Northern Brewer Replacement

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We live two left turns past nowhere and yet have a fabulous HB store just 20 minutes away. Doug, Shawn, Donna, et al, at Xtreme Brewing in Laurel, De. are an awesome bunch who have helped me through everything from beer, wine and mead making to setting up my gear and refitting my draft system and lagering cooler. I could go 6 months without visiting and Shawn still knows my voice the second I call. Half the stuff they've helped me with never involved me buying a thing, but they never hesitate to try and help me out. They also brew some pretty tasty suds, so their insights on the finer points are also always welcomed. In short - I would stick a pencil in my eye before I gave over a penny of my dough to some multi-national parade of *****ebaggery, but with such a great local store I'm never even tempted. If Xtreme doesn't have or carry it, they'll get it for me, and if they can't - well I probably didn't really need it anyway. :) Another cool thing; between their customer loyalty plan discounts and them being in the Great No Sales Tax State of Delaware, their prices end up nearly as good, and that's good enough for me. Keep it local!

Found out that a new malt house is opening right up the street sometime next year. Can't wait to see how that plays out as well.

https://www.xtremebrewing.com/
 
I've ordered regularly from http://www.austinhomebrew.com/ for well over 10 years now. Their flat rate shipping is great. I still don't see how they turn a profit sending me 40+ pounds of supplies for $7 or whatever it is. Sometimes they have free shipping!

The packing is always excellent, and the grains are reliably sealed individually in heavy plastic. When I check the weight, it's always been to my satisfaction.
 
Time to fight big beer and open some more homebrew shops.
Added this to my garden center at work and was a big hit.
 
I did exactly the same thing and left a similar sentiment in my unsub message. I just can't support them after moving in this direction. I've got a pretty good LHBS that I buy most of my stuff from, so it's not like NB/Midwest is losing much from me in any case.
 
GilaMinumBeer said:
So, the solution to the AbInbev buyout of NB & MWB is to use someone else and potentially put 100's to "maybe" a 1000+ employees out of work?
Click to expand...

So what, we should all feel sorry for the employees that are still there and just buy from them even if we don't want to support ABInbev?

Someone else said it very well, "You're doing capitalism wrong". I'm pretty sure that with the exception of health insurance over the last few years, Americans are still free to buy, or not buy anything from any company they choose for whatever reason they may have. No one is telling you whom to buy or not buy from are they?

I guess some people really don't like, or really understand freedom of choice = true capitalism.
 
I like HomeBrewStuff.com. I may be biased as they are a local company, but I have met a lot of the staff. They are all very knowledgeable about home brewing methods, and the owners also have a craft brewery. Check them out.
 
I have a LHBS I love but if I do purchase online I always go to www.homebrewing.org. I LOVE their customer service. I find them amazing. Just my 2 cents.

And I would also like to chime in about this as a whole. I in no way can lay blame on the good people at NB for this buyout. Business is business. I get it. However I do blame InBev. They don't belong in our world. I have read several articles and also some online videos about their practices. They want to monopolize all beer industries and they use their mammoth size, which equates to money and power, to target and squeeze out every thing they can. The homebrew industry is a hobby for most of us. I got involved when I tried my first craft beer because it had something I feel the corporate beers don't have - flavor. So if they want to get in the game then make your own damn recipes and try their luck with their cheap ingredients. But as far as I am concerned I feel they should stay the hell out of our industry. They don't belong here and if we don't fight back they will eventually take over. I do not want that to happen to us.

There. I got it out of me. Whether I am right or wrong this is how I feel. PLEASE help our industry and give your business to the good people that have earned their way into our hearts and keep it away from "corporate" companies like InBev.
 
rtracer said:
Same as always, the cheapest place that has what I am looking for or whomever has a sale. Nothing changes for me
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Except if this is their move to disrupt the market by dropping prices so everyone buys here thus driving the others out of business. Maybe the business is worth what they paid for it and this is a normal investment. But it could also be the start of
A. Consolidation of homebrew stores ( we will see if they buy more of them in the coming months, they have deep pockets and could easily justify buying the largest 10 or 12 and consolidating, this is typical in a lot of industries) or
B. a disruption of the market by dropping prices and forcing the competition out of business.

They are going to compete and have the resources to do either. This is very typical when running a business to do this. I know a lot of brewers who want to grow big enough to get noticed then sell. the HB shops in this case was no different. It's a business.
 
Another thing to consider, when it comes to big company acquisitions, is IP (intellectual property), and the effects it could have on competition. A lot of times, a vertical move like this one comes about because of a legal opportunity to squash competition. Whether it's supply chain manipulation, recipe kit branding, ingredient trademarking, equipment/website patents, etc..., ABInBev can make it very tough on their competitors. A simple lawsuit could put many LHBS's out of business, because they wouldn't have the money to fight the battle. Look no further than the battles between Google, Microsoft, Nokia, and Apple over cell phone technology, when Microsoft bought out Nokia for their mobile phone patents. It cost both Apple and Google millions of dollars just in legal costs to fight Microsoft's claims.
 
VApatriot said:
So what, we should all feel sorry for the employees that are still there and just buy from them even if we don't want to support ABInbev?

Someone else said it very well, "You're doing capitalism wrong". I'm pretty sure that with the exception of health insurance over the last few years, Americans are still free to buy, or not buy anything from any company they choose for whatever reason they may have. No one is telling you whom to buy or not buy from are they?

I guess some people really don't like, or really understand freedom of choice = true capitalism.
Click to expand...

No I understand capitalism very well, thank you.

I do not, however, understand the absurdity that is presented here simply because the name on the title of ownership has changed.

Nothing else has changed here.

Maybe it will, time will tell. And maybe then I'll have a change of opinion. But, until then, it is still the same products, people, and services as were there pre-buyout.
 
madscientist451 said:
... If some Mega corporation makes gasoline, beer, pretzels, ammunition, personal lubricants or any of the other thousands of things people want, need and desire at a reasonable price, they are going to stay in business and make mega profits.
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The problem is that AB Inbev uses the same ingredients for all of the above.

I very rarely shop at NB, and am very unlikely to in the future. Adventures in Homebrewing is one of my LHBS. I buy grain in bulk from a guy who buys it in large quantities and it's local so I can pick up 150 lbs and no shipping. Hops I generally buy from Yakima Valley, Niko Brew or B. Crosby Hops. Yeast is one thing I often get on line if I'm buying dry (90%). Shipping is the usual deal breaker.

I have bought from and had good experiences from More Beer (probably the closest in size to NB) and Williams Brewing. I got a couple of kits from NB a year ago because they were on sale and I thought having an extract kit would be handy for a short brew day, but honestly I wasn't very impressed. One was OK the pumpkin version nobody liked much and eventually most of it went down the drain, and the third I just used the extract for starters.

Personally I think it is really silly to argue that one should buy from a company who's owners you despise because it might cost some of their workers jobs. With that argument you should start buying a lot of Coors and Miller light so that those brewery workers won't get laid off and put some "ripple" on your wine list.

The economic argument is actually the reverse. Small operations are almost always less efficient. So any sales you take away from the giant store and give to smaller stores actually gives more people work.

Who knows AB Inbev could have a change of direction and help homebrew and craft brew grow. But I doubt it. I suspect they are trying to do to homebrewing what they did to commercial brewing, Buy, Conquer, Consolidate. If they can be a big enough player in homebrew supplies they can control the market. There is only so much hops and malt that is set aside for non commercial brewers, if AB Inbev is a major buyer they can manipulate the price. They can lower their price while creating scarcity for LHBS and thus driving the LHBS prices up. It wasn't that long ago when the choices homebrewers had for grain and hops and yeast were miniscule. So yes I think this takeover is going to be bad for homebrewing. How bad depends on how homebrewers react.
 
probably Morebeer for me. I ordered from them last week and got my stuff the next day. hard to beat that.


GilaMinumBeer said:
So, the solution to the AbInbev buyout of NB & MWB is to use someone else and potentially put 100's to "maybe" a 1000+ employees out of work?
Click to expand...


I think if NB lost $1m in sales, and those sales went a different homebrew shop, the net effect would be even.
 
Any source that has Oat Malt, Nelson Sauvin, and Motueka all in stock. Nobody seems to carry all 3 at the same time.
 
My money goes where I choose and that will not be with InBev. MoreBeer and Adv in Homebrewing will be getting more of my online business.
 
Great Fermentations in Indianapolis is a very good supplier for me...Anita Johnson and her staff do a very good job handling any orders I have...

My lhbs is Homebrew & Hand Grenades in Baldwin, NY...Peter Tripp is the owner and a good guy...
 
Even if it costs me a little more, or I have to adjust my ingredients slightly, I feel good about supporting my LHBS and will continue to do so. I would encourage anyone who can to support the local businesses. It is a conscious decision and requires discipline, but that is the best way to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship. If you can buy ingredients from your local farmer, even better.
 
I mostly use Adventures in Brewing, they have two or three stores in Michigan and one in Texas.Been dealing with them for as long as I can remember.

I was bottleing one night and the bottle capper I had wouldn't work, I called them and the owner answered and said he was closed. I told him my situation and he said no problem I'll leave a capper where you an get to it ( I don't remember exactly what he said now) and you can come pay for it later. needless to say I have been a customer ever since.
 
When mail ordering, Austin Home Brew and More Beer have been my other shops along with NB. Have seen Austin Home Brew grow since my first order 15ish years ago and fear they will be the next to be sold.
 
Adventures in Homebrewing, MoreBeer, and Austin Homebrew. I'll likely try Ritebrew, Homebrew Supply, Great Fermentations, and my local growers in the future.
 
GilaMinumBeer said:
No I understand capitalism very well, thank you.

I do not, however, understand the absurdity that is presented here simply because the name on the title of ownership has changed.

Nothing else has changed here.

Maybe it will, time will tell. And maybe then I'll have a change of opinion. But, until then, it is still the same products, people, and services as were there pre-buyout.
Click to expand...

But at the ownership level it's obviously NOT the same people now. Sounds like the size and corporate structure of the businesses you shop from is not important to you, so long as you still like the product and the guy manning the cash register. Which is fair enough. Other people derive real satisfaction from knowing they are supporting a "locally owned business," which probably signifies a number of things to them, including that the profits of the enterprise are more likely to be recirculated locally when they are ultimately spent, and that smaller businesses stand against a perceived trend toward conglomeration of financial power among a smaller number of large corporate entities, which for better or worse has massively changed the way our economy and our society functions.

Of course not caring about this stuff or viewing it in a positive or neutral light doesn't mean you're wrong or a bad person. But if you were someone that takes comfort in the idea that "small" and "locally owned" businesses are still around, why would it be "absurd" to consider that when spending your money? Would you tell a devout Christian who patronizes overtly Christian businesses when possible that he's an idiot for considering factors beyond price and quality of goods? I'm an atheist so I wouldn't spend my money on that basis (I might even swing the other way, as religion mixed with commerce tends to creep me out). But I get that it matters to some people and understand why they would spend their money in ways that will encourage the world to look the way they want it to.
 
GilaMinumBeer said:
So, the solution to the AbInbev buyout of NB & MWB is to use someone else and potentially put 100's to "maybe" a 1000+ employees out of work?
Click to expand...

I doubt the few folks who don't want to support AbInbev will cause that to happen. Some folks just don't like them and want alternatives. Seems like a perfectly good use of this board to me.
 
I never found Midwest or Northern Brewers prices to be all that great anyhow, I could almost always find better prices on other Homebrewing websites. In particular, their shipping prices suck balls. They do have a great selection however. I quit using Midwest Supplies anyhow back when my credit card info was hacked off their servers.

Currently I use ritebrew.com, their selection isn't the best on the interwebs, particularly lacking in the hops and yeast area, but for 90% of my orders I can find everything I need. I use farmhousebrewingsupply.com as my backup, for things I can't find on ritebrew. Both have great shipping prices, I rarely pay more than $10/order to ship unless it is something particularly large, and quite often my orders ship for less than $5.
 
fosaisu said:
Would you tell a devout Christian who patronizes overtly Christian businesses when possible that he's an idiot for considering factors beyond price and quality of goods?
Click to expand...

If, say, the devout christian chooses to no longer patronize a store because new ownership is decidedly non-christian and NOTHING else has changed, yes, I call that absurd.
 
GilaMinumBeer said:
No I understand capitalism very well, thank you.

I do not, however, understand the absurdity that is presented here simply because the name on the title of ownership has changed.

Nothing else has changed here.

Maybe it will, time will tell. And maybe then I'll have a change of opinion. But, until then, it is still the same products, people, and services as were there pre-buyout.
Click to expand...

I contend it is NOT the same. Everything changed the moment ownership changed and they lost my business as a consequence of that major change.

GilaMinumBeer said:
If, say, the devout christian chooses to no longer patronize a store because new ownership is decidedly non-christian and NOTHING else has changed, yes, I call that absurd.
Click to expand...

The only absurdity is dismissing anybody's reasons for the choices they make.
 

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