Dos Beerigos

Followers of this blog know that I love reviewing beers, but I also have other passions within the industry.

I have been reviewing Local Beer Bars, Meetups, and Festivals. We will now begin to add reviews on Local Beer Sellers, Homebrew Supply Stores, Restaurants, and Local Breweries (yes there are some diamonds in the rough in South Florida). If you are an owner or employee of any of these establishments and want to request our review please just shoot me an email at DosBeerigos@gmail.com and we can set something up.

Also any additional review suggestions please send my way. I do this for you and for the beer, and love both of them!

Cheers!

~FERM

Lets start with Homebrew Supply Stores (mainly web). Just in the past six months or so I have been asked a lot of questions about where to buy supplies at the best price and the best service. Often I sort-a feel like a broken record. The list below contains a quick review of some of the websites and local shops that I have used.

A little bit on my background; I started home brewing about a year ago with the idea that I could possibly make good beer for a cheaper amount of money. I quickly learned that I could do this, but I could also control the flavors and alcohol volume. I have experimented with many different types of recipes and styles of beers. Focusing on Ales because of the fermentation temperature, I have found a strong passion for brewing IPA’s. I purchased my home brewing supplies from a local shop and used them several times for my ingredients. While still a novice of sorts I mainly brew with a extract/partial grain method, but want to move to all-grain in the near future.

OK, enough about me lets move to the reviews.

BX Depot
www.bxbeerdepot.com
Lantana, FL
561-965-9494

This is my local shop. I picked up my first homebrew kit here with several recipes. I have never gone into the store, and been told that they have been out of something. If they don’t have it they can get it in for you. Prices are a bit high, and that has been their knock in the local community. I personally don’t see it as that big of a problem though. After all I like supporting my local shops. Shipping prices seem fair online. I personally have never had anything shipped from them since they are near my house. Finally customer service is flat out awesome! I am a strong believer in customer service, and the crew at BX has that down pat. You can’t beat their face to face service! They are friendly, knowledgeable, and always willing to help. So in summary good selection of products, sort-a high prices, freshest ingredients, super service, and a GREAT Micro-Beer supply (we will talk about this later). Quite like that young female that was always there for you, “the friend” , BX is a good reliable shop. Overall; 4.20/5

Rebel Brewer
www.rebelbrewer.com
Tennessee

While BX is my local, Rebel is my go to. I have been dealing with this company for about 8 months now, and in my opinion it is hard to beat them. I try to beat their prices for a recipe….can’t, try to beat their service……can’t (unless I can personally interact with someone), try to beat their shipping time……can’t, really the only thing that they can be beat in is shipping price. Shipping price isn’t high though, it is fair. Still, shipping included for a recipe (Malt, Hops, Yeast, and specialty Grain) I haven’t found a site to beat Rebel’s end price. Their slogan “Make Better Beer”, is one they believe in. Constantly getting in new types of hops, running sales on top of their already low prices, and willing to speak with you over the phone or through email about an order of any size makes this the best site I have worked with yet. So in summary Rebel Brewer offers a great selection of ingredients, wonderful customer service, super fast shipping at a fair price, and much more. Much like the one you find and settle down with, Rebel Brewer is a keeper! Overall; 4.89/5

Northern Brewer
www.northernbrewer.com
Minnesota

I have only used Northern Brewer twice. Once was a test to see how fast the shipping was on a very small order, and the other was for a recipe itself. The websites selection is very good, they have a wide variety of hops, grain, malt, and yeast. The prices are pretty good and competitive to all other sites. I am personally a big fan of the $7.99 standard shipping. It is a good price and fairly quick. They have a great selection of Wine and Beer Supplies as well. Customer Service was good, and they offered an email and phone number if I had any questions. Secret Gem of this site is their Miscellany tab; they have some really cool gift ideas for the beer lover in there. Overall had very good experiences with Northern, I would use them again if I can’t find what I am looking for on my “go to site”. Northern is just like that the young lady one would keep on the side just in case a date fell through with the keeper…. Overall; 4.49/5

More Beer
www.morebeer.com
Concord, CA

I have used More Beer two times as well. Once for a custom tap handle, and another for a shipping test. Shipping was good and pretty fast. Free Shipping on orders over $59.00! They have a wonderful selection of everything. Although like the other two sites above you get the feeling that they are a bit of a larger company as their customer service seemed simply automated, with little follow up. Prices are average, nothing great, unless you can catch a Deal of the Day (they go fast). Overall nothing special and I would rather hit up my local shop instead, although if you can’t find it someplace else, more beer probably has it. They do a podcast too that is worth listening to. More Beer is very much so like the girl that you take out once or twice but move on after. Overall; 3.89/5

Where do you shop for homebrew supplies? And Why? I’d love to know. Comment below or shoot me an email.