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What's your Favorite Brew Store???

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Willy

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Location
Charlotte NC
Curious what other Brewers like. What's your go to brew store? More beer? Northern Brewer, Kegland, Howdy Brewer? Personally, I like Howdy Brewer lately and have used all of the above mail order places
 
I"ve been buying almost all of my supplies from Ritebrew.com except for wine kits, but when I buy wine kits I almost always get them from morewine.com. My next order though I'm going to get through brewhardware.com. I've been checking out their site, and I like what I see.
 
My LHBS: https://www.jakeswindsorbrew.com/ ..They don't sell online but I like having them around. I'm in Canada, but if I were in a US town that had no LHBS, I'd support the store that supports the homebrewing community more than any other I've seen:
https://www.brewhardware.com/
Your post was timely...if you haven't yet, check out this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/an-appeal-to-northeast-u-s-homebrewers.732367/
:mug:
I will check them out. Just read the thread you provided - we no longer have a good local (Charlotte NC) home brew retailer... Last one closed summer 2023
 
I like ritebrew as well (La Chute Wi)... Nice quality grains every time.
La Chute, I like that, but it's really "Little Chute". French explorers who established a trading post there called it Le Petite Chute.

Yes, Rite Brew is the spot I shop for most of my needs. I buy brew hardware from bobby at Brewhardware but I'll try some of his brewing ingredients next time.
 
No nearby LHBS so:

BrewHardware
Ritebrew
Great Fermentations
Morebeer

Pretty much in that order.

Sometimes Amazon for an emergency dry yeast, dme for starters, or bottle caps… prices aren’t great but I can usually get it overnight
 
I'm blessed with two fine local shops: FH Steinbart, reportedly the oldest (>100 years!) in the country, where I've been shopping for 35 years, and MainBrew. On line, I favor brewhardware.com where I make most of my equipment purchases.
I used to live in Beaverton before moving to Charlotte. I miss having good local options, for awhile we (you) even had Brew Brothers. Now i am in Charlotte, a most awesome pace to live but the only local shop is the far end of town from me, maybe 50 minutes one way. I found Hop Craft to be an excellent resource. Pricing i much better than More Beer and Northern Brewer and free shipping with a large enough order, don't recall what it is though, maybe $75, I just order multiple batches at one time with a little planning. Quick delivery as well.
 
Brew hardware for online purchasing

Tru Bru my new local home brew store after Northern Brewer closed there retail store here in Wisconsin
 
Here in NW Washington, many of the stores have closed. Fortunately, I live within 20 minutes of one that I have been shopping at for years, NW Brewers supply in Burlington WA. Started by Larry in Anacortes. Sadly, Larry passed a few years ago, but his son Trevor kept the shop going. They are well stocked and friendly--prerequisites for success. I hope they can continue, as I really enjoy stopping in and browsing/chatting, both hard to do mail-order.
 
I'm blessed with two fine local shops: FH Steinbart, reportedly the oldest (>100 years!) in the country, where I've been shopping for 35 years, and MainBrew. On line, I favor brewhardware.com where I make most of my equipment purchases.
Same here as far as the lhbs. Occasionally I have to turn to the web. When I do I’ve always had great luck with Austin homebrew and Williams. Both have great customer service.
 
In Ohio, Label peelers in Kent offers great Value, also Home Brew Ohio in Sandusky has recently closed their retail store but I can pickup supplies at their warehouse. They both have good rates for shipping.
 
Brewing for me has multiple levels, one being to keep it cheaper than buying craft beer. The ridiculous costs for online brew shopping is a turnoff. $2.29lb for Briess 2-row? I could probably buy craft beer for cheaper than the online prices I've experienced. Since there are no brew shops near where I live, I changed up my recipes. I used to create my recipe then go to MoreBeer and make it happen. Now, I buy bulk base malt ($1.21lb) and look for specialty grains when the health food store has some. I grow my own hops.

As far as yeast, again I use what the health food store has at the time. I will not buy yeast online anymore. When you receive that pack of dry yeast with a "best use by" date only a few days away (if not expired) and feel the back of a UPS truck on a summer day at 4 PM, there is no way it's to par for doing a good job. Try this with liquid yeast! Poor AA is probably the hardest thing for most home brewers to control. We usually can't fix it and just go with the result. Why mess around with your yeast?
 
When you receive that pack of dry yeast with a "best use by" date only a few days away (if not expired) and feel the back of a UPS truck on a summer day at 4 PM, there is no way it's to par for doing a good job.
I've never had a pack of dry yeast fail, and I'm pretty sure it would take temperatures much higher than the back of a UPS truck on a summer day to hurt dry yeast. That's kind of the point of drying it.
 
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