Microbrew Beer of the Month Club - Online Ordering for that Hard-To-Buy-For Person
Written: Dec 26 '04 (Updated Mar 21 '06)
|
| Full Review |
It’s sometimes hard to find a perfect gift for someone, and this year that person was my husband. I browsed around various sites but nothing really stood out until I wandered across the Microbrew Beer of the Month Club at www.beermonthclub.com.
The site is very easy to navigate. The main page gives an overview of the concept behind the site. Each month, the person receives twelve 12-ounce bottles of beer from a different microbrewery. There are three different beer clubs to choose from: Domestic (U.S.) Microbrewery Club at $17.95 per month, International & Domestic Beer Club at $24.95 per month, or International Beer Club at $26.95 per month.
Memberships are available from two through twelve months and at varying intervals depending on your budget. Beer cannot be shipped to the states of Alaska, Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, or Utah.
Shipping and handling is $12 per shipment. The beer was shipped to us via DHL. An adult over 21 must be home to sign for it - the beer will not be left. Our first shipment arrived exactly on time which meant I was able to wrap it up and put it under the tree. The website allows me to design and print a gift card which explains the club. I taped that to the outside of the box. The bottles are packed well with Styrofoam so I don’t have any worries about the bottles breaking in transit. The site boasts that less than 1% of their shipments are damaged in transit. If that does occur, the site gives a phone number to call to resolve the issue.
The beers chosen are brewed just prior to when they are designated to go out to ensure freshness. At the Microbrew Beer of the Month Club they sample the shipment again just before it is sent out to members to ensure quality. I wouldn’t mind that job! They also choose beers which travel better in different weather, so there’s less concern that a beer shipment will go bad while stuck in a warm truck on a hot summer day.
What did we think of our first shipment? The first month’s selections were from two different breweries: the Lakefront Brewery and the Old Dominion Brewing Company. A pamphlet is included with each shipment giving background on the breweries as well as information about each brew including serving suggestions. We sampled one of the beers today after it had been chilled overnight and we were quite pleased.
For the novice beer connoisseurs (like us) there is a Beer Style Guide which gives a lot of good information about beer. If you don’t know a Weizenbock from a Biere de Gard, this is a great help. It’s an education in the various types of beers out there - well beyond the choice of Budweiser or Coors. It also gives information on what foods go well with the different types of beer, alcohol content, gravity, bitterness, and color.
In the Beer Fun section there is a Q&A ostensibly answered by a 6 year-old Red Murl Australian Sheep Dog. I suspect he has some help with the answers. There is an archive of past newsletters and if you want to see if a microbrewery you like as already been featured, you can search the previous newsletters online and see if the name comes up. There are recipes for cooking with beer (this is what to use the cheap stuff for - not the good quality beers which the Microbrew Beer of the Month Club sends out.
The website also has links to other monthly clubs such as the wine of the month club, cigar of the month club, cheese of the month club, chocolate of the month club, and fresh cut flower of the month club. Corporate gifts are also available. The site has been going strong for nine years now, so it’s not a fly-by-night operation.
You can choose to pay for the membership for yourself or as a gift either all in one shot or on a month-to-month basis. Your credit card will be charged either way - Microbrew Beer of the Month Club accepts all major credit cards as payment.
This is going to be a fun year for my husband and for myself by extension. We’ll get to sample a lot of different beers from across the country and look forward to expanding our horizons a bit. If we are as pleased as I expect we’ll be, it might become a perpetual gift next Christmas, and something we think about giving to various members of the family too.
Beers I’ve received from the Microbrew Beer of the Month Club:
Old Dominion Oak Barrel Stout
Old Dominion Pale Ale
Lakefront Klisch Pilsner
Lakefront Eastside Dark
Wolaver’s Pale Ale
Wolaver’s Oatmeal Stout
Great Divide Hot Shot ESB
Great Divide St. Bridget‘s Porter
Smuttynose India Pale Ale
Smuttynose Old Brown Dog Ale
Arcadia India Pale Ale
Arcadia Nut Brown Ale
Winter Storm “Category 5“ Ale
Clipper City Gold Ale
Millstream Brewing Company Colony Oatmeal Stout Lager
Millstream Brewing Company Warsh Pail Ale
Frederick Brewing Company Blue Ridge Porter
Frederick Brewing Company Blue Ridge ESB
Firestone Pale Ale
Firestone Double Barrel Ale
Wisconsin Brewing Company Oscar’s Chocolate Oatmeal Stout
Wisconsin Brewing Company Rainbow Red Ale
Harpoon Brewing Company Hibernian Ale
Harpoon Brewing Company Munich Dark
Humboldt Brewing Company Red Nectar Ale
Humboldt Brewing Company Pale Nectar Ale
© 2004 Patti Aliventi
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
AliventiAsylum
|
 in Movies, Hotels & Travel |
 in Movies |
 - Top 50 |
|
Member: Patti Aliventi
Location: Mount Washington Valley, New Hampshire
Reviews written: 1983
Trusted by: 679 members
About Me:
Interstate National Dealer Services from AAA is Automotive Extended Warranty hell: http://www.epinions.com/content_5328707716
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.