# Homebrew Stores In And Around Newcastle



## ledgenko (10/4/10)

L&G, 
I had an old friend drop by yesterday who has moved from Gods own country (SE QLD) to South of the border (Newcastle) adn as much as I want to have him assessed for his sanity he has confirmed the move was a great one for him and his family ... So I will not hack on on for the move. It was interesting that he mentioned the lack thereof of a quality Home brew store that he can get access to and he admits to having to purchase cans from Woolies... 

Now I know that I have probably thrown a few people off the scent by the above paragraph but Bill is a Good guy and needs to be able to express himself in his fav hobby.. But is very new to the idea of brewing without a can and needs the skill and expertise to guide him on his way .. 

Can anyone help out ?? 

cheers


Matt


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## BEC26 (10/4/10)

Marks Home brew is a good one

Lots of fresh grain/hops and tins

http://www.ubrew.com.au/beer.htm

Mark posts here as well. Nice guy, no pressure!

Hope it helps!!

Bruce


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## dmac80 (10/4/10)

There's Mark's Home Brew on Maitland road Islington, he has just about everything you will need for kits and bits. Black cat at Toronto have some morgans gear, and so does the Tobacconist in the main street of raymond terrace. Shops at Singleton and Salamander Bay but they are a bit further afield.

If in town, Marks is the go.

Cheers

Edit: Beaten to the punch!


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## pokolbinguy (10/4/10)

There are a few places around but the pick is Mark's Home Brew in Islington as mentioned above. 99% of the Newcastle and surrounds AG brewers go there, or so it seems. He's a good guy and if you can get in and out of the store in under 1/2-1 hr you are doing well, there is always a conversation to be had, new piece of kit to look at, hops to smell, beer to try.

Enjoy,

Pok


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## Offline (10/4/10)

also try reading this thread if he wants guidance Hunter brewers


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## grod5 (10/4/10)

BEC26 said:


> Marks Home brew is a good one
> 
> Lots of fresh grain/hops and tins
> 
> ...




I agree, but be warned, Mark is no super model and can scare the skin off the custard. Ben on the other hand.... 

daniel


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## kelbygreen (10/4/10)

yep marks home brew by far. There is a place at charlestown I went to a few times they are ok but dont stock any hops or grains or anything good. Plus mark is a bit cheaper on everything so worth the drive. I agree you could spend hours in there to bad most days I go I am in a bit of a rush so haven't spent the time I would of liked to there yet.


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## ledgenko (10/4/10)

cheers guys ... will pass on to Bill.. great news to hear that it is all going on in Newcastle... you have to love beer ... but not that comercial stuff!! lol.. completely over paying good dollars for beer I can make better for cheaper !! I tried a Pale Ale at the Bris Airport the other night and SWMBO commented on the lack of body and flavours .. ;-) 

so I am ordering a couple of big bags of grain and a kilo or two of hops to make the most of the situation ... he he he

thanks agian guys .. have a cold one .. 


Matt


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## Sammus (10/4/10)

Just throught I throw in another plug for MHB... no other homebrew store I know of. He's got everything you could ever need or want, and he seems to know anything you need to ask about too...


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## Bats (30/11/12)

Hey guys.

Has anyone heard from or been into see Mark at Mark's Home Brew lately?

I am not from the Newcastle area but still order all my ingredients through Mark which he posts out.

I usually hear from him straight away and get my order within a couple of days, however I have emailed him a number of times since placing my order and still no reply.

Before now, I couldn't rate Mark and his store highly enough but I'm beginning to get imapatient.

Might have to give him a call.


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## Mobbee007 (30/11/12)

I'm still waiting on 2 wyeast smack packs I order 4 months ago with no reply to the many emails I've sent. I think we might be getting shafted


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## Arghonaut (30/11/12)

Yeah i ordered some stuff a few weeks back, normally hear from him straight away, so after a few days and no response i gave him a call. He said he had just lost some staff and was there by himself trying to keep up with the workload of 2 - 3 people and hadnt been able to do mail orders.

Still no word 2 - 3 weeks later, i gave up and ordered from somewhere else, need to get some brews down for xmas and cant wait weeks for ingredients!


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## Bats (30/11/12)

I thought that might be the case.

I know his shop is busy and if he is now on his own, there is going to be a huge back log of orders.

I want to keep using him but I order as I need and I needed last week.

He is by far the cheapest and easiest way to order ingredients using the Brew Builder software.

Can anyone recommend any other places that are reasonably priced and post orders?


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## bigfridge (30/11/12)

Guys .... Guys ... Guys,

Have you all forgotten what the last month has been like in Newcastle ?

What you don't know about November being the month of beer and MHB being one of the motivators behind the local craft brew movement has been pretty busy. He is only now starting to get his head above the huge backlog.

His shop assistant was poached by a local micro to work as an assistant brewer but I know that he has a new one starting today.

A lot if the orders may be waiting on yeast, but due to Thanksgiving in the the USA, the normal 2 week lead time became 3. I have just delivered more than 100 packs from his latest order. 

But if you do really want to know what is going on, just give him a quick ring on 02 49 696 696. He always appreciates a gentle reminder.


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## Bats (30/11/12)

bigfridge said:


> Guys .... Guys ... Guys,
> 
> Have you all forgotten what the last month has been like in Newcastle ?
> 
> ...



Cheers bigfridge.

I want to keep buying through Mark. As I said, I can't rate him highly enough.

Hopefully with some extra staff he will get back on top of things. 

Being that busy is clearly reflects his awesome reputation and knowledge of the craft.

I'll give him a call after the weekend.


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## Mobbee007 (30/11/12)

That's all well & good but over 12 weeks for 2 smack packs? That's taking the piss I reckon & no contact at all what a bloody joke. At least I'm only out $23 from now on it'll be Craftbrewer all the way


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## stux (30/11/12)

RexBanner said:


> That's all well & good but over 12 weeks for 2 smack packs? That's taking the piss I reckon & no contact at all what a bloody joke. At least I'm only out $23 from now on it'll be Craftbrewer all the way



Phone. Pickup. Call.


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## bigfridge (30/11/12)

RexBanner said:


> That's all well & good but over 12 weeks for 2 smack packs? That's taking the piss I reckon & no contact at all what a bloody joke. At least I'm only out $23 from now on it'll be Craftbrewer all the way



Hi Rex,

Obviously I don't know what yeasts you are waiting on - but I do know that he has a good quantity of all the regaular yeasts in stock. If they are some of the Private Collection special releases then they have not arrived so it looks like your order has gone astray.

As I have siad before, if you really want to get your order then you should contact Mark by phone. While no emails get lost, they can scroll well off the screen when you get more than 100 business related emails like Mark does each day.

But if you really only want to bad mouth someone in public, then I guess that you have come to the right place.

Depends on what you are wanting to acheive.

Dave


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## beerbog (30/11/12)

Bats said:


> Hey guys.
> 
> Has anyone heard from or been into see Mark at Mark's Home Brew lately?
> 
> ...



Same, no correspondance for over a week. At least a reply to an email to say it will take a while would be enough, but to not reply to anything isn't very good for business, especially as he does operate as an online shop also. 

I personally like what Mark has to sell and his normally quick postage times, but, as others have said, some times you can't wait.

Mark, if you really are that flat out, hire someone else ASAP to do your online stuff. I, and others don't really want to go elsewhere but with no corresepondance that's what we'll do. 

This is not a bagging of Mark or his store, we just want some contact to be made. :beerbang:


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## geneabovill (30/11/12)

I believe his new offsider started today, so after training him up, mark will start getting on top of things.

As far as waiting for products, if I'd paid money for products that had not yet arrived I'd be calling and asking where my shit was. If you have not done that, I suggest you do it straight away instead of being a keyboard hero and whining about it online. Be proactive. 

Mark's shop will take a brewer all the way from KnK to decoction mashing a traditional pilsner, and everything in between. The fact that two of his previous assistants have moved on to local microbreweries says something about his expertise.


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## adryargument (30/11/12)

geneabovill said:


> Mark's shop will take a brewer all the way from KnK to decoction mashing a traditional pilsner, and everything in between. The fact that two of his previous assistants have moved on to local microbreweries says something about his expertise.



Always a good purchase.


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## stux (30/11/12)

adryargument said:


> Always a good purchase.



"Hey Mark, how much for that brewing assistant you have over there?"

"Have you got another in stock?"

"Great, can you let me know when you get some more in..."


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## booargy (30/11/12)

Stux said:


> "Hey Mark, how much for that brewing assistant you have over there?"
> 
> "Have you got another in stock?"
> 
> "Great, can you let me know when you get some more in..."




Does he stock the topless ones?


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## Mobbee007 (30/11/12)

I'm not here to bad mouth anybody but there are reasons why I don't use the phone that quite frankly I'm not going to discuss here. If it is good enough to take my order & cash via the Internet then I really don't see why I need to call. I'm just relaying my experience & the fact I'll be taking my business to a site sponsor who has in the past served me well but Mark had some yeast I wanted that no-one else did. If people want to shop with him that's great I just hope they don't get shafted like I did but to get no reply from 5 emails over an 8 week period is just poor customer service as far as I'm concerned.


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## adryargument (30/11/12)

RexBanner said:


> I'm not here to bad mouth anybody but there are reasons why I don't use the phone that quite frankly I'm not going to discuss here. If it is good enough to take my order & cash via the Internet then I really don't see why I need to call. I'm just relaying my experience & the fact I'll be taking my business to a site sponsor who has in the past served me well but Mark had some yeast I wanted that no-one else did. If people want to shop with him that's great I just hope they don't get shafted like I did but to get no reply from 5 emails over an 8 week period is just poor customer service as far as I'm concerned.



Thats perfectly understandable, but coming from an IT background, if you don't use the phone then everyone else who does is getting priority - especially when understaffed.

Angry phone customers = direct support, it's so easy to postpone an email.

Edit speillingo


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## Nick JD (30/11/12)

RexBanner said:


> I'm not here to bad mouth anybody but there are reasons why I don't use the phone that quite frankly I'm not going to discuss here. If it is good enough to take my order & cash via the Internet then I really don't see why I need to call. I'm just relaying my experience & the fact I'll be taking my business to a site sponsor who has in the past served me well but Mark had some yeast I wanted that no-one else did. If people want to shop with him that's great I just hope they don't get shafted like I did but to get no reply from 5 emails over an 8 week period is just poor customer service as far as I'm concerned.



Just sign your email "Nick JD" and say he doesn't know shit. That gets replies on this site from him faster than light speed. :lol:


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