Does anyone trade non-whales anymore?

We could also start a sister thread asking "does anyone actually trade these whales?" It seems like soooo many of these threads we are wading through that contributes to OP's point, contains the usual suspects (kbbs/VR/sr-71, etc, etc) that don't have a prayer of getting closed.

Sure, it happens & there are a few times these beers are changing hands, but the amount of "I'll give this a shot" obligatory-include-whales in my ISO thread percentage far exceeds reality.

 

As long as we are all here sharing the same lament, I'll open it up. North Carolina guy, Charlotte particularly. Long trading history. Love locals for locals. Message me!

 

I also like going the locals for locals route. Usually I set up trades that involve at least a couple wants and then make the rest a surprise (on both ends). I'm fine with concrete trades, but with locals for locals, it isn't as necessary.

 

If a new trade forum isn't in the cards, we could possibly compile a list of individuals that like doing the local for local trade. While you might get spammed a little more, I don't really have a problem saying no when I'm not up for a trade if it helps me make easier trades in the future.

 

so yesterday I literally threw a Locals for Locals headline in the trade forum and I got 5 people messaging me, I am doing trades with the first 2 and when the beer budget gets more funds I will hit up the other 3. I think it you throw it out there, you might find like minded individuals.

 

And you'd better get back to me too! These bottles of Rye-Barrel Chocolate Porter need a loving home!

 

I'm not as annoyed by whale for whale trading, it's the shelfie for whale attempts that bother me. I've had too many trade discussions go south recently when it became very apparent that I wouldn't be sending a rare bottle for someone's local favorite brew.

 

If you don't live somewhere where you can get the whales, trading is more difficult. I don't check the forum very often because I just can't get the ISO's that people want to trade for. Even 2 years ago, I don't recall every FT:ISO being something rare.
I enjoy regular, scheduled trades for local stuff a lot though. Every 6 months, a buddy and I send each other a box of locals without any promises of what we'll send. It ends up being whatever regional and local stuff we think is good or particularly unique and neither of us have been disappointed yet. And since we're always collecting for the next box, occasionally we find a jewel we wouldn't have looked at normally.

 

I'm happy to report that I posted a local for local solicitation in the trade forum earlier this week on a whim, and was so buried in responses I had to tell some people we'd try in a month or two.

 

When I trade, and it hasn't been often, I do so because I want to drink beers that I can't get here. Do I want whales when I trade? No. I just want the more basic stuff, and am willing to expose my trading partner to the basic stuff from Minnesota (and Wisconsin when I smuggle back beers).

 

New trader

 

Well this was a great post in that it shed light on a population of beer enthusiast that just want to try beer from other areas of the country. The big boy posts trading for all of the whales has been something I have participated in two or three times to dump whales to get multiple great to good beers (I. e. like my recent trade of ba german chocolate stout). I find the acronyms and cryptic lingo for the names of these beers laughable and the stock placed into these beers outrageous. It's beer for goodness sakes. That being said I would like to develop a beer trading relationship with an individual from North Carolina and Wisconsin. I have access to a highly regarded beer store - State line in Maryland and beers from Maryland, PA, Delaware and New Jersey; breweries like Forest and main, tired hands, neshimany, 2 stones brewing, stillwater, kane, pizza boy, old dominion and Mispillion in delaware. PM if interested.

 

Gotta agree with this on so many levels. Last week double daisy cutter hit my local distro and the day it came in the cans were a day or two shy of a month old. Having so many great hoppy beers at my fingertips these days...a month old is REALLY old and because I regularly get such great fresh stuff, I've experienced first hand the hop fall off that happens for most beers at about the month mark, so why get things that old when in a day or two other half or sand city or LIC or finback or one of a dozen other localish breweries will drop something great on us.

Plus distro is so good these days and there is so much beer getting released every second that now-a-days, I'm more than happy getting a single can or 12oz bottle of something vs a 6'er. It is impossible to keep up with all of the interesting new things that hit distro that I'd like to check out and with all those fresh IPAs in my hands within a day or two of canning...why trade for anything that you aren't eager to try.

All of that also means that if you want to trade for the stuff that I can get ahold of, you need to catch my interest...and that's true for a lot of people with access to much of what is wanted and as such, everything these days is considered a "whale" - but find a few good trade partners and its no problem. It's also way easy to set up a goandpickitupformebro (which might be preferable to someone who doesn't want to take on the cost of the trade for some beer they are not actively looking for) or light trade for something if I just want to check out some locals.

If you really want to just do a locals for locals swap, just post it and you'll get replies, but if you are looking to do a locals for locals with someone who lives near treehouse or hill farm or something like that, you'll have to entice them to take on the cost of the trade.

...and let's not forget that the trading culture is very much driven by the tasting culture and at bottle shares, people aren't looking to open locals.

 

These two answers make it more than clear that many Local for Local trades do happen. Maybe instead of looking for them, post them.

 

I totally agree it has become more like commodity traders discussing pork belly futures than folks trading beer they can get for beer they can't get but would love to enjoy. But it is still possible to do locals for locals. Pretty much all I ever did.

My ISO's were usually: FT my fresh, local small batch hop masterpieces ISO your fresh, local, small batch hop masterpieces. Last one I did was to get get-well beers for a friend recovering from cancer about a year ago and got more than enough responses, and ended up getting him some great beers..

 

I tend to trade nowadays by looking at beers I'm interested in, and checking who has them on their Gots or FT lists. Particularly if you see that either i) the person's FT list has a good number of non-whales on it, ii) you recognize their name as a frequent forum poster, or iii) they have a large number of trades under their belt, send them a private message and see if they'd be interested in some local one-offs or seasonals from your area (doesn't have to be brewery-release-only one-offs, just looking for something they probably haven't tried before on that front). Even better, check their Wants and see if they have anything listed you can get your hands on. If you don't have any trade feedback thus far, start by proposing something small and offering to ship first.

That process takes a bit more active work, but I still find it generally more efficient than scanning or searching the ISO/FT forum.

 

I think what you are experiencing might be the fact that the rest of the country not only caught up w California, but in a lot ways surpassed the quality and flavor of what used to be west coast gold. Things have changed in a big way. One of my first trades was OG bourbon county vanilla for 2 or 3 bottles of Pliny...now when I see an open Pliny I usually pass to save the ABVs for other stuff. Alpine used to get me excited, but now it collects dust on my local shelves...

 

Your discounting the fact that there are other California beers that are trade gold: Monkish, Bottle Logic
Anything Russian River still has trade value. 3 Plinys may not get you a semi whale but they will get a lot.