BeerAdvocate Generosity Stories

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not sure if he wants to be called out or not, but after i posted a buzzed rant about two failed Darkness trades, @stealth sent me one! We were not established trading partners, he didnt know me at all. What a great thing. I'm trying to pay that forward and hook someone else up with something I have and they want, no pre-conditions.

 

The beer I sent was unsolicited. And what that looks like is extreme,you'll be more than covered w your wants my friend.

 

A thread that I wrote back in January (original post here):

Here's the story. I posted an ISO a few weeks back for a fresh growler of Alpine Bad Boy. I got a couple of responses and fortunately was able to work out a deal with @akang (Albert). We both agreed to send our boxes a few days later and include some extras. Both boxes arrived as expected and intact. Bad Boy has been on my Wants list for some time now and I was super excited to finally get to try it. So I decided to bring it to a family Christmas party and share it with my dad and anyone else who wanted to try it. My wife and I were loading up the car and she happened to pick up the growler. (I'm sure you can tell where this is going.) All of a sudden I heard a loud crash, followed by the sound of beer fizzing and flowing all over the concrete. I didn't see what had broken at first, and I was silently praying that it wasn't the growler. But as soon as I smelled the delicious hops (before I even saw the broken glass everywhere) I knew right then what it was. Bad Boy. Gone. I thought to myself, this is exactly how the old man in A Christmas Story must have felt after Ralphie's mom knocked his prized leg lamp over. I was seriously tempted to get on all fours and start lapping up the beer.

Subsequently, I sent Albert a follow up BM to let him know that his box arrived safely (at least through delivery) and thank him for the trade and great extras. I also had to tell him the devastating news and I mentioned that perhaps we could set up another trade the next time Bad Boy became available. So now we finally arrive at the point of my post. The next day he responded with this:

"I saw your BM this morning and felt really bad. I'm glad you like the extras, but they're definitely not the main attraction. This batch of Bad Boy was phenomenal so I ended up actually getting another growler fill on Tuesday (12/17) before they ran out. I was planning on opening it over the holidays, but I've had more than my fair share of it over the last couple batches. As such, I just packed it up and shipped it off to you."

I must say, I've been very lucky to have met and traded with many amazing and generous BAs, but never have I encountered such unsolicited generosity as I did with Albert. His new shipment arrived promptly and extremely well packed (like the first box), and the man even sent me ANOTHER amazing extra along with the second growler. Needless to say, Bad Boy was PHENOMENAL and I couldn't be more thankful. He will be receiving a thank you box of some nice bottles from my cellar.

Albert - you are the man, and deserving of infinite beer karma in my eyes. Cheers to you!

 

None of my friends are into the craft scene as much was I am. One of my friends was taking a trip to Portland so I jokingly sent him a text telling him to find me some RR. Although it wasn't a lot he went out of his way to bring me back a bottle of Temptation so I could finally try some RR. Also, a couple years ago my inlaws were traveling west and they know I love beer. Told me to make them a list of beer I would like that can't get in Ohio and they would do their best. Brought some bottles of 120 min and Firestone Walker for me!

 

I have to mention @MonRoRo in this one. I'd arranged to send some beers to him from the UK, some personal stuff happened and I was seriously late sending them. He was very patient and supportive and I managed to get it to him in the end. I think he's definitely due something soon for being so patient!

 

I meant an unsolicited gift of course lol. But yeah,I'll be gathering some great stuff to go along w the planned beers,also im on the phone now getting help to haul that in,too kind

 

It was everything I hoped it would be. Absolutely delicious. I've been pining for more ever since.
Thank you so much!

 

@Savearth sent me a can of Heady even though we were unable to work out a trade. Very generous to someone who was relatively new to the site and had never tried it before.

 

ShroudOfDoom and Beer Tunes hooked me up, big time.

Along with the bomber of Oak Horizontal we'd agreed on, ShroudOfDoom sent me as extras a half-dozen or so great beers that are not remotely available in my neck of the woods.

Beer Tunes shipped me three beers from his area just to be generous. I'm still trying to figure out a way to repay him.

 

Typically get an extra here and there in trades! Very cool.

 

I had a fellow ba mule some beers back from an avery release, and met up with him at old Chicago. He brought a friend with him who was also a ba. She was leaving for new York, I mentioned, we all talked beer. I paid BA #1 amd gave him a BBA old ruffian for his trouble and paid for lunch. Flash forward a few months and BA 1 says "hey, I have a package from BA#2 sitting here for you". Fresh heady and flower power. Why? Just because BA's are cool like that.
Also did some work on BA#1's truck, I asked for a sixer of jai alai and sculpin. I got founders, bells, black beerd, and some other delicousness instead. Too rad.

*names have been withheld to prevent trade hounding.

 

@taxman shared a King Henry with me just because I never tried some and lived nearby. Also gave me my first and so far only pour of Utopias!

 

here's a BA generosity story i've been reticent to share, lest he get hounded by eager clown shoes fans:

i used to bash clown shoes quite a bit, having been disappointed by a few of their beers and annoyed by their labels / names (not because i thought they were ugly, but because i thought they were sexist and bro-catering).

apparently, @ClownShoesDreams , gregg berman, owner of clown shoes, noticed this bashing, particularly the cringe inducing stuff about being embarrassed to send clown shoes as extras. he didn't contact me or start flamewars or anything like that though.

later, i tried clown shoes clementine at a bar and was like, "holy shit, this is the best american witbier i've ever had." then i tried hammer of the holy, because why not, i love rum barrel aged beers, love smoked beers, loved smoked stouts... and it was really fantastic. then i tried luchador en fuego and thought it was mindblowing. i've had a lot of barrel aged beer, and these were expertly put together, just like the restrained perfection of clementine.

so, i posted some praise somewhere on BA, and @ClownShoesDreams saw it (was probably in one of the beer release threads where he or other clown shoes employees meticulously answer questions and help people find their beer). he sent me a private message thanking me for not giving up on his brewery. still blown away by the last few clown shoes beers i'd tried, i sent back some effusive praise, and mentioned that i hoped to find some fresh galactica some time so i could try it (if i give a beer a shot, i want to try it at its best).

he wrote back that he'd love for me to try fresh galactica, and got my address so he could send me some next time they brew it. fast forward to when this happened, and he sent:

week old galactica (which was excellent, probably better than fresh dirtwolf)
2week old space cake (also excellent)
very angry beast (unbelievably good, honestly better than majority of brewery only BBA beers i've had, on par with good bottles of BCBS)
sierra nevada 30th anniversary fritz and ken's stout (was my favorite in the 30th anniversary series)
alaskan smoked porter (a classic i'd never tried!)

you could be cynical and say he's just being a good businessman, but i think he genuinely cares about his brewery and beer advocacy in general. i was already raving to anyone who would listen that clown shoes was what's up these days--so if he was trying to buy something, it was something he already had. the beer itself tells of how much care they put into it, and in the end i think they're just doing good things in the vein of sierra nevada and such. i hope they have as much success as them as well.

so, there's my beer generosity story. have others from beer traders, but i've written a lot so time to hit post.

 

You guys rock also! If I had not talked to @Droopy487 I would have never been turned on to trading. He was my first few trades and really taught me the ropes. Last shipment he sent me Focal, Crusher, and Pseudo. Talk about sharing the love! I try my best to reciprocate, but it can be hard giving my distro. I love trading, because it adds so much variety to what I drink. Whale hunting is great and fun, but I just love trading good local beer for other local beer not local to me. @Justdoit1234 has been a great trading partner as well. I mean who just send a '13 Darkness just because they believe in beer karma? I have really found that trading with a few regulars is more fun than searching the FT section and trying to "win". It is so much more fun to learn what someone likes and send them mystery boxes every month hoping you crushed it and they love the beers!

Big shout out to the following as well: @mackeyse , sent my first ever BCBS and we exchange boxes monthly and it is always quality. @schoellnasty , always brings the CCB goodness and still the most generous extras I have gotten. @DTRoman , sharing the love with FFF brews and great to work with. And one of my most recent trades was with @Bunuelian , ridiculous quality and quantity and great communication and conversation during the trading process.

 

Cool thread. This is a group of some pretty good shits.

 

How about guys like @JackHorzempa mentioning my generosity when he himself has been so giving with his own beers and his extensive beer knowledge? How about the many customers who shared their Heady Topper? How about the guy who brings in Utopias to a store event and gives twenty plus guys he has never met before generous pours. When he was asked why he simply stated "What good is it if I can't share it with people?" How about the BA forums....the great info, the great links, the great opportunities for discussions profound and inane?

 

At the first Alchemist truck drop, a really nice guy I was sharing brews with told me that I needed to try Toppling Goliath beers from his home town called Decorah. I soon offered for PSue and Sosus a couple times online to no avail, and really thought nothing of it- Vermont trip and residuals were treating me good.

About a month later my girlfriend and I went to EBF the same week we returned from Russian River. I was intent on trying this Toppling stuff. To my suprise, despite reports of insane lines for TG at session 1 and 2, hype was less intense during session three and we got to try many, many samples of their great beer and talk to Mike and Clark. The beers were mindblowing and the following week my good buddy @blckout20 got a couple more TG's in the mail which were equally exceptional. I had to have more of this stuff.

I put up a thread looking for some midwest hop juice. I got a response from @DigitalNate, saying that the TG guys had left the TH gang with some awesome beers when they had brewed a collaboration the weekend of EBF. He also said he would be so kind as to pass some along to me. What a guy! Johnny and Dean from TreeHouse also had passed my girlfriend and I multiple samples of different beers at EBF that we didn't have to wait on line for. We were convinced, Tree House Brewing is good people.

 

@bushdcm responded to a thread that I posted about trade value of various Top250 stouts. Asked for my address because he had several beers on the list. Did not want to trade, just sent me a 6 bottle shipper of great beer. I plan to repay the favor this month, but it was my first experience with beer karma and true generosity on this site. It was amazing. This is what he sent

 

I'm new to trading, and recently posted my first ISO:FT post asking for some fresh Heady (which I've never had) to celebrate the birth of my second child happening later this month. A BA, who shall remain nameless just because I don't know if he wants the attention, sent me his last 2 cans of Heady asking for nothing in return (and not even accepting my offers.) Cheers to you!