier of all, for all the good reasons stated above by most folks.
 
I have really wanted to order from them, but their all grain kits look to be a tad on the high side. Hard to imagine why most of their all grain kits are ~$30-$35. I can see why some of their 1.080+ OG kits are in the $40's, but it just seems the ordinary kits are a little on the high side.
 
Some of their stuff looks great, some of AHS stuff looks great, some of Brewmasters Warehouse stuff looks great, some of More Beers stuff looks great. Normally I am an online shopping fiend, but I have the enviable luck to have 4 LHBS within like a 10-12 mile radius (more if I go out to 20 miles) and I can't brew enough to visit them as often as I want.
As much as I would like to order on-line there is just something nice about walking into a place and having someone say hello and call me by name.
 
I like NB but I would say that my only complaint is that you never see any promo codes for discounts. (Except when they launched the new site). I go to b3 daily to check the promos as well as ahs. I think they would definitely increase sales and return customers by catering to the (deal) shopper as well. Great customer service and product
 
I've been 2 batches at AHS, went to Midwest to get 1 litre swing top bottles promo and bought 10+ kits. Now I have been thru a few NB batches and love their limited edition kits. Next will be getting a membership @ AHS and getting a few of their PM kits. All three vendors offer great service and great ingredients but I plan to use NB / AHS for most of my online shopping.
 
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