MA beer in the trading world

I've bought a lot of BCBS in my travels, and traded multiples for some nicer bottler (Abyss, Parabola). In turn I have traded some of those for harder to find stuff (BCBSC Coffee, Cherry).

I've had some great BA's be very generous, like trading me Black Note for BA Framinghammer.

I've bought Cantillons in my travels as well, and met a visiting BA from Europe who traded me a bunch of Cantillon for relatively easy stuff to find here

I traded something like 16 Heady Topper for 2 Dark Lords.

So, I don't have any real whales, but between limited stuff from around here and there I've been able to get a bunch of really highly rated stuff, basically almost all of the top 25 or so beers on this site. at this point I could trade for basically any high quality beer I wanted - the stuff I wouldn't be able to get is the super rare stuff. But just b/c it's rare doesn't mean it's amazing it just means it's hard to trade for. I'm ok with missing out on lots of this

 

I am from MA and have been in CA since march. Please name 4 beers made in MA and produced on a semi-regular basis (say annual for arguments sake) you consider to be 'trade worthy' and what they would conservatively warrant in a trade.

I know you can sense my pessimism. I just don't see that much great (and that is great not good) beer being made in mass RELATIVE to other states or areas. There is a shittun of pretty good beer being made in MA. But anyone who has traded for a while knows that trading beer is expensive and trading for good beer is not usually worth it financially when one has local access to good beer already.

 

Julius will trade for good stuff. But I get your point although there is some great stuff being made in MA now the best bottled stuff would trade for other quality locals.

 

I think you lost everyone with Greenhead IPA.

 

I would say Wachusett Larry is an excellent DIPA, Wormtown Hopulence and Be Hoppy are tip top too. JA normal Framinghammer is excellent, BA version is a step up. I think Newburyports Pale is their best beer. All the beers I listed should be way more worthy of trades then they usually are. Not sure why Mass beers get no trade love

 

My advice is to get whatever "rare" beer MA releases. Jack's Abby does the BA Framminghammer, Night Shift has their club beers, Cantillon makes it to shelves, etc. MA lacks hype, which is fine for me, but not awesome for the active trader.

You can trade the normal stuff too, but if you are trying to "trade up" it might be a bit harder.

 

From past experience just drink what you like, make a trip to vt for great beer to drink and trade some. You'd be amazed how quickly you can amass a nice cellar.

 

the larger point is that you don't need MA locals to trade for great stuff. guys in California don't get Founders for instance, and plenty of people there will trade great Russian River stuff for a MA shelf beer like FBS. and great Russian River stuff will trade for all kinds of things. if you go down to NYC ever, BCBS is plentiful and that will trade in quantities for all kinds of stuff. Parabola comes here and that will trade for good stuff. random stuff like Odio Equum showed up here recently and I was able to trade that for Darkness and vintage Abyss.

will any of the above get you mega-whales? no. but it will get you the best beer in the world. for me that's enough.

 

no. though the most of the founders we get isn't really sought after. but people will trade for FBS and if you can get KBS here that trades very, very easily.

 

When it was still on the shelves at a lot of places I used to buy and trade Pechish Woods from Cisco, or their other Woods beers. I probably traded 15 bottles of Pechish alone. Every time I posted an ISO offering Pechish, I got the trade done within 10 minutes of posting. Woods beers are pretty scare now but more are coming early next year,

MA is not the most desirable state when it comes to trading but, we do get a lot of great beer through distribution. The only thing I go out of my way for is Coolships, which I don't even drive there for. I just send my friend, who lives 5 minutes away from Allagash a two or four bottle shipper with some money + tip and he goes for me and sends them back.

 

I think the situation in MA could be said to be the situation of a lot of states. There is a lot of very good beer produced in the state, but not a lot that has the combination of quality, style, and rarity that is going to gain the attention of traders. Most of the trading I see on the board (which is probably different than trading going on between established partners) involves only a few breweries and the current hot release. MA doesn't really have either one of them so there is never any release that will light up the board. But the vast majority of states and locations don't have it either. For example, a lot of locals were talking up Toppling Goliath for years but their stuff didn't get much trading attention until they released a few very big beers in very small numbers. Jack's Abby might have had the same thing with BA Framminghammer, but - God bless them - they made so much of it that it wasn't something folks would have to work hard to trade for. Plus, it was a Porter and not a Stout so that made it less appealing.

As folks have said, there are a lot worse states in terms of distribution and there are plenty of high value beers available in MA that will command other high value beers. That's good enough for me.

 

The less the value of things like Ever Weisse and BA Framminghammer have in the trading community, the more easily accessible they are to us on a regular basis. I take that trade any day of the week, especially considering the distribution that comes to MA.

 

I'd be happy if my state had the local beer that MA has.

Count your blessings.

 

I am originally from MA and there are some really solid local beers available, but none with the weight to get you any heavy hitters. Trading doesn't have to be about getting only rare beers.

 

Ever Weisse trades very, very well.

 

Maybe but I have been given them away for locals, I have sent at least 20 bottles out so far.