blind trade

This sounds fun. I'd be interested in doing this.

 

I'd imagine if you set some parameters, such as BA Score( as all beers are above a 4.0) and $$$ wise ,it would insure some safety. I'd suspect it would turn out pretty fun.

 

I've done $4$ boxes, some have been awesome with beers that I would've had to trade my cellar for, and others were obviously thrown together with no real care to them. It is a crap shoot sometimes but that won't stop me from doing them again.

 

Set some general guidelines first. I've done a few trades where I said "I'll send you a box of stuff I think you'll like, and you just send back what you think is fair based on what I send." A few turned out well, and I got burned pretty badly on a few (people sending shelf singles when I sent a whole box of brewery-only bombers, etc.). With some general, agreed upon guidelines, this can be a lot of fun.

 

I've done and do loose blind boxes too, but these are all guys I've been working with for years.

 

It'd be funny if you guys sent each other the same beers

 

I typically set up this type of trade with my regular partners. Set a price, bottle rating limit and go to town. I've had some great luck and had some amazing beers I wouldn't have sought out otherwise. I would recommend it to anyone.

 

I've been thinking about doing this too. Every time I look at tmy three bottle shipper I try to think of a fun trade idea.

 

I have two trading partners who I do blind trades with and there have yet to be any let downs. We started just trading for local stuff, getting a sense of what the other has access to, and then upped it from there. We'll toss in something rare or a brewery only release when we can. I find it much more enjoyable to get a box that you might not know all the contents than one you do.

 

I almost always ask for a blind return on my trades. It makes it more fun for me. After the initial conversation for a couple bottles I usually just ask my partner to make up the difference with beers from their state that aren't hoppy.

Blind both ways would be fun, but with my soft distro I don't want to disappoint in anyway.

 

I have completed several trades where I told my trade partner to surprise me with whatever they want to send. They have probably been my favorite trades, and solid BAs won't disappoint.

 

I've done this before with some criteria like some others have mentioned here. The two times I posted for it I think the criteria was something like 6 beers total, at least 1 brewery only release, at least 1 barrel aged, and scored a 85 or above. It worked out great both times I did it.

 

this

I do blind boxes with my go-to guys all the time, though as we work toward filling a set # of beers, some of the surprise goes away when we text each other back & forth with "hey I picked you up one of these, you want?" I've never not gotten a phenomenal box (and I think my buds would say the same)

 

All the time. But, they are always with people I have traded before with. Most of them started with specific trades, and now it has just turned into shipping a box back and forth with nothing more than messages with tracking numbers. I am good with this and I trust them to send good stuff. I actually prefer it. But, then again, I stopped whale hunting and just started enjoying the beer.

 

I asked for some specific brews from CA from a trader, and he wanted a mystery box of IPAs and AWAs from MI, so I crushed him with a 30 lb box because I just thought it was so fun. I feel that if you state your preference of brews, this is a fun way of trading with someone. Next time I'll be asking him to ship a mystery box.

 

I know you haven't been all that active lately in The Locals and just popped back into the thread, but we do this kind of stuff all the time

 

Looks like @treznor beat me to it, but nearly all of my trades involve some version of this, most of them through The Locals or another BIF thread.

Be careful requiring the beers be BA too, you might miss out on something truly great and end up with something less impressive that way Exhibit A: Marshall Zhukov (though I could list a hundred others)

This is definitely a risk you take, I've been burned too though I doubt maliciously; in my experience this is far outweighed by the good.

 

I love doing blind boxes like that! Every experience I have had was great, just compare distros and be in good contact.