Opinions on "Muling" Groups

I think if you show up 2-3 hours early with a friend to grab a couple extra bottles that are destined for trading partners who expressed interest in what's getting released, I think that's 100% acceptable.

Now, if you are showing up 2-3 hours early with a bunch of friends and getting a massive quantity of the "wale of the week" just to offer them FT for the highest offer...that's not so cool.

 

I don't know what this is about.
I probably don't care if I did.
I'm going to get a beer!

 

So if I take my girlfriend to a beer release, even though she's not really interested in the beer, and have her buy bottles I'm a dick?

And I'm confused how bigamy and muling are related? Unless the second woman you marry is a slam-pig then I guess I can understand the vague reference

 

This doesn't strike me as "muling". This strikes me as you getting your allotment and choosing what you do with it.

Isn't the point of muling to circumvent bottle limits?

 

You apparently didn't read or chose to ignore that the OP excluded girlfriends from the muling example.
And I, by extension, included wives as being excluded from the muling reference.
Therefore, if you have more than 1 wife, you can get more beer.
Get it?

 

To me it is going somewhere to get beer and bringing it back for others and/or using people to add to your allotment. Neither of those are getting around bottle limits, after all they don't say two bottles per beer drinker, it's two bottles per person.

Circumventing bottle limits would be getting in line in a red hat, then back in line with a blue hat so they think you are someone else.

 

What?? Like large marauding bands of beer gypsies?

I don't think this will become a major trend. Most of these beer gnurd's live in their parent's basements. There may be some that can deadhead around, but most don't have the funds to travel around the country snatching up beer. Sure, most of us haul beer occasionally when we travel. I certainly do, and I travel quite e bit. However, rarely is it practical or possible for me to time trips around specific beer releases in specific cities.

 

Sure, technically you're not breaking the rules, but it's still kind of a crappy thing to do.

 

This is the way I read it.

The only experience I have with muling is from a release a few years back. A few different beers, ~200 bottles of each, lots of hype surrounding the release. Dude rolls in with about 10 others who were obviously out of place. Drinking soft drinks or water, looking around like it was the first time they'd been in a bar, etc. I saw one of the guys in the bathroom and he says, "So I guess this stuff is a big deal, huh?" I asked him if he tried a sample on tap and he said he didn't drink, but he was paid $20 to stand in line and get bottles.

On one hand, if you've got the money to buy 10 full allotments, plus pay 10 mules and buy their meals, more power to you...'MERICA!!!

On the other hand (and this is nothing but my personal opinion) it's a total dick move. You're just working the system to secure extra trade bait and win the ISO:FT war. There are potentially 10 craft beer lovers who stood in line and got shut out.

To kzoo's point, they'll be fine and there are many other great brews out there. I just don't agree with this type of muling.

 

Member Overlord posted the following in a thread about hype. It applies to muling also.
NickyDee21 said: ↑

The point is, most hyped beers arent much better than things I can find fairly easily.​

You are completely missing the point of hype. While we can certainly enjoy things on their own merits, there is no joy more pure than enjoying something that someone else cannot have. In fact, what makes such experiences even sweeter is when the act of enjoying them denies someone else the ability to do so. Drinking a rare hyped beer is the perfect example: not only do you get the pleasure of having something other people don't get to try, but there is only so much of it to go around. You literally are consuming someone else's dreams. I like to imagine that mine is the very last bottle of [INSERT HYPED BEER], and there are people whose lives will literally go unfulfilled not having tasted the bottle before me.

Whether it's beer, a nightclub, a beautiful sunset from the veranda of a luxury cruise line, or one's children, the greatest pleasure to be had is knowing that every enjoyable moment with them is one that you are denying to others.
Overlord, Jun 24, 2013 Report

 

If you look at some of the trades for CFH 13 those words have never been truer.

 

but think of the KBS or BCBCS you can get for a CFH, you might even be able to get both!

 

Nah just 1, two would be gouging!

 

Truth right here. You only see facebook posts about how crystal clear the water is when someone just got back from some expensive, exclusive, far off tropical beach. Not once have I seen anyone gush over how crystal clear the water is at their community pool.

 

A Mule is a tasty, tasty beer brewed by Skookum Brewing. Mules are also what the owner of Skookum has in the barn near his house.

 

There's plenty of things that I don't want the pleasure of enjoying, like a bullet to the face, so that dood can take one for me.

 

Is this what we're calling carpooling nowadays?

 

I'm with the crowd that says if people wait in line like everyone else and buys the allotment, plays by the rules, then I'm cool with it.

 

I suppose in the most literal interpretation of a bottle limit, you're correct. But that strikes me as somewhat of a semantic game. You're differentiating between "person" and "beer drinker" within the context of purchasing bottles of beer, presumably for drinking. That strikes me as a tiny bit disingenuous.

Also, there isn't much functional difference between going back through the line with a fake mustache and standing in line with someone who will hand "their" bottles over to you as soon as you leave the line. In both cases, *you* are taking home 4 bottles (instead of the vendor's limit of 2) and *you* will determine how those bottles are used.

Don't get me wrong. I realize there is a difference between the guy who brings 10 beer-indifferent friends and will then use those 20 bottles to spread the wealth around the country to people who couldn't access those beers otherwise and the guy who brings 10 beer-indifferent friends for the purposes of reselling at ridiculous prices or having tons of rare trade ammo so that he can get a bunch of highly sought-after beers for himself.

I have been the beneficiary of the former situation (someone sending a beer that I couldn't access otherwise), so I realize that not all attempts to get more beers than the allotment are for selfish reasons. However, I tend to focus on how easy it is to exploit (over the potential benefits) because I see more potential harm from people using mules to get 20 bottles instead of 10, whereas the harm of sticking to bottle limits is much less, in my eyes. Allowing mules hurts those dedicated beer enthusiasts that put in the time and work to go to a bottle release and then end up SOL because they didn't get there before the guy with his 10 friends. Disallowing mules only hurts those who ultimately can't access a beer because of geography, and while that can be very frustrating, 1) the person who is missing out didn't have to go stand in line before realizing they wouldn't get any of X beer, and 2) if someone is *really* keen on getting a particular beer, they can always trade with someone who is willing to give up one of their allotted bottles.

 

Get it at Binny's!