Favourite place to buy ingredients?

[Jonathan Musther]

Hi Guys,

Just wondering where everyone buys brewing ingredients.  Personally, I haven't found a place that ticks all the boxes, large range, good information, and great service.  Typically, large range is the hardest to come by.

I generally buy from:
Liberty Brewing - www.libertybrewing.co.nz
Brewers COOP - www.brewerscoop.co.nz
Hauraki Homebrew - www.haurakihomebrew.co.nz
Dunedin Malt House - www.dunedinmalthouse.com

I'm based in Hawke's Bay, and as far as I know, there's nowhere to buy local, so it's always online, usually from one (often from more than one) of the above.

Where do you buy yours?  Anywhere with a really good selection, and also preferably with good info (about the products) on their website?

Cheers!

[Nick T]

They're all pretty good, but add Liberty Brewing - www.libertybrewing.co.nz as it ticks all the boxes as far as I am concerned, and the owner Joseph is a regular on here ('JoKing') and is therefore on the same 'wavelength' as the majority of us here.

[Nick T]

PS he makes really cool kit as well, search on 'Liberty Brewing is the Dogs Bollocks"....

[Mark Kessell]

yeah - i get all my grains from JoKing at liberty brewing, his range of grains is unmatched i feel.
and i get all my NZ hop from nz hops in nelson (purely because of hte range). i'll be getting my american hop from JoKing as well.

[Reviled]

I get everything through Liberty, and chances are if Jo doesnt have it, if you ask nice he might get it in for ya!

I used to go to Mike at brewers coop, great guy, low prices and good service, but whenever I wanted something 'out of the box' I had to source it elsewhere only to find Mike stocking it 6 months later which used to really annoy me! Jo just takes a punt and gets stuff in which I think is just absolutely awesome!!

[Jonathan Musther]

How do you go about getting hops from NZ Hops, on the homebrew scale?

PS - I have ordered from Liberty, although not lately - I knew I missed one when I wrote the initial post!

[Jona Hjelmstrom]

I just been emailing NZ Hops about 100gm packets.(pellets)
They suggested I go to the local brewing shops (and pay max retail.. be f'ked!)
However they are ok with a 5kg order.
Price they quoted is Hallertau @ $22/kg plus gst plus freight.
NZ Post online says the 6kg parcel will cost $22. Nelson to Katikati BOP.
Therefore total cost will be $145.75 unless NZ Hops use a dearer freight carrier.
Depending on hopping strength that is a shit load of batches!
You would be a right piss head to through put 5kg hops in a year!

I am in receipt of a letter from NZ Hops dated July 1992, they were quite happy to mail order 100 gm packets for $2.10 plus gst.

The 5 kg order would equate to $2.90 per 100 grams landed on my door step in 2010.

So guys ??? perhaps members could do a distribution deal and split up these 5kg minimum orders at 100 gm lots minimum up to what ever you want, even with a bit of extra postage that is cheap brewing.

With a few different varieties @ 5kg we could get that variety of hop types at bargain prices?

[James P]

I've been ordering my hops from NZ Hops for the last couple of years with no issues... maybe there has been a policy change, or the home brew shops are raising issues with NZ Hops?

You are right though my LHBS sells for a 100% mark up, so they can whistle dixie... get it from Liberty or Brewer's Coop for the best deals!

[martin w]

doreen sent me a 100g pricelist last week,i've placed an order but she is yet to confirm,which is strange as she's normally pretty prompt,maybe she's on holiday? i do hope they've not had a change of policy, i'm waiting for a kilo of sauvin!

[Chris Banks]

"she's normally pretty prompt,maybe she's on holiday?"
I do hope so too because I have had the same prob (lack of reply once I said I only wanted a couple of kilo)

[Matthew]

Yep, I stopped buying from NZH several months ago. It was taking 3 weeks + to organise hops. I can get what I need from Liberty inside 48hrs from order to the front door.

I don't want this to turn into a slag-fest of NZH because their service and product quality in the past has been second to none. I just wonder if the growth in homebrewing and the popularity of buying right from the source has left them out of their depth?

[Chris Banks]

Absolutely Doreen has been one of the most friendly helpfull people I have ever ever communicated with when it came to ordering from a website bar none!

I just hope they havent moved on from doing "little" orders?

[jt]

Hm .. usually Doreen's right onto it.
Bought a couple of kgs of pellets in May or June and no problem - the service was almost as good as Liberty's