My intent is not to start an emotional series of responses, but rather to understand the general feelings about recipe kits from Northern Brewer and Midwest. Personally, I have had good luck with Northern Brewer kits in the past, but, in some cases, Midwest has styles that I would like to try that I can't get from Norther Brewer. I'm interested in hearing about the differences between the two from brewers who have a good deal of experience with both suppliers.
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1Down vote with no explanation? Seems like a reasonable question to me.– Bill CraunSep 20, 2011 at 20:02
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2I did not downvote, but its sort of an opinion based base question, it should probably be a wiki.– brewchezSep 22, 2011 at 11:59
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Not sure when the merger happened but their online operations are now the same - operated by Midwest iirc. So the choice probably comes down to the physical kit rather than service.– winwaedMar 24, 2015 at 13:54
5 Answers
I can't speak to Midwest, but I know NB has some good recipe kits because I developed them for them. I can personally vouch for those.
For them both located in MN, I used to order only from Midwest, took almost a week to get my order in Indiana. Nothern Brewer was here in 2 day...That's my VOTE
I have not used Northern but have heard good things. Midwest is great. The have good kits and great service. I am a newbie and they have been very helpful. I have called them a few times with a question, and they did not not hesitate to answer. They also accidentally sent the wrong yeast, I emailed them and they sent the correct one to me with no questions asked. I would reccomend them... but you would probably be fine with both!
I've had great luck with NB's kits - specifically the Paterbier (a wonderful little beer), the Caribou Slobber (brown), the petite saison and the Innkeeper (British bitter).
I've only used midwest, which were high quality, but why not try both? I'm sure Northern has just as good kits. Buy a kit from each, brew and compare.
Worst case is you'll have 2 good beers. Best case is you'll answer your question posted here.