Homebrew Emporium

 

 

This place is a joke. They dont have any of thier own recipies just stuff they ordered in a box. the guy behind the counter didnt say a word to me until i walked up and said "excuse me do you work here?" i then asked about decoction mashing and got a look like i asked him how to build a space ship or something. They may have had what i needed but from the lame selection and the attitude from they guy behind the counter i will NEVER step foot in this place again. ill grow my own barley 1st

I hate to leave negative reviews, but this place was so bad I just couldn't let it go.

First of all, the store itself is actually quite nice. The prices are too high however, $4 for 1 oz of cascade? Gouged. Our total 11 lb grain bill with 5 ounces of hops and a white labs yeast (no wyeast) came to over sixty bucks. I've gotten the exact same recipe in CT for 40.

The guy working there was the worst part. What is it about homebrewers that makes them think they know everything? Besides being outright rude, and saying that everything we were doing was wrong, when I asked for a valve with a racking arm (found here http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/better-bottle-racking-adapter.html) he had no idea what I was talking about. He didn't understand when I tried to explain it, and tried to sell me an autosiphon instead.

If you run a shop, please, at least humor your customers a little instead of cutting them off and telling them they are doing something wrong. There's more than one way to brew, at least try and listen to other points of view, instead of pushing your way or the highway.

A small shop crammed with a reasonable amount of equipment and ingredients. They can only hold so much stuff, and what they do have can be, at times, on the higher end of the price scale. There isn't a huge amount of visible inventory, but this means that the stock turns over pretty smoothly; not much old and dusty stuff in here. On the plus side, they have pretty good service and the folks in there are quite helpful and friendly. I tend to shop here when my requirements are relatively basic and I want a nice, scenic drive through West Boylston; they are also a vendor of White Labs liquid yeast and not Wyeast, in case that matters to you.

I needed to pick up a bucket so I figured I'd give this place a try since I havent been there yet.
The store was clean, well lit, organized and the person working there was not only helpful but friendly.
I will update my review to include ingredient selection/quality when I stop back in to stock up, but so far it looks like a quality place.

Heres the update: I bought some base grain and some specialty grains all unmilled. They milled the grains at no extra cost. good selection of hops and yeast. Prices were great.