District of Columbia What a grim month for DC area brewers: RIP MyLHBS and Annapolis HB.

[CascadesBrewer]

Many LHBS are closing. Commercial rent/lease spaces are through the roof and profit margins are just too small for LHBS to compete with online sales like MoreBeer and NorthernBrewer. I managed Atlantic Brew Supply for the past two years and we just closed doors effective Nov 2 after an 11 year run. Thats what it's come to folks! At least the hobby aint dead though it'll take 2 weeks (NB) to get your stuff so just plan well ahead OR join a club that is partnered well with a local brewery so club can get basic ingredients at a cheaper shared cost.

The ABS closing surprised me. I will admit I never purchased from them. They seemed to be growing as a mail order vendor to serve the South East, and I figured the commercial side would help keep the homebrew side going in slow times. When MoreBeer moved out of PA, I figured I might shift my online purchases to ABS given their wide selection...but that was not to be.

I am not positive about the truth of the myLHBS in Falls Church situation. His email said "I lost my lease". It was in a small business center on a very busy road. There is a huge building next door that was a Sears for a while. I would not be surprised if somebody leveled those complexes and put up a high rise housing complex. But I know that myLHBS has been struggling, so it could have just been that a small price hike on the lease was enough to call it quits.

 

[ExpatPete]

Same story down here in southwest Virginia. Robb closed up Southern Hills Homebrew Supply in Roanoke, and as mentioned above Atlantic Brew Supply in Raleigh closed. I have not been impressed with the remaining LHBS in Greensboro/Raleigh/Durham. There is another shop in Charlotte NC. Long drive but is a huge and well suppled shop: Alternative Beverage, 1500 River Dr #104, Belmont, NC 28012. Jess is the owner and they do ship free on orders over $59. They only sell by the pound unfortunately.

 

[Broothru]

I hadn’t heard about Atlantic Brew shuttering up. The times I’ve ordered from them in the past the orders were filled promptly and properly, usually received within two days.

I can’t even get UPS to deliver a guaranteed 2nd Day Air shipment, now twice in the past week. Both times were White Labs yeast orders. The first one arrived five days after I received the shipping notice, and right now it’s late afternoon on the fourth day of a 2nd Day guarantee on the second order that White Labs graciously replaced free of charge, even though the screw up was with UPS.

According to the tracking timeline, this shipment (from San Diego to Florida) left White Labs on schedule, landed in Lexington, KY, hub, but failed to make the ‘sort’ even though they had 6 hours to make the transfer. So it sat for a day in Kentucky, arriving in Clearwater this morning (less than 15 miles away) and hasn’t yet made it to me, while I watch the evening news.

This yeast is getting expensive for somebody, and it ain’t gonna’ be me or White Labs.

 

[rmr9]

I do wonder on occasion what the homebrew supply picture will look like 5-10 years from now. Will most of the LHBS’s just be gone? Will we have only websites with seriously marked up prices?

It’s why I try to buy as much as I possibly can from Maryland homebrew or my original LHBS Niagara Traditions when I’m back in the Buffalo area.

A while back I looked into the local Maryland homebrew clubs and saw CRABS. I’ve never been a part of a club but maybe I should check it out.