Does anyone trade non-whales anymore?

I completely agree with you man. I haven't been trading on here very long, but all I see are the same whales iso:ft over and over again. It's frustrating because there are so many great brews out there if you truly do love beer. I think some people view trading and drinking beer as some sort of sport or something. I would love to try the hard to find stuff as much as the next man, but that's not all this hobby is about for me. My favorite trades have been locals for locals, but they rarely happen anymore.

 

Great post, I've been noticing a very similar trend. I tend to post less and less on the FT forum, mainly because of regular traders. I've acquired some really great trading buddies over the years. They look out for me, and I look out for them when certain releases come out. I'm fortunate to live in a good distribution area as well, that has helped.

4. Regular trading buddies. I have breweries I really like and tend to stick with them. My semi regular traders are awesome, and I find I rarely have to post unless it is for a big bottle. I just posted recently about Aslin, and Heist (a few breweries I haven't had anything from). Both trades were great, and both traders said, "if there's anything you need from the area, hit me up. I'll try to make it happen." Again, some people on here are awesome!

 

I love trying new beers and if anyone wanted to do regulars for regulars i would do it no problem.

 

#1 is exactly where I am at. 3 years or so ago there were no good local IPA options so I traded for West Coast beer. Now the NYC scene has exploded, I get 99% of my IPAs right from brewery.

 

Yep. Last year I had a handful of trades offering out hop juju, nugget nectar, and sms. This year, despite multuple attempts there was zero interest in my relatively low tier trade offerings.

 

I've usually responded to these threads saying that you can still get normal stuff, but lately it's just become absurd. It's basically to where if you don't have something from Bottle Logic or J. Wakefield anchoring, you might as well not even bother. Seems to be way more about upgrading your bottles than trying the beer at this point.

As folks have mentioned before, a non-whale trading forum would be a nice change, but I don't know how you determine what's allowed and what's not.

 

I have to admit that at first I thought a "non-whale" trading forum was unnecessary but the more that I look at the trade forums the last few weeks (which is close to everyday) I really do think that it is needed. The ISO:FT thread is just the same thing every single day - nothing but whales and brewery only releases comprise 90% of the posts. It's exhausting looking through all of the posts for more realistic trades. I'm also not a huge fan of a lot of the traders that I have conversed with recently looking for these "whales." I even had one guy tell me that his "Focal cans go for $40 each" - good luck with that my friend. I feel like the people looking for easily acquired beers are much more pleasant to deal with than the "whale hunters" as a whole. I'm just sick of dealing with people that are constantly trying to "win" trades and suck every ounce of value out of the beers they have. I would love to be able to go to a trade forum where these individuals didn't have such a huge presence. I don't think that it really needs much enforcing if it was ever implemented. If someone happens to put up a trade that should likely be in the "whales" forum then so be it. As long as those posts don't take over then I don't see it as a big deal. It should just be made so that you can only post in one of the two trade forums every 24 hours only so that you don't have people double posting.

I do agree with the OP's first point as well though. Most places have such a decent selection of beers locally that trading likely isn't as necessary as it may have been in the past.

 

I feel like instead of making a fine line, the distinction between "whale" and "non-whale" should be a little more fluid. All the posts now are clearly for rare beers (VR, Bottle Logic, TG stouts, etc). Most people that spend any time trading know what beers are considered whales *for the most part.* I just mean that there is no need to go around reporting people for possibly posting in the wrong forum. A simple message to people would help: "Hey, you might have better luck tracking down (blank) beer in the "whale" trade forum." As long as individuals aren't repeatedly abusing the "non-whale" forum I don't really mind an inappropriate post every so often. Everyone's opinion will be different so it is impossible to draw a hard line in sand over what qualifies. However, there will definitely be a general consensus on what qualifies I think. I believe this would be especially minimal if you could only post in one of the two forums every 24 hours. That way you kind of have to think before you post if the beer that you are searching for would be hard enough to come by to be "whale" status.

 

I'm sure it's not happening anytime soon. I just really agreed with your initial post as I have been feeling the same recently. While I do think that a "non-whale" trading forum would be nice as well as solve some of your (our) frustrations, I am definitely going of on a bit of a tangent at this point. We can always hope for that other trade forum though.

 

Where does this leave someone like me who wants to get into trading, isn't really looking to trade for whales and certainly doesn't have access to whales to trade, but who just wants to share some good beer and try some new stuff?

As you guys have said, the iso:ft forum seems flooded with people looking to trade for beers I couldn't hope to have access to

 

I still see locals for locals posts on the forums occasionally. Lots of big beers in the forum, but still people looking to share their favorite local options. The issue discussed in this thread can't start to fix itself if people are intimidated and don't post.

That being said, I am in the above #4 option. I have a bunch of regular trade partners and I take part in a large BIF and a few fantasy sport BIF's. The BA's I meet in these groups turn into trade partners. I have not needed to post and ISO or reply to a FT in a while.

Its hard to get started, but worth the effort, at least in my opinion. Good Luck! Also, it doesn't hurt to ask. If there is something in the forum that you are interested in, and they don't specifically say something like "not looking for other offers" shoot them a message.

 

Thanks! I will be persistent then and keep an eye on the forum regularly

 

My suggestion would be to act! Put out a "Locals for locals" trade on the forum.

A fun trade I've done in the past is to set up a trade with a specific dollar parameter: like $40 of my local beer for $40 of your local beer. I like surprises, so these trades are always fun, & can get you started in trading without having to rent mules or stand in lines for days.

 

They are all kind of different. I do the NBS BIF. Pretty simple, everyone is assigned a target to send beer and some swag to. You try to send new beers or wants so they can post them in New Beer Sunday. There is a Hints and Hauls thread where everyone leaves hints about who their target is, and what they are sending. Everyone then posts their hauls in the thread and goes on NBS on the "reveal" day. Today happens to be a reveal day. You can check out the hints and hauls thread in the BIF forum to get an idea of how it works.

Feel free to shoot me a message if you want more info.

 

Everyone does it at once. The targets are all sent on one day and there is a planned "arrive by date" so everyone can share on NBS on reveal day.