Who's ordered from Hops Direct??

[Benny Blanco]

I guess I'll be the first to complain.

I've opened 3 pounds of the 7 I ordered. Magnum was fine. Cascade was fine. First Gold...looked old and smelled bad.

Now, I've never used First Gold before so I don't know what to expect, but I literally couldn't stand the smell of them as I was sealing/storing the rest of the pound. Kind of like my brothers feet covered in cheese after a basketball game I sucked it up and brewed a Kolsch using these hops on Sunday and I have a bad feeling it's not gonna turn out too well.


I was planning on writing to them to ask about it. In fact, I'll do that right now.

 

[bgburdman9]

This is the hardest part, it took me forever to decide.

 

[mmb]

Good on ya for supporting NikoBrew, as he is a supporter and offers some fairly good deals from time to time.

It's also not all that fair to compare the two vendors. NikoBrew resells hops that he purchases in bulk. Hops Direct is the FARM that grows the hops. Hard for Niko to make a profit and be competitive with the farm that grows the hops.

 

[jlpred55]

All my varietys have been fine so far. I have yet to brew with the Centennials but the rest taste great.

 

[Lodovico]

Suggestions on my question about which ones to order that will give you the biggest variety of beer styles to choose from???

 

[humann_brewing]

I guess I'll be the first to complain.

I've opened 3 pounds of the 7 I ordered. Magnum was fine. Cascade was fine. First Gold...looked old and smelled bad.

Now, I've never used First Gold before so I don't know what to expect, but I literally couldn't stand the smell of them as I was sealing/storing the rest of the pound. Kind of like my brothers feet covered in cheese after a basketball game I sucked it up and brewed a Kolsch using these hops on Sunday and I have a bad feeling it's not gonna turn out too well.


I was planning on writing to them to ask about it. In fact, I'll do that right now.

I have used some US Golding purchased recently from HD and they seemed fine to me.

 

[shortyjacobs]

Suggestions on my question about which ones to order that will give you the biggest variety of beer styles to choose from???

I'd say Golding for stouts, Amarillo/Cascade/Centennial for IPAs and APAs, (choose your favorite), and Fuggles for english ales

But what do I know, I'm still a major noob. Best thing to do is go look at a bunch of recipes, (check the recipes section of this very site)....find a bunch you like, write down the hops, and choose the 3 that show up most in what you like. Remember that you can always substitute, (cascade/centennial/amarillo are probably swappable....you will get a different beer, but it'll probably still taste good)...

For example, if you like belgian beers, you'll have trouble making any of those without a Saaz, Hallertauer, (or however that's spelled), or something else belgiany....(I don't like em, so I don't buy em!)

 

[mmb]

Willamette, Amarillo, and Tet or Hallertau will decently sub for about any beer you might brew

Also, might be my favorite hops...

 

[Beerrific]

I guess I'll be the first to complain.

I've opened 3 pounds of the 7 I ordered. Magnum was fine. Cascade was fine. First Gold...looked old and smelled bad.

It seems like the First Gold are UK grown. There could be an issue from their supplier.

That is something else to point out, they do have varieties from overseas and stuff they don't grow. Even with those they are able to keep the prices down, so growing it themselves is not the biggest factor in the low prices it would seem.

 

[hexmonkey]

Regarding HopsDirect vs. NikoBrew: I prefer to support the forum by buying from an advertiser even if it does cost me a little more in the long run.

That being said, I PMed Niko about the hops I wanted and he offered me a better price.

Win/Win.

 

[Benny Blanco]

Hopsdirect got back to me about the sub-par First Gold and offered to replace with US Goldings. I only have to send the FG's back when I get the packaging slip from them to send it free of charge.

I could care less if it takes a few weeks. These guys rock.

Although...should I get US Goldings or US SAAZ? I already have Fuggle and I didn't get any german varieties. I'm guessing I can only get hops of equal or lesser value. Hmmmm

 

[artguy]

The shipping costs appear to be spot on with what UPS charges, I don't see any markup in that at all. Take it back or I'll tell mom what you said!

+1 to that! I got 5 lbs. (7 lb. total package weight) delivered to Massachusetts for about $10.70, which was in fact the actual UPS cost to ship. HopsDirect doesn't take a markup, but the reality of shipping via UPS is that the minimum charge is fairly high, but then the cost only goes up slowly with added weight.

 

[WIP]

+1 to that! I got 5 lbs. (7 lb. total package weight) delivered to Massachusetts for about $10.70, which was in fact the actual UPS cost to ship. HopsDirect doesn't take a markup, but the reality of shipping via UPS is that the minimum charge is fairly high, but then the cost only goes up slowly with added weight.

Although you are right about a company being great for charging actual UPS costs, I will fill you in on a trade secret. Most companies don't pay full price for shipping. For instance, my company ships out 6-8 pallets of cases every day (about 150-250 cases) and our discount for express shipments is 76% our company charges the customer about 50% of the shipping company’s rate but we still pocket 26%.

Like I said though, they are great for not inflating shipping costs.

 

[hexmonkey]

Although you are right about a company being great for charging actual UPS costs, I will fill you in on a trade secret. Most companies don't pay full price for shipping. For instance, my company ships out 6-8 pallets of cases every day (about 150-250 cases) and our discount for express shipments is 76% our company charges the customer about 50% of the shipping company’s rate but we still pocket 26%.

Like I said though, they are great for not inflating shipping costs.

Exactly my point. If you ship in the quantities that are generated by a reasonably successful company selling over the internet, you can do better than "actual shipping costs" (IOW, what I see on the UPS site by plugging in the zipcodes and weight). It's basic economies of scale.

Hopsdirect seems to be doing enough business (from users of this site alone) that I found their shipping costs to be questionable.

Furthermore, it's disingenuous to claim that their site can't quote you a shipping fee "due to the nature of the products we offer".
Bulls**t. If you can setup a web shopping cart, you can provide shipping costs. It's not like these items are disproportionately bulky, or irregularly shaped. It's a gimmick to get you to commit to buying as much as possible by not knowing the full price of what you're buying.

 

[Clayton]

did they charge you for the box? or should that be a gimme.
lol you are funny I got 7 lbs of hops for 61 bucks and you have a probem with there pricing?
dude thats fine you are free to be illogical if you wish
but to say that charging 9$ to ship a 1 lbs box ups is extortion is just wrong that is the cost and overhead.
it if i when to the ups store it would cost that and then factor in the price of the box and the wage of the person that filled the box
and processed the shipment and I would say its spot on, but then I have XP with this.

 

[Clayton]

I found their shipping costs to be questionable.

Furthermore, it's disingenuous to claim that their site can't quote you a shipping fee "due to the nature of the products we offer".
Bulls**t. If you can setup a web shopping cart, you can provide shipping costs. It's not like these items are disproportionately bulky, or irregularly shaped. It's a gimmick to get you to commit to buying as much as possible by not knowing the full price of what you're buying.

Who here that receved there order got jsut 1 lbs or just 2 lbs
its been well documented that all there orders are way on the fat side
but i guess they could trim that back so all order weight is spot on so they can predict shipping cost

 

[weirdboy]

Exactly my point. If you ship in the quantities that are generated by a reasonably successful company selling over the internet, you can do better than "actual shipping costs" (IOW, what I see on the UPS site by plugging in the zipcodes and weight). It's basic economies of scale.

Hopsdirect seems to be doing enough business (from users of this site alone) that I found their shipping costs to be questionable.

Furthermore, it's disingenuous to claim that their site can't quote you a shipping fee "due to the nature of the products we offer".
Bulls**t. If you can setup a web shopping cart, you can provide shipping costs. It's not like these items are disproportionately bulky, or irregularly shaped. It's a gimmick to get you to commit to buying as much as possible by not knowing the full price of what you're buying.

So you're accusing them of being disingenuous because they don't have flat rate shipping? Whereas many flat-rate shipping retailers, including the Niko, AHS, etc. have higher prices for the products instead. The money to cover shipping costs has to come from somewhere, and NOBODY is in business to break even. I'd rather shipping costs actually being includied in "shipping costs" which scale (nonlinearly) with volume, rather than an extra percentage added to the price of every single item I buy.

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

I paid $.79 per oz on my 4 lb shipment that was almost 5lbs. Who cares what their shipping practices are for that price.

 

[hexmonkey]

So you're accusing them of being disingenuous because they don't have flat rate shipping?

Who said anything about flat rate shipping? This is what I wrote:

If you can setup a web shopping cart, you can provide shipping costs. It's not like these items are disproportionately bulky, or irregularly shaped.

I wasn't talking about flat rate shipping, I was talking about calculating shipping rates (with or without markup) in the cart software. Practically every other website I've ever shopped from can do it.

They say on the right-hand side of their checkout page:

SHIPPING INFORMATION

Due to the nature of the products we offer, our online shopping cart will not calculate shipping rates automatically when you place an order. Shipping will show up as "TBD,"

They have the weight of the items and all the shipping info they need. What's so magical about hops that suddenly makes calculating shipping rates impossible? I call shenanigans.

You want an example of how impossible it isn't?

http://liquidsolutions.biz/ sells bottled beer, of all shapes and sizes. Their site can not only figure out shipping for ordinary 12oz bottles, but also when you mix in 750mL bottles and 22oz, and 500mL...it shows a graphic on the page that updates with the cart to let you see how much of a case you've filled, adjusted for the sizes of the individual bottles in your cart. When you've gone over the minimum for shipping via freight, it even switches over to allow you to view freight shipping as opposed to UPS ground.

 

[weirdboy]

Who said anything about flat rate shipping?

You did! This is also what you wrote:

Just look out for their shipping. one pound of hops from them shipped to me in NJ cost something like $11 to ship. I'm pretty sure that's an inflated number, so I ordered from NikoBrew instead. His shipping is a flat rate plus he's an HBT supporter.

As for this:

They have the weight of the items and all the shipping info they need. What's so magical about hops that suddenly makes calculating shipping rates impossible? I call shenanigans.

My guess is the entire operation of receiving and filling orders is manned by one or two people who probably don't know much about computers, and don't even know something like that is possible. They're a friggin' farm, not Amazon.com. Maybe they get a discount, and maybe they don't. But either way it's still cheaper than your flat-rate shippers.

Also, the packages I get from them are NOT the exact weight they quote. They tend to put more hops in the bags. Which would make calculating the shipping costs automatically a pain in the butt, because UPS would be on their ass in a minute about it. I don't mind getting a couple of ounces of hops for free if it means I don't get the shipping costs at checkout.

 

[weirdboy]

http://liquidsolutions.biz/ sells bottled beer, of all shapes and sizes. Their site can not only figure out shipping for ordinary 12oz bottles, but also when you mix in 750mL bottles and 22oz, and 500mL...it shows a graphic on the page that updates with the cart to let you see how much of a case you've filled, adjusted for the sizes of the individual bottles in your cart.

Let me tell you something about liquidsolutions. I have been looking for a few beers that are hard to find out here on the West coast. So, I went to liquidsolutions trying to find them maybe yesterday or the day before, hoping for the best. I found their site *impossible* to navigate and figure out what they had in stock and what they didn't. The search results suck, the cursor changes to a text cursor when I hover over the tabs, making me thing that I cannot even click on them, and I had a hard time just figuring out what to click on to browse what beers they have in stock. liquidsolutions is probably not a good example to choose if you want to try and convince me "this website has its act together". At least on hopsdirect, I can find the product I'm looking for.

 

[hexmonkey]

You did! This is also what you wrote:

Now you're just being argumentative. You just quoted me out of context in order to attribute my comment about their shopping cart software to a post about why I bought from someone else.

I give up. Congratulations - you win 1000 internets.

 

[oswegan]

This is becoming a little bit comical. As a company you have to figure you aren't going to satisfy every customer.

The bottom line is that if you are ordering more than 3 or 4 pounds at a time from these guys you going to average less than a buck an ounce even before considering any overages.

For example, I recently ordered a six pound shipment followed by a four pounder and based solely on stated weight and shipping cost I am paying an average of .66 cents an ounce.

I was paying $3.50 for the same ounce two months ago. That makes it pretty hard for me personally to be unhappy, regardless of how long it takes them to deliver the hops or how sophisticated their web site is. I'm just happy to be dealing with a trustworthy direct source, and to be saving so much money.

That being said, not everyone is going to be happy, it would be statistically impossible. In fact some people are just naturally dissatisfied and unhappy and what they really need is our compassion and understanding.

So my prayer for those dissatisfied people in the world is that you might find happiness and love in your lives and that your beers all turn out hearty and delicious.

 

[Lodovico]

This is becoming a little bit comical. As a company you have to figure you aren't going to satisfy every customer.

The bottom line is that if you are ordering more than 3 or 4 pounds at a time from these guys you going to average less than a buck an ounce even before considering any overages.

For example, I recently ordered a six pound shipment followed by a four pounder and based solely on stated weight and shipping cost I am paying an average of .66 cents an ounce.

I was paying $3.50 for the same ounce two months ago. That makes it pretty hard for me personally to be unhappy, regardless of how long it takes them to deliver the hops or how sophisticated their web site is. I'm just happy to be dealing with a trustworthy direct source, and to be saving so much money.

That being said, not everyone is going to be happy, it would be statistically impossible. In fact some people are just naturally dissatisfied and unhappy and what they really need is our compassion and understanding.

So my prayer for those dissatisfied people in the world is that you might find happiness and love in your lives and that your beers all turn out hearty and delicious.

Very true and very well said. Bottom line, if you don't want to save money, buy your hops someplace else. Anyway you slice it, this company has smoking deals compared to retail hop prices. End of thread.

 

[Richabt]

As fun as this thread was, I feel better about the two pounds I ordered earlier this week from HD.

I agree that supporting those vendors on the board should be a priority, but hop prices are something I am sensitive about as they account for a major part of my brewing expense. Less than a $1 per ounce with shipping is worth while to me.

I will still get my other materials from vendors here and my LHBS.

 

[oswegan]

As fun as this thread was, I feel better about the two pounds I ordered earlier this week from HD.

I agree that supporting those vendors on the board should be a priority, but hop prices are something I am sensitive about as they account for a major part of my brewing expense. Less than a $1 per ounce with shipping is worth while to me.

I will still get my other materials from vendors here and my LHBS.

And don't forget to wash your yeast from your lighter beers! That will save you alot of money too!

 

[hexmonkey]

Very true and very well said. Bottom line, if you don't want to save money, buy your hops someplace else.

Or, if you want to save money, and support the forum, PM the owner of "someplace else" and get a better deal than what's advertised on the site. All it took me was to ask nicely.

 

[510brew]

+1 for Hops Direct, I don't know how they could be any better. There was a shortage a year ago and now we can get Cascade for .50 an oz??? Who can complain?

 

[jason.mundy]

If you want to know the shipping before paying for your order, Say that you want to pay with PAYPAL. They will send you an email with the total, including shipping costs, and the link to make the paypal payment.

It also gives you a good idea of when the order is being processed/shippped.

I've ordered from them twice. Both experiences have been good.

 

[bgburdman9]

I ordered 4 lbs and the package that they are sending me says that is 8 lbs on the UPS website. I dont think there are 4 lbs of packing materials in there.