I'm not on here to polish anyone's bits, but I will state some facts, as I know them.
MHB has actual brewing qualifications, which he doesn't mention very often, least of all on this forum. People would call it self-aggrandisement. He has done the short brewing course in Ballarat and has a qualification from the British Brewing guild in brewery design and operation (IIRC). There is also a superb range of reference material in the shop, and some highly technical books too, such as Kunze etc. He scored me a copy of Acid ales, so he does a bit to look after the customers here, encouraging their weird interest, and thereby expanding the knowledge base that can be called upon.
I haven't checked his prices comparatively, and I admit that. But it's only because I have an historical idea of what things cost, and trust that he's looking after us, and he has mentioned the price comparison. Should I check everything, or just relax?
The cost of overheads for a shopfront can be substantially more than an internet business with a warehouse and staff.
Any reasonable person, especially the virtual shops, would acknowledge that fact.
Nor is it in the best interest of local brewers to completely ignore the local brew shop, and I have received acknowledgement of that from discussions with a rep from one of the online shops. No, I won't tell you which one, as I have some respect for the confidentiality and don't wish to spoil our discourse. and openness.
Fact: Homebrewers, typically, are a bunch of tight-arses, as is evidenced in many threads here and on all the other forums.
The flipside is that a brewshop owner is a bit of a zealot, going about the business (most often with enough margin to eke out a living) mainly due to their love of the craft. At the end of the day, most go home completely beer-fatigued and don't have time to brew, or just couldn't be shagged about it.
Before you go disrespecting your lhbs for the level of cost, energy, commitment and level of involvement, just think of your commitment level. Are you willing to support your local shop, or are they just not worthy? Could you do the same job?
As has been mentioned here, other forums and at the ANHC just gone: all-grain homebrewers are not that big a percentage of the market. Maybe the lack of your business might not make a dent on the local shop's bottom line.
If the shop doesn't look after you, they may be lacking commitment to all their customers and they will disappear eventually.
It's freedom of choice, and I'm happy to strongly state that my lhbs looks after me, and supports the local brewing community at all levels. That may be by
not stocking the bits that will sit on the shelf because people can buy them from the supermarket, and that frees up space for the stuff that we will use.
My lhbs does a fair bit of research into what is actually "good value" (for example, the Weyermann Premium pils) and stocks quite a range of grain, well-refrigerated and vac-packed hops and impeccable product knowledge.
This rant is not about "my shop" being better than "your shop". However it is a statement of the level of commitment of the really good shops and why they should be supported...and when they answer a question, give some thought and respect. They have probably given the best possible answer, so don't dismiss it out-of-hand as I have seen here in the past.
Your lhbs: Use it or lose it!
Perhaps this diatribe is a testament to just how tired, yet inspired I am after coming back from the ANHC early this morning.
Whew, time for a beer
Now, what Have I got that I can force down after all the great beer I sampled this weekend. It's a hard act to follow.
