AB InBev now guarantees the lowest grain prices anywhere.
The prices are quite low. Rahr and Briess base malts are $0.99 and $0.98 per pound.
Too bad I don’t like what they’ve done to small businesses. I’ll continue to buy from MoreBeer and Austin Homebrew Supply.
Dingemans per pound prices on NB are also pretty damn low. $1.23 per pound for Belgian base malt? Yes please! I’d love to be able to shop exclusively at my LHBS, but their grain selections are not that great and the prices suck.
Even with $7.99 shipping, I can still get 12.5 pounds of grain, including continental base malts, for less than at my local shops. Can’t beat that.
MoreBeer’s prices tend to run along the same as most other online sources but offer free shipping on orders of $59, which is what sold me on them.
MoreBeer trends higher than NB on nearly every maltster and they are the next cheapest. I still purchase hops, yeast and various other equipment at my LHBS, but grain is NB all the way.
EDIT: I do have to concede that for 50 lb sacks, you can’t beat MoreBeer’s pricing. On a Pound for pound basis though, NB is the more economically sensible choice.
There’s economy and then there’s false economy…
There’s nothing false about saving money on grain. I am trying to have my local shops order me full sacks because thier per pound prices just can’t compete.
Take NB out of the equation and my shop still can’t comprte with online retailers.
I think you missed my point. But that’s OK.
I must have. I’m genuinely interested though. What was your point? The illusion of a deal rather than a true deal?
I see what’s happening. Just like what they’ve done with beverage distribution, or buying SAB Miller (even at the price of selling off all the brands) just to get exclusive rights to the South African hop crop, somewhere in the works here is an exclusive distributorship for all these grains. Then your LHBS ceases to exist, and you pay whatever ABI wants for your grain. Enjoy the prices (and choices) while they last.
You cannot be serious. You think ABI gives a crap about homebrewers? This a drop in the bucket market. People are getting very paranoid these days.
I would assume he means that, perhaps, once all the little guys are fine that there might not be as much incentive to undercut them. In my opinion it’s just free market fluctuations. There will always be change
Yup. I get that.
They do give a crap about homebrewers. They bought a homebrew retailer.
I don’t know why they do what they do and I don’t know what the right response should be (fear and loathing or take advantage).
Even if they don’t covet the market, what will it do to the market when no one else can compete? They can lose money longer than anybody else. When there is less competition, they will have no reason to keep prices or selection where they are. And if it’s such a drop in the bucket that means nothing to them, why are they in the market? Not paranoid, but not wearing blinders either. The lesson of their past business practices should be, they are not driven by rational economic concerns alone. There’s some plain nastiness in there. I’m not against big business, free markets, any of that; I’m all for it. I’m against spite and capriciousness though.
Actually, they absolutely do. I used to agree with you, but the more I look into it, the more I believe Robert is correct.
It’s exactly the same as buying craft breweries to control beer distribution.
And did anybody on earth really care about South African hops?
Actually several commercial breweries did.
Don’t get me wrong. I do my best to patronize my local shops but often they are either lacking in variety or thier prices are too high. I’ll take the cheapest and best raw materials wherever I can get them.