Homebrew Shop Review

Fox Valley Homebrew and Winery - Aurora, IL

I went to this shop about 2 weeks ago with my dad to pick up some ingredients for Batch #3. It was in a pretty cool looking location, in downtown Aurora right next to the river. It was the first real homebrew shop I've been to (I went to a place that sold homebrew supplies, but was a hobby shot), so I didn't know quite what to expect.

Anyway, we went on a Saturday. You walk in and it is sort of plain looking with a little display area with some various homebrew equipment. They have a room behind their office/desk area with all of their supplies. It was a little bit cramped in there, but they had a decent selection. They only had LME in name brand cans, none that you could buy by the weight, which was a little disappointing. A good selection of grains which they also will grind for you. Considering the hop shortage, they also had a pretty good selection of hops (I would say about 10 different kinds stored in a freezer).

Pricing varied a bit. Their hops and malt extract seemed a little expensive compared to what I've found online, but they had some decent prices on certain equipment (they had bottles for pretty cheap comparatively). I picked up a large wire and mesh strainer for more reasonable (and a larger one) than I've found most places online.

The guy there who helped us was really friendly. They also sell wine supplies, which was more his expertise. He knew the basics of beer making, but didn't know a whole lot more than I do. He was nice enough though to call up one of the guys who knows more about beer when I had questions. That was pretty impressive customer service. He also said usually they had someone there, but it just happened to be a time when they didn't. They also apparently have some classes and tastings for wine and beer making, which also seemed pretty cool. I might have to look more into that over the summer.

Overall Opinion: It was a pretty decent place. I'll definitely go back. It's hard really to give an opinion since it is the first dedicated-to-brewing shop I've been to. If you are as big of a stickler for costs like I am, you can find some decent buys there, but know comparative prices of what you want online. If you are just looking for one or two ingredients, it is probably cheaper than buying online with shipping costs figured in, but if you are looking for buying all your ingredients for a batch, the costs can add up.