BeerBorg

Like others I started with Mr. Beer & BrewDemon. I'll might buy a few of the new recipes, the oatmeal stout looks good. Depends on how they price them though. I now kinda prefer the 1-3G LME & DME Extract recipes with steeped grains instead of the Mr. Beer HME recipes. I haven't bought any from Mr. Beer for awhile, however I'm still buying the ones from BrewDemon so who knows?

I also started with a Mr Beer kit one year for Christmas. I don't credit Mr Beer so much as I do a homebrew kit for Christmas that got me into this hobby. Any homebrew kit would probably have led me in the same direction. Another kit probably wouldn't have landed me at the MBF forum... from which I learned far more about brewing than anything Mr Beer taught me.

In hindsight, there is nothing about Mr Beer I miss. There is nothing about their product I brag about today. Their one and only selling point for me was I thought they were a wonderful window into this hobby of ours. My mind has been changed. Mr Beer misleads people into thinking brewing is all about shaking, mixing, and stirring and you'll have a professional grade product in one week. It's almost as easy as making Koolaid, right?

Better windows into this hobby exist.

jimjohson wrote:

The_Professor wrote: Over at MBF mention of Brew Demon was censored. Peter initiated it due to "legal issues". Mr. Beer's take was that Brew Demon stole their old recipes. I took no steps as an Admin to circumvent the censoring

Yeah I remember when we realized you couldn't say the word demon there.

I did

Whamolagan wrote:

jimjohson wrote:

The_Professor wrote: Over at MBF mention of Brew Demon was censored. Peter initiated it due to "legal issues". Mr. Beer's take was that Brew Demon stole their old recipes. I took no steps as an Admin to circumvent the censoring

Yeah I remember when we realized you couldn't say the word demon there.

I did

Just a couple times.

Once or twice maybe kinda sorta little bit

$30 to make 1 case of Blonde Ale. And now you've added 30 minutes to your brew day. I guess they figure Brooklyn Brew Shop's 1 gallon recipes are $15.


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I find it interesting that Mr. Beer is stepping out of there comfort zone to offer steeping grains and additional recipes but I can't help think that the added competition from BrewDemon may have played a part in Mr. B's new direction to try to hold on to customers longer with these new offerings.

Also nothing brewing related is taboo here, Mr. Beer, BrewDemon, Brooklyn BrewShop or any other home brew or beer company! I believe that it's best way to have open and honest discussion to make everyone better brewers.

Lastly Mr. Beer's ban on the use of the Brew Demon name was totally self-serving! They were just beyond pissed at Sam for getting the old recipes because they were too stupid to protect them.

Coopers bought Mr Beer because they wanted big box store distribution. Let's face it most of Mr Beer's sales were at big box stores and probably 60% occurred in Q4. Now they are being thrown out of the stores and replaced by Brooklyn or nothing at all. I don't see this move growing the business unless they can get the shelf space back. Existing online customers can get cheaper grains and find more resources without big brother trying to control them.


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I can't imagine that BrewDemon's business is having any impact on Mr. Beer, but only they and he know the answer to that. To me, BD's prices aren't competitive for what they offer for refills as compared to the current Mr. Beer offerings, but I'm basing that on the assumption that they are mostly the same product with a different label.

I don't know what basis anyone has to judge retail distribution - by me Mr. Beer is listed at Best Buy, Target, Kohl's, Cabela's KMart, and my LHBS. I don't know if Bed Bath used to be on the list or not, I know they did carry it during the holidays years ago, but I never go there and they aren't listed.

While many of us have LHBS, and many of us buy in quantities that make this new offering not something to consider, there are many people using Mr. Beer that don't live near a LHBS store and aren't at the level where they feel comfortable buying things elsewhere. The level and quantities of recipes that Mr. Beer has - and the quality - is far superior to what it was some years ago. Had I started in the past year I would have been doing many more Mr. Beer recipes versus dropping them after two orders and doing my extract recipes I find.

When I started going to my LHBS I never looked at other options. Then I found cheaper bottle caps. Then cheaper hops. Now all they get from me is LME and grains purchases and only because they are local. Their marketing is poor, they have no marketing to pull me into the store, they don't capitalize on events, ... Not dissimilar to most LHBS.

I don't think Mr. Beer is very good at Marketing, lots of opportunities I see that they don't do. And it's pretty clear that most retailers don't want to carry them outside Christmas and Father's Day, nothing new there. It will be interesting to see what this new edition does for them.

For this RCE I will buying some extract from my LHBS since it's a 5 minute drive to get there. Ordering online is always the last option I choose because of the shipping charges. If only Amazon PRIME's free shipping could be applied to brewing supplies too.

RickBeer wrote: I don't know what basis anyone has to judge retail distribution - by me Mr. Beer is listed at Best Buy, Target, Kohl's, Cabela's KMart, and my LHBS. I don't know if Bed Bath used to be on the list or not, I know they did carry it during the holidays years ago, but I never go there and they aren't listed.

Do It Best also stocks some of the kits & various refills. Member hardware stores may stock those items, or individuals can order 'ship to store' at doitbest.com & avoid shipping fees by picking up their order at the local hardware store.

I think it is probably a good move on their part for MrB to offer the grain additions. Even though most everyone here on this site knows what you would be getting versus the cost, but it may be a way to keep their customer base just a little longer.

I spent a lot of money on MB kits, I did every one of their 'deluxe' refill kits over about a 2 year period. I loved the old MB forum and with beer making not being my top hobby, I never looked elsewhere for supplies. Only when my wife came home with a brand new un-used True-Brew kit that she picked up at a yard sale for 1/2 of the price for new did I start thinking there was a better way to make beer. That's when I started doing some 'net re search and stopped buying MB kits but still enjoyed the forum until
it took a dump and never going back.

Now on a side note I thank MB for this wonderful hobby, but just how long someone can stay with them IDK. Maybe with the grains just a little longer, but once their customers find out about grains and different ways of brewing, they will leave too.

berryman wrote:I think it is probably a good move on their part for MrB to offer the grain additions. Even though most everyone here on this site knows what you would be getting versus the cost, but it may be a way to keep their customer base just a little longer.

I spent a lot of money on MB kits, I did every one of their 'deluxe' refill kits over about a 2 year period. I loved the old MB forum and with beer making not being my top hobby, I never looked elsewhere for supplies. Only when my wife came home with a brand new un-used True-Brew kit that she picked up at a yard sale for 1/2 of the price for new did I start thinking there was a better way to make beer. That's when I started doing some 'net re search and stopped buying MB kits but still enjoyed the forum until
it took a dump and never going back.

Now on a side note I thank MB for this wonderful hobby, but just how long someone can stay with them IDK. Maybe with the grains just a little longer, but once their customers find out about grains and different ways of brewing, they will leave too.

Ditto.

I think at one point we were all comfortable and happy using MrB products (ok, not EVERYONE) nad if they had steeping grains it might have kept some people longer. Everybody is on their own path, but I have to believe that a lot of folks using them may stay longer as they start exploring grains while still using HMEs and things from a supplier they are comfortable with.

They would probably keep more customers if they lowered their prices. I understand the allure of the hobby aspect of this, but it needs to be economical to do. For $25 (minus shipping) I can go out and get a case of firestone. So what is the point of that? Yeah the aspect of "I made this" is nice, but at what cost? Don't get me wrong, I got back into brewing after a 20 year hiatus with Mr. Beer. If it weren't for MrBeerFans.com (R.I.P), and the great folks there, I would not be pursuing going pro. The way that they treated us and the way that they went about it was way wrong. So I give you this:




I am so glad that I was invited here. The people are friendly and as welcoming as MBF. I still help people who get a Mr. Beer and are overwhelmed, but I steer them away as soon as I can. There are entirely too many options out there to stick with one, especially an over priced one. And at $.10 a grain no thanks.

Whamolagan wrote:...I am so glad that I was invited here. The people are friendly and as welcoming as MBF. I still help people who get a Mr. Beer and are overwhelmed, but I steer them away as soon as I can. There are entirely too many options out there to stick with one, especially an over priced one...

Amen, brother!!
Well said!!