Your LHBS?

Donoroto

Donoroto

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I sometimes read "oh, my local home brew store (LHBS) didn't have this or that, or only had those thingies"..

Maybe I'm spoiled, but my LHBS has hundreds of different yeasts, several dozen different grains, and lots and lots of small bits of hardware on hand all the time. They'll mill your grain as you prefer, and are always happy to 'test' a beer you bring in for feedback. Is this typical, or am I just lucky?

OK, they don't always have a large selection of the large, expensive brewing equipment. A 220 V Brewzilla had to be ordered, but understandable that it's not in stock. The 110 V version is on the shelf. As is a Spike Flex+.

But grain is around $2 a pound, dry yeast $3, 5 pounds of CO2 is $18.

Tell me about YOUR friendly local home brew store.
 
Mine is Winning Wines Plus and Andrew is quite good to deal with. They were a little lax a couple years ago but they're really improving. Buying gear from them tends to be more expensive but supplies are well within line.
 
Mine closed about a year ago. And it really wasn’t much when it was open. :(
 
I have two about 20 minutes away in slightly different directions. One is also a brewer and runs a bottle shop, and has a tap room. I use to try and support them somewhat equally, until last April. Last April the bigger shop that also brewed declined to sell me a sack of 2 row. The other shop was quite happy to sell me a sack of grains, I have used themm 95% since then. I have a new source for for bags of base malt now.
 
LHBS of the Year last year, The Brew Hut. I wrote our club's nomination. If they don't have it, they'll get it for you.
 
There are 2 lhbs that I have patronized since I started brewing just a little over 2 years ago. The old lhbs I actually shopped for winemaking supplies back in 2016, so I knew of its existence before I needed beer brewing supplies. This particular shop is within a craft brewing operation, which also has a respectable kitchen. They make some decent ales and IPA’s, and always have a selection of cider and mead on tap. Their selection of ingredients (malt, hops, yeast) used to be adequate, but seems diminished of late. I was in the shop last week, when equipment and ingredients seemed in short supply. As usual, service was courteous and friendly.
The new lhbs is not far from the old one, but is very different. They opened this, their second location right in the middle of the pandemic, so it is a relatively new business. Just across the street is a well known local brewery, with another around the corner, and yet another just a few short blocks away, so they are not in business to brew. They have a good bottle shop selection of mostly local craft beers, as well as 9 or 10 rotating taps (I have not partaken in any of the on tap offerings). There is a good selection of malts, hops and yeast, as well as equipment. I like that I can email a grain bill, and have it ready to pick up milled and packaged. It is especially cool to walk in and be greeted by name. I like the customer service in this shop.
When in Eugene, Oregon back in 2019, I scouted out a couple lhbs there, just in case we move there at some point in the future. Both solid shops, with one connected to a local brewery. The other having breweries in short walking distance.
 
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My LHBS is Northern Brewer and the employees there have always been top notch. Even during the time that they were owned by AbInBev and everyone feared they would come under the tight control of their big beer overlords, nothing changed. They have a good supply of grains which they will double-crush for you if you wish. Before Covid, you could even go into the grain room and mill it yourself! They have lots of extract kits, yeasts & hops. They also have a fair amount of equipment. Recently when I special ordered a 15 gallon Spike brew kettle, only to realize the next day that it would be too tall to fit on my stove, they let me cancel that order and get a 10 gallon kettle instead.
 
Last time I visited the HB store north of me the lady near marched me out the store! I was deeply offended being wrongly accused of "comming from a covid hotspot"!
I should have walked away then and there but I waited out front and then upon request paid for my order but I won't be entering that store again.
To her credit she did apologise but there's rude and then there is rude. I'd much rather deal with her husband but anyhow that's my rant on one of my HBS's.
Bloody Covid! And we don't even get many cases lol.

My Local here is good but they don't have great stock on different malts but their hop selection is good and at a decent price.

Man it's crossed my mind a time or two to open one myself I'd do a better job than a few I've been too...
 
My LBS has the nicest people on the planet, they will do anything for you and talk your ear off if you want, I'm very lucky and 20 minutes to the store, order anything you want or stock it if you want, of course I live in the Ozarks and everyone is friendly here

forgot to mention the homebrewery.com, cant beat the name
 
I should preface this that I work for a national retail pharmacy chain so I have high standards in some areas. I've just not been impressed with my LHBS in my few trips there. Never found the atmosphere super inviting (that's likely due to covid) but it almost seems like they use covid as an excuse not to deal with certain things. They've kept their covid no returns policy in effect long after we reversed ours and the outbreak in our area was under control. That's fine but kinda sucks when they sell you LME way past the best by date (yes I know it's partly my fault) and you can't take it back. The other thing though I noticed was through using their website to put together my order so I could be quick in and out or even call it in ahead because of covid, their prices on the website (where I'd have to pay for shipping) are a bit lower than they are in the store which is frustrating. I know that's a fairly common practice in retail but it's kinda the killer cause their prices even on their website are generally higher than MoreBeer's and I'm on a budget. So now I basically get everything from MoreBeer unless I need a peice of equipment like an auto siphon or hydrometer jar in an emergency then I'll go to the LHBS. It's also primarily a hydroponics shop (hydroponics and homebrew in that order in the name) so they have a decent selection of homebrew ingredients but nothing like I can get online.

To be fair I should mention that my father-in-law, who hasn't been there since before Covid, loves that LHBS. Before that he shopped at the only other shop in the area that's not even really a LHBS. It's literally just a beer store with a huge selection that has a homebrew aisle. I understand their prices are even higher and their yeast selection is limited to a couple dry ale and lager strains. So like maybe I'm just a picky, spoiled millennial who doesn't like to have to physically shop and I'm being unfair. I like shopping this way though...
 
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Craigerrr said:
declined to sell me a sack of 2 row.
Click to expand...
Astounding. What could they be thinking??

I forgot to mention they have a huge selection if hops as well. They display the one-ounce packets on the floor, and sell 1/2 and full pounds upon request (they keep them in the back fridge)

The place is only about 2000 square feet, half of which is show floor, the rest being storage, office and grain room.
 
Donoroto said:
View attachment 15212 Astounding. What could they be thinking??

I forgot to mention they have a huge selection if hops as well. They display the one-ounce packets on the floor, and sell 1/2 and full pounds upon request (they keep them in the back fridge)

The place is only about 2000 square feet, half of which is show floor, the rest being storage, office and grain room.
Click to expand...
I have only ever seen hops displayed in a refrigerated case.
 
Craigerrr said:
I have two about 20 minutes away in slightly different directions. One is also a brewer and runs a bottle shop, and has a tap room. I use to try and support them somewhat equally, until last April. Last April the bigger shop that also brewed declined to sell me a sack of 2 row. The other shop was quite happy to sell me a sack of grains, I have used themm 95% since then. I have a new source for for bags of base malt now.
Click to expand...

Why in the world would they not sell you a sack?
 
I hope so, everything I've seen says heat is way worse than O2 for hop degradation.
 
Donoroto said:
View attachment 15212 Astounding. What could they be thinking??
.
Click to expand...
Hawkbox said:
Why in the world would they not sell you a sack?
Click to expand...

I presume that they were hoarding it for themselves, haven't really talked to them since.
I have ordered a couple things from them, just things that my now preferred LHBS did not have.
Funny the "nice" LHBS was originally a wine makers shop, selling kits, supplies, ingredients etc. This has probably helped insulate them from the COVID economic turmoil. They also work with my Homebrew Club on bulk buys, as does the other, but morso this one.
 
That's why I don't buy hops from the LHBS South of me he stores em on the shelf. Oh there are some in the fridge poorly stored he will pour them out into another bag for your given amount.
But he's good for sacks of malt so I grab my malt off him and my hops off the other bloke closer to me. If I want to buy bulk hops I'll get them online.
 
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