Just wanted to pass a long that there is a new brew shop in town. They are Brew Camp, Located not too far from the Irving park Brown Line.
Dan and I were in there the other day and the owners seem like really nice guys. If your tired of Brew n Grow...this is a nice alternative. You can check out there web page for more details. Hopefully soon we can start working with them, cross posting events and maybe even working out some good deals.
what's a gi harvest ale? Also, yes, I hesitated to say that the yeast was a bit pricier because I wanted us to support them, but it's true. I don't mind paying 75 cents or 1 more for my dry yeast if we're building relations with a new chicago-area supplier. Yeast is the last thing I'll be buying in stores instead of our bulk buys, so it doesn't seem so bad. They do have a much better yeast selection, though. It makes it worth it. Also, who is square kegs? Another brew club?
The resident brewer is the one I've found the most obnoxious. The girl is really nice but I've never had anyone there answer a brewing question, they always defer to him. The helpful guy wasn't older, some younger guy that I'm sure must not work there anymore for whatever reason. That was months and months ago.
Not to turn this into a brew and grow hate session (actually I don't really care), but the people who help with beer questions there are either 1. condescending and unconcerned with whether you're understanding the answer they're giving to your question (yeast for example, they may use advanced chemistry terms, beer lingo, talk about "stressing" the yeast without explaining what that means for example, without any inquiries that would help them establish the level the customer is operating on), or 2. just blazed and/or wasted in which case the help and advice offered is either underwhelming or just plain inaccurate. Either way they're never helpful. Only guy who ever helped me there said it was his first day and then I never saw him after that. They must have fired him for being too good with customers.
Brew Camp isn't like that, plain and simple.
i have been sick of ordering online.............b and g sucks..........thanks for the heads up......
for anyone that wants to know, their number is 773-857-2400
I was informed by Jared that the strange M-W appointment only would be changing to normal hours sometime soon. If you put down their number in your phone and just give them a call, the call forwards straight to Jared's cell phone when no one answers at the shop, that way he can answer your call and stop in when he's around. This has worked out fairly well for me in the past.
These guys are much more helpful, friendly, and polite than brew n grow. Their yeast selection is also better and they have white labs!
Yes, they are officially open, but kind of have some weird hours:
Mon - Wed it's by appointment only
General hours the rest of the week/weekend are:
Thurs - Fri open till 9pm, but their open time varies. Then 9am-9pm on Sat and on Sun 9am-6pm.
www.brewcamp.com has more detailed listing of their exact hours as well.
KMack
The prices were good for grain. I like that they weigh everything out for you too. Sucks when you only need 3 ounces of a specialty malt and end up having to buy a whole pound. They also do the same for pellet hops as well. Jared, one of the owners, indicated that they were also considering ordering whole hops too. I prefer this place, now. It's much closer for me personally and I like the people running the shop better.