I've got a trip planned to VT for the weekend of 5/1 and then am going to be in LA for work the week of 5/11. I'm wondering whether it's feasible to pick up some additional Hill Farmstead growlers to arrange for IP trades while I'm out in LA (hooking some west coast posters up with relatively fresh HF pale ales in exchange for some west coast beers that I won't have time on my trip to track down), and have a couple questions... 1. Should I post my trade thread prior to or after my HF trip? If I tried to arrange a trade partner prior to my trip, it'd have to loosely be based on whatever the current "On Draft" and "On Deck" lists are showing, and even that might be a guessing game, requiring some additional understanding on behalf of the trade partner. If I waited till after my trip to arrange a trade, then I'd have to buy extra growlers without knowing that I'd find someone interested in them (also knowing that the CA traders don't seem to participate in the IP trading forum that much). It would suck to buy a few additional growlers that are just gathering dust in my fridge while I'm out of town for a week if I weren't able to line up trades. 2. I've done a lot of searching on the shelf life of swingtop growlers, I've seen that HF staff recommend the growlers be drank within a week, while most everyone's personal experience is that their unopened growlers are good for a few weeks... Is a 10 day old growler fresh enough to trade? Apologies if this isn't the right place to post this question, I thought about posting it in the Pacific forum but thought it might be looked upon as fishing.
I've drank hf growlers after a month and they are still tasty as heck. As long as you don't expose them to extreme heat, and you pack them well for the flight west you should be fine. I have traded growlers less than a month old previously and never had an issue. I can imagine you will make a bunch of Californians very happy in about a months time. Hopefully they return the favor.
Well Mr. Hill (any relation?), I do not think you'll have any problem finding a home for any HF growlers you bring out to CA. Agreed that we Californians aren't as active as other regions in IP trades, but they do happen. And the mention of Hill Farmstead will perk ears. As for your strategy, I recommend waiting until the Mon/Tues before your trip to the Hill to see what will be on draft and then post an IP ISO/FT to get a pre-trade coordinated. I'm in NorCal else I'd set up a pre-trade. But if you get stuck and need help finding someone in LA, I know many people down there that would be interested.
When you are at Hill Farmstead buy as many growlers as you can. Could be as few as 5 but if you are lucky and hit the line right it could be many more. You will not have any difficulty trading them, but ever better, drink them, they are better than most anything you will trade for anyway...
I agree that 10 days HF growlers are still good, but I feel that DIPA tend to last/hold better than their pale ales. Make sure the swing top is on properly, i.e, not tilted/lop-sided. Use electrical tape to tape the swing arms to help tighten the cap further and prevent the arms from popping out during the trip to CA. Good luck!
It will hurt to be on a work trip for a week while those growlers (and whatever other fresh hoppy VT beers I pick up on this trip) are just sitting there in my fridge back home. Between what the limits allow my wife and I to get, we'll still have plenty of growlers to drink after bringing back a couple for friends and to trade on this trip. Thinking more on the 10-day thing, it's not much different to fly out after a week than to ship them out by ground to someone within a few days, and I see regular trades for them, so yeah, I hope I'll find some takers.
For what it's worth, I've had 1-2 month old Hill Farmstead growlers that tasted great and still had complete carbonation in tact. They have all been swing-tops so that might have helped them last longer.
^^ yup, this 1+ month old HF growlers have never given me issues at all, as long as they're refrigerated of course
Anyone have ideas about trade value/completed trades for HF growlers? I have someone asking for me to ship 2-3 after my next trip through the line, and we haven't really discussed what he's offering. I'm in the 'better than most anything you will trade for anyway' camp as well. Any input welcomed.
I've traded plenty of HF growlers before, I tend to stick close to $$$ but I make sure the $$$ coming back to me is limited beer (i.e. traded a 750 of Abner for 1 bottle of King Sue+) I've also used HF growlers in package deals to land some pretty well-desired beer (i.e. Rare, King Henry, etc.)
