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They wont sell you what you want? I would call ask ask “How much for a sack of Best Pils?” If they told me no, I would move on.
You can’t assume to know what they pay for the malt.
Avangard malts can often be found 20-35% cheaper than other imported malts. AiH for example - Avangard = $1.19, Best = $1.89. That said, I hear great stuff about their Pilsner. I know Ken goes through sacks of the stuff.
The LHBS is a business, and LHBS owners aren’t raking in the dough like they are some sort of robber-barons. Maybe they have a crappy wholesale contract and were barely making money on the Best and Weyermann, now they can finally afford to get their kids braces. Vote with you dollars if you can.
One of the local shops sells Avangard at reasonable prices. (It’s about the only thing I will buy from that shop because the markup on everything else is absurd.) I think it’s at least equal in quality to Weyermann but you shouldn’t be paying Weyermann prices for it.
My shop switched from Weyermann to Avangard, too, and they sell it a tad cheaper than Dingemans (maybe 10 or 20 cents/lb). It’s a good malt and I like it better than Weyermann. Like Steve said, I don’t see LHBS getting rich off of raw grain. Mine is a great LHBS and I have no qualms with their prices, especially since I can avoid shipping/waiting.
Avangard Pils is my favorite continental Pils malt by a large margin. It reminds me of Durst Pils. I used a ton of Durst Pils before my LHBS switched to Best and MFB (I was never happy with the flavor of these two Pils malts). I was hesitant to purchase Avangard at first because it was significantly cheaper than Best and MFB. Avangard’s 8L caramel malt is a keeper as well.
Like I said before, vote with your dollars if you can. You could also ask the owners what’s up. Show them some by the pound prices as well as sack prices from online retailers.
Im a fan of the Avangard Pils, Pale and Munich if I can’t get Dingemans. I get them at good prices though.
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Concur! A home brew shop owner who switches to a cheaper malt should not charge the same price that he/she did for a more expensive malt. However, businesses are in business to make money, and they will charge what the market will bear. The only way to counteract price gouging is to walk.
I’ve very much liked the pilsner, vienna, munich I/light, wheat
I’ve disliked the pale ale with the exception of dark, roasty beers (it works well in those)
It’s sold less expensively than weyermann at my lhbs, but special orders are still available for other brands.