South Royalton Market

A few months ago, the producer of our standard malt extracts, Munton’s, changed their packaging from a 15 kg. jug to a 25 kg. bag-in-a-box. While the changeover was occurring, they stopped shipping bulk malt to our supplier, Crosby & Baker, who consequently ran out of their stock. Which of course meant we at the Market ran out as well. Many of you came in to buy bulk extract in April, May and June only to find we had none. We finally got some of the new packages in July, and they are not what we hoped. They are heavy, unwieldy and just not practical for our space. The good news is, C&B is now carrying Briess malt extract in bulk jugs similar to what we used to get from Munton’s, so we are transitioning to Briess. There are a couple of advantages. Briess is a domestic malting company, using US and Canadian-grown grains instead of British. This means it is fresher, generally, and less expensive as well. You will see the bulk syrups go down from $2.39/lb. to $2.09/lb.

We will also be moving to carry Briess Dry Malt extracts, which will reflect similar price decreases. We will still carry Munton’s extracts in cans, and can special order Munton’s DME (or Cooper’s) if that’s what you prefer, but it makes sense to only carry one brand on a regular basis, given our space and storage limits.

Let me know what you think!

-Scott, the Home Brew Guru

Thanks to Rick for enabling me to join in the Market’s blogosphere! I will attempt, from time to time, to wax eloquent on new items, new ideas and general philosophy in the Home Brew Department. If you have not met me or been in to check out the Home Brew Department, I encourage you to do so. At present you will find me on call on Wednesdays and Saturdays (generally noon to closing time) but I am often there for an hour or two on other days as well. If you have general or specific questions about making your own beer, about products we do or do not carry, even about beer in general, please check out the Home Brew page on the Market’s website – you can email me directly from there with questions, comments, requests, etc. I will do my best to answer any and all…
The biggest news from October is the arrival of a new full-size cooler for yeast and hops – with this we will be carrying a wider selection of dry and liquid yeast, and finally a supply of whole hops. We are also in the process of replacing (one at a time) the leaky extract bins – less waste, fresher extract, less mess – a win/win situation.
Please let me know, either by email or in person, what you would like to see us carry, promote, change, etc. in the Home Brew Department – it is your store, and we want to make it work for you.
Cheers,
Scott the Home Brew Guru
(yes, that was me in the Herald two weeks ago…)