"Monsterbrew had a great sale recently and I purchased 20# of Maris Otter among other things. There was nothing in the description about milling and all the other sites I have ordered from charge you for milling (and you have to select it or you will get unmilled grain). When I looked at the bags I noticed a lot of flour and upon closer inspection found that they had milled the grain. I usually buy full sacks of grain, but even with the UPS shipping the price for 20# (to get me through the summer) was good. I have my own mill and buy in bulk to get better pricing and to ensure that grain is milled just before mashing.
I called customer support and they apologized and told me that I could send it back and reorder. With the UPS charge of $14.70 that would make the grain more expensive than if I had purchased it locally. Now I have to either brew something that I don't want right now (so no bitter or "drink fresh" beers), something for aging, or just feed it to our chickens.
Needless to say I won't be ordering from them again."
"I am an avid beer drinker and brewer. I had used other websites prior to finding Monster Brew. I began to use Monster Brew exclusively due to their wide variety of kits/supplies and the expertise of the staff. In today's day and age we can order anything online but what do you do when you have questions? I want to talk to a rep who knows what they are talking about. Each time I called Kathryn was very helpful/courteous and knew what she was talking about. She is a reason I have stayed with Monster Brew for the past year and a half.
Highly recommended! A+"
"I wasn't sure which kit to purchase as I knew nothing about home brewing before doing some searching on the internet. I found MonsterBrew and gave them a call to get some advice. After about 10 minutes on the phone, I went ahead and purchased the New Brewers Kit. The package came in about 3 days which is pretty fast. It was packed well, and it's a good thing, the outside of the box was pretty rugged from the trip.
I read the instructions before starting and didn't understand some of the steps so I called back to get some help. The customer support was very helpful with answering my questions. I was finally confident enough and brewed the first batch when I got home on the weekend. Everything went pretty well, and I'm waiting for the beer to finish fermentation. Overall I'm very happy with the quality of the equipment and ingredients (took a little sample taste!) Can't wait to try this beer though and start the next batch. I think I might be addicted already."