Support Your Local Homebrew Shop !

[brett mccluskey]

Old Idea - Link
MHB

good god! i should have guessed :wacko:

 

[MHB]

Welcome to AHB land where half the population is so tight they fart in falsetto.

MHB

 

[Nick JD]

Welcome to AHB land where half the population is so tight they fart in falsetto.

MHB

Homebrewing is inherently tight. They sell pre-made beer at the shop you know - if we all bought our beer you'd be back on Oxford St hocking that tight ass for a living.

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

Homebrewing is inherently tight. They sell pre-made beer at the shop you know - if we all did that you'd be back on Oxford St hocking that tight ass for a living.

very good point nick, that's what attracted me at first but now i fear my love of buying home brew stuff may be swinging it the other way :beerbang:

 

[Nick JD]

very good point nick, that's what attracted me at first but now i fear my love of buying home brew stuff may be swinging it the other way :beerbang:

Spend your dollars wisely (overseas while the dollar is HOT) and buy your missus something nice with the savings. That's the kind of support that matters - not keeping people in business who label their customers "tightasses".

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I suspect many LHBS' main competitor (at least in their own eyes) is not the specialist craft/ boutique brewing supplies outfit at all but the supermarket with cheap goop tins and bags of sugar, from there with the spotty indifferent teen to the LHBS proprietor is indeed quite a jump. If only LHBSes set their sights in the other direction, we wouldn't be having this discussion...

+1 Mark et al, I say let the crap LHBS wither and die, but the business model doesn't support that though- can't draw LHBS proprietor's knowledge and helpfulness boundaries on a map.

+1 RdeVjun - most articulate and well thought out post for at the very least today, and possibly the last month.

 

[Nick JD]

...can't draw LHBS proprietor's knowledge and helpfulness boundaries on a map.

Craftbrewer aside, I have never been to a LHBS where the owner knew anywhere near what can be easily learned using Google in about the same time.

Some of the advice I've had has made me laugh. I actively don't tell one guy when I'm buying a pack of US05 that I'm brewing with grain because he'll give me the same stupid lecture on how I'm wasting my time. Seriously, there's probably 5 LHBSs in Australia who can offer good advice.

Coles has obviously decided that for every person who buys a can of goop and a kg of sugar they lose 23L of beer sales out of Liquorland. Clever - but again, a bit ******* clinical when you think about it. Woolies probably next - so the shit LHBSs can get their market back. That's good for them, but we all know they make all their money from spirits anyway.

This could lead to the end of the Goop Can. Wouldn't that be nice?

 

[MHB]

In the whole country there are really only about half a dozen home brew shops that invest in and support all grain brewing; as an "industry" home brewing wouldn't even notice if every AG brewer in Australia fell down that proverbial hole in the ground.
I think I can safely say that the shops that support AG do it for the love of the craft not for the money they (allegedly) make out of it, whatever our personal differences I believe that is true for Craft Brewer in Brisbane, Pat in Sydney, Grain and Grape, Beer Belly and Gryphon over in the west, and some others I know for sure it's true for me.

Because of retailers who work hard to bring the best equipment and ingredients to the market we (me included) now have access to the finest range of malt hops and yeast that have ever been available
Remember it was only a couple of years ago Hop prices went ballistic every HBS listed above cut their margin on hops dramatically (yes we all know what each other pays for stock) you only copped a fraction of the pain. Same is true for some of the popular dried yeasts and look at Malt prices; we are all paying less for malt than we were, 10 years ago about all you could get was Adelaide Malt, I think the range was Schooner and four coloured malts, starting at $50 a bag plus shipping. Now we stock about a dozen base malts and forty or so specialty malts.
OK right now the dollar is strong, there is a bit of a hop glut and there are some bargains to be had, I could buy direct and maybe save a couple of dollars or I can support the local hop merchants (back then these guys were supplying us with hops at less than they could have then sold them on the world market). The dollar won't always be this high and there won't always be a hop glut; if I support them we will always have access to good hops.

Good home brew shops need your support, I believe that if you think it through it's a two way street.
My idea of a good home brew shop is one that offers a comprehensive range of products, people that can help you when you need it and that a fosters a community of brewers focused on making great beer.

Mark
Marks Home Brew
Who will stay the hell out of this thread from now on the most dangerous place on earth is apparently standing between some hombrewers and a dollar.

 

[manticle]

The hops thing is a nothing - you can't brew beer just with hops and getting some cheaper ones will eventuate in much grain and yeast and so on being bought and likely bought here. Even with the aussie dollar competing with the US so well, I'm not likely to buy my next 20 L glass demijohn, gas burner or multiple kg of grain from the US. Wouldn't risk my liquid yeast being in transit for that long either. It (a few grams of hops) shouldn't even be a focus.

I agree with the rest - niche market driven essentially by passion and we'd all be poorer without it. It's more the fact that it is driven by passion (and knowledge and decent advice that goes with that passion) that I'll keep buying from GG and others. If they were crap I wouldn't but the fact is they're not so I find value when my dollar is spent there, regardless of whether or not my US brothers pay less. I make good beer for a fraction of the price and enjoy the process immensely. Good enough for me.

 

[haysie]

...can't draw LHBS proprietor's knowledge and helpfulness boundaries on a map.

Craftbrewer aside, I have never been to a LHBS where the owner knew anywhere near what can be easily learned using Google in about the same time.

Some of the advice I've had has made me laugh. I actively don't tell one guy when I'm buying a pack of US05 that I'm brewing with grain because he'll give me the same stupid lecture on how I'm wasting my time. Seriously, there's probably 5 LHBSs in Australia who can offer good advice.

Coles has obviously decided that for every person who buys a can of goop and a kg of sugar they lose 23L of beer sales out of Liquorland. Clever - but again, a bit ******* clinical when you think about it. Woolies probably next - so the shit LHBSs can get their market back. That's good for them, but we all know they make all their money from spirits anyway.

This could lead to the end of the Goop Can. Wouldn't that be nice?

Sorry everyone, i just have to ask this monkey not to throw his faeces but to name the 5 LHBS`S?
In all his post`s , he`s a tyrant towards retailers.

edit. No hypocrite as a PM suggested. Grain book account with G&G, most yeasts and bits from Craftbrewer, associate in a bulk here n there,........ and know a few people!

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Sorry everyone, i just have to ask this monkey not to throw his faeces but to name the 5 LHBS`S?
In all his post`s , he`s a tyrant towards retailers.

I think he is a commie.
GB

 

[jakub76]

Business plan , yes to stay in business and provide goods at great prices.
GB

It's a bit simplistic...perhaps consider adding "...by antagonising potential customers..."

... you are being a complete dick...

Shit do all you dicks hang together ? <_< (insult just in case you havent the brains to work it out)

and by being a masogynistic homaphobe

Back under your rock dip shit.

Bring it on GIRLS.

...and let's not forget begging...

Possibly if we organised a email petition and every body sent an email to these people at Brewcellar they may change there minds ?
GB

Tempting as it is I'm not going to mention overheads or real shops. Top work! :beerbang:<-He's toasting sarcasm.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

And I though I was being nice. :icon_cheers:
GB

 

[pk.sax]

I gotta say, if the cans of goop didn't exist most ppl will never start brewing. Every time I walk into LHBS I see them touting a cider can or gingerbeer can to somewhat clueless walk-ins. It's annoying but you can realise why they have to do that to get customers started. No HBS can teach a brewer more than they can learn themselves, I'm just thankful the one close to me can fill in the gaps for me when I have doubts and offers advice according to how informed he finds his customer. You definitely cant teach a monkey how to wire up a thermostat, the monkey will freak out! In fact, I'm quite dismayed the supermarkets are phasing out the tins, its the best free advertising homebrewing gets. Oh well, that's my 2c about why the HBS aren't all idiots, there are definitely quite a few good ones.

 

[PistolPatch]

Mmm, interesting to have a quick read through the above.

I have dealt with pretty much all the major retailers and know what goes on behind the scenes. I'm a lot more interested in advice than price*. Good advice leads to friendship and loyalty but I can't tell you how many times my loyalty and friendship has been abused. It is a very sore point for me. In my younger brewing days, when I used to be a bit more of a celebrity here on AHB, I used to get calls/pressure from some retailers saying post this or post that. Most of the time I would post because I agreed. Sometimes I didn't and with one retailer, the repercussions were subtle but severe.

In my naivety, I think retailing brewing products should be a lovely livelihood but when I read threads like this I am reminded of how ugly I find a lot of brewing retailing. I do, actually cringe, any time I hear of brewing retailing and I am cranky at myself for doing this because there are very good ones out there but, they are hardly ever great.

There's a lot of unfairness to brewing retailers by the wholesalers and this is a constant source of worry to retailers. Perhaps a bit of co-operation amongst some existing retailers would make a huge difference for them and us?

Okay, my next door neighbour has just popped around and wants a beer.

I will give her one .

Spot,
Pat

 

[InCider]

Okay, my next door neighbour has just popped around and wants a beer.

I will give her one .

Spot,
Pat

My sister not good enough for you Pat? :lol:

 

[Steve]

Seriously, there's probably 5 LHBSs in Australia who can offer good advice.

Seriously? **** i'd better stop going to mine then....no wonder ive been doing it wrong for all these years. Can you give me the 5 shops phone numbers so I can call them next time I put a brew on?

 

[thesunsettree]

I know of 3 in brisbane. At that sort of per capita the brewers in the rest of aus dont stand a chance, poor bastards

 

[MitchDudarko]

The opinionated are so opinionated... <_<

 

[DU99]

heres something i found

http://pint.com.au/links/homebrewshops/