Received Infected Beer In Trade

I think trading for infected beers is a buyer beware situation as far as ultimate liability, but I also think it reflects poorly on anyone who would knowingly seek to trade such a beer. It's hard to know when that is the case, however. The trader may have been equally oblivious as you were to the issue.

 

I agree with rightcoast. I usual try to have an idea of what I am trading for. I would reach out to your trade partner. If it was me I would want to try to make up for it. Maybe in the next trade throw an extra bottle in.

 

@rightcoast7 is correct & I'd add that it's a matter of intent by the other trader. If the person clearly knew the beer was infected (if it's highly local or there have been widespread reports), I'd go back & talk to the trader in question. If it was something that couldn't have been foreseen, or if there are only a handful of reports of issues, that's a much greyer area & I'd leave it alone.

I've received several infected beers over the years & never gone back to my trade partner, even when I realized (like you) that the guy probably knew he was trading me crap. What you do is obviously up to you, but I usually assume good intentions on the other end & chalk it up to a "that sucked" & move along.

 

What is the beer?

 

Yeah that one was a hot mess.

You can also reach out to Modern Times and let them know you had an infected bottle. I can't say for sure they'll do anything but certain breweries will often work to make things right.

 

In the trade thread for this beer, did you create thread with ISO or did trading partner create thread with FT?

 

Tough to say here imo. I had a couple bottles that tasted just fine(no bad bottles), the trader in question could have as well.

 

All good responses.

I would personally let my trade partner know the beer was infected. Not everyone follows up on every piece of data, resource,etc to know the Ins-N-outs of every single beer they are trading.

We can all assume that most people don't maliscously send infected beers to their trade partners. With that in mind, it would be nice information to pass back to your trade partner, especially if they (your trade partner) have multiples they plan on trading to others down the road or just buying more to drink for themselves.

Or if it's an inexperienced or new trader, who never new that beers could get infected because they just got into craft beer.

 

I recently completed a small trade and 3/4 of mine recieved were junk.

-Oxidized consecration
-Very infected bbpt5
-Prairie bomb that tasted like green pepper and not much else

Trader has a good rep so wrote it off as bad luck.

 

I just happened to be reading this and I had a couple bottles of this that I drank shortly after it was released.

I have no idea who the other trader is, but in his defense, if I still had a bottle and decided to trade it, I probably would've had no idea that it was infected. I frequent the Pacific forum but not the Modern Times forum. Just saying, maybe he didn't know.

 

It recently came to light that one of this year's Resolute variants is infected (chocolate hazelnut). As soon as the reports started to roll in, the trade offers started popping up. The problem is, most of the discussion of these beers takes place in Facebook groups, and the trading takes place on here. Its a super shitty thing to do imo, and it makes me angry to see. One of the biggest negatives of disabling comments on trade posts is that it allows people to do this. I would say that everyone should always at least check Untappd ratings (since they get a lot more activity than reviews here) on every beer they're trading for, but a lot of people just don't even know its a risk.

If I recieved a beer that I later found out to be widely reported as infected, I would assume my trade partner knew, especially when its a small local release.

 

A month or so ago i sent as part of a trade a Bruery Melange 15. Now there is talk of an infection issue with that beer. I let him know what was up and said I could send him something else now or after he tried it, if it was bad. Turns out he already drank it and it was fine.

Someone who hears a beer may be infected and puts it up for trade before it becomes common knowledge deserves to get an std.

 

Or have a bucket of glitter dumped on their head. That'll probably last longer and do more damage to their social life.

 

So I'm glad I found this thread... I traded with a guy and we were discussing parameters of trade. He was offering 2014 Jackie O's and I mentioned how im not sure because of infection issues but thought it was 2011 he said I was correct that it was 2011 and that the infected ones ended up being very good.

So I'm 3 beers in of the 6 from this guy and Mr Castries, stone xocovezza charred, and ba rum oil of Aphrodite all infected.

I reached out to the guy to see if we could work out some type of gentlemen s agreement in good faith because it's odd that half the trade is infected.

Personally, I think he knew because he's 3 for 3 in infected beer. I traded for one that turned out to be infected previously but didn't make a stink bc like we discussed, buyer beware shit happens.

What do you guys think? Is there a reporting to beer advocate path to go too? If so, I hope it doesn't come to that.

 

It's a slippery slope argument in that where do we draw the line. I just opened a bottle of Sunday Morning Stout sent to me almost a year ago, and, yup, infected. I don't feel that I'm owed anything, and I'm certain that my trading partner had no clue that this bottle would gush out on me once I opened it.

Beyond that, if we allow the claim of infection to dictate whether or not someone owes us beer then what's to stop someone from simply saying that they are owed more beer or that a previous trade partner should now be labeled as a bad trader? I'm not saying that everyone would do this, but we do know that occasionally someone will take advantage of this sort of situation.

As I see it, we take a risk when we buy certain beer, we take a risk when we cellar certain beer, we take a risk when we trade certain beer, and we definitely take risk when we ship any beer. The Beer Advocate community can't be expected to police it all, and if we decide that post shipment infection discovery is now a violation then we need to start accounting for a lot of other stuff that potentially goes wrong.

 

^^^^^ Angerhaus has it right in my opinion. I've had a recent string of bad luck in that I've traded for three somewhat hard to get BA beers (but certainly not whales) that were infected. This thread got me thinking... so I informed two of the traders (the third is from a year or so ago) so if for nothing else, they could decide whether to sit on what they have left, if they have any left. I'm not looking for a replacement. There are inherent risks in trading for beer and short of somehow knowing the other trader knowingly sent you bad beer, I don't see how the other trader can or should be held accountable. That's a very slippery slope.