So Jealous! I’m in Seattle, so you’d figure that I’d have good options locally, but everything is shutting down!
I usually go to one of the somewhat conveniently-located local places, but lately it’s been frustrating that they don’t have what I need. At least one of them supports ordering in advance, but I never have my plans together enough to make that viable…usually I just do my best to get a close match, but I’ve been considering buying online more and more every time I go there and they don’t have the yeast or hops I need.
But if I’m ordering online, I’m already planning in advance, so I guess I could just call them and order there instead…
Check local brew pubs for discounts on malts. With social distancing and people not going out, they may have more malt than they need, and will offer it at discounted prices and no shipping charge if you pick it up yourself.
Had to laugh at the title of this thread since it is something we might have said in the 70s, early 80s when looking for the other plant in the same family as hops. LOL. Man I’m old.
I have one local shop and am not sure their status but the don’t have a range of ingredients. So my online go-to’s are Morebeer, Midwest, Stubby’s Texas and Northern, not necessarily in that order. I seek free shipping deals. But if I want Mecca Grade then I’m limited to NB or Midwest.
My LHBS closed so I ordered some yeast and hops from MoreBeer yesterday. They gave me a 2-week delivery time instead of the normal 2-3 days.
Don’t know where you are, I live in Ohio. I ordered a bag of Crisp Maris Otter yesterday from More Beer and I got an email saying they shipped it today. I should have it by Thursday at the latest, it’s only 1-2 days from Pittsburgh.
The only bad thing is that even using the cheapest shipping method (Fed EX) the shipping cost was almost half the price of the grain, yikes! Unfortunately, my LHBS doesn’t stock it so I had to order online.
I’m in NE PA and although they always say 1 day shipping, I’ve never gotten anything from them in 1 day. Usually 2-4 days depending on what day I order.
I ordered Sunday night and my current order status say “In Warehouse, Not Picked”. I’m brewing this weekend and will likely have to adjust on the fly. Thankfully, I have enough hops and that pack of US-05 that I keep behind the glass that says “Break In Case of Emergency” 
The last time I ordered bulk from MB I wasn’t paying enough attention, the shipping was more than the grain, with S&H bulk cost more than by the pound. The cheapest option for me now is buying enough 10# bags to get free shipping.
Wine & Hop Shop, Madison Wisconsin
Listermann Brewing Company! Great selection and friendly, helpful staff. They are taking on line orders with a pick up window so I can get my supplies to continue brewing!
I had the same issue. Canceled and switched to Atlantic Homebrewer Supply (never used them before but they had a discount code through Denny and Drew’s podcast). They got it out quick and I was really impressed with them.
Atlantic is really good people
[emoji106]
I placed an order with them late Friday (too late to do anything with). I received an email Monday about an out of stock item which I agreed to sub something else for. I then got an email later saying it was pulled and a ups ticket was issued. Good service getting it pulled that quick, unfortunately ups didn’t pick it up until this morning.
There is a big surge in the hobby as people have time on their hands, no local place to get the beer that they want, and so on.
I get most of my stuff from AiH. Their retail is closed, online has ramped way up, no retail workers were laid off, they were reassigned to online sales. My last two online orders took longer than usual. It is no big deal.
I get most of my stuff from Morebeer.com and Northerbrewer.com because I figure they have the best turn around in their stock. My local store I get my stuff to make starters like DME.
Depending on where you live, another good place is the Grape and Granary in Akron, Ohio. They have online ordering and shipping available. Although their showroom is closed during the pandemic, you can pick up at the store as well if you live close enough to do so. John and his staff are great people and I buy almost all of my stuff from them.