Finding sources for "impossible" beers

Trading can be fun, but I have beers on my "wish list" that I just want to get my hands on - without shopping and packing and shipping for trades.
I was thinking it'd be easier to shop BA "got" listings, and PM someone who has what I want and then make some sort of arrangement - they pack it and ship it, and I pay them an agreed-upon amount, like through Paypal or something.

Do any of you actually do stuff like that?

 

In my case all I did was ask my friends at my bottle shop to put away everything I needed in a box and he did, wasn't hard to find anything they wanted to trade at all.

 

My Beer Cellar has most everything, how much do you care to pay? It's very expensive, but if you have disposable cash why not?

 

I assume we are talking about beer that is typically more rare than just local shelf beers. The problem with your scenario is the trading scene is quite big, especially on BA. People who have rarer stuff in their gots, aren't going to want to just sell them to you for what they paid. The likely bought a few extras, either for personal consumption, or to trade for other similar beers they cant get in their area (kind of the point of this thread I guess). That is what most people do to acquire beers they want, but cant get locally....they trade.

Point is, unless it is someone you already have a great relationship with, I doubt you will get anywhere with your approach.

 

Absolutely correct...I can light also add establishing a relationship with a local, mom and pop beer store...a place that really cares about their customers. They might be able to special order, hold something for you, or at least notify you when a rare bird comes in. I know I send out an email blast to our customers when a rarity comes in before I put it out on the shelf. If they call me I'll hold it for them for a day or two.

 

You gotta be in with the beer guys. A few ways to do so:

1. If you are of patrician bloodline, have good looks, impeccable beer knowledge, and a massive dowry marry into their family.

2. Bribes.

3. "Relations"

4. Or any of the other reasonable ideas above

 

No!!!!!! lol ok there is legislation proposal to change it, my bad. I live in NJ so I don't have to worry about that. *SEAL

 

just trade. trying to find people to illicitly overpay is going to be even more time and effort.

if you really need to Ride The Rare, join a tasting group as well. trade with them (edit: by which i mean you and the group combine your powers to trade with other individuals or groups). shit, if you can't figure out how to do more than take money out of your wallet, join a tasting group and front the cash for people in it to buy trade bait.

 

Now wait-a-minute...
1. Most of the beer trading done "here" is "illicit" ("illicitly overpaying" doesn't make any sense) unless you have a license to ship beer.
2. "Overpaying," is a relative term. It is not implicit that anyone's going to pay more than something's worth to them.
3. I don't see how trading or joining tasting groups and having to travel and arranging trades through people who are still, relatively speaking, strangers, is easier than just asking someone online how much they want to ship a beer they already have .
4. "If you can't figure out how to do more than take money out of your wallet," seems you're characterizing people who don't want to trade beer-for-beer as stupid. When you buy beer from a beer store, you are trading money for beer. Isn't that just taking money out of your wallet? Online, taking money out of my wallet (i.e., a couple of mouse-clicks on Paypal) is a lot easier than shopping for beer in-person, buying packing materials, packing a box, arranging shipping, and assuming risk for illegally shipping alcoholic beverages.

 

So you want everyone to do the work for you? You want everyone else to assume the risk? Exactly how does this benefit anyone, except you? As I said in my initial response, people aren't going to just sell you beer they put effort in to procuring. Hell, it would even be one thing if you were willing to do the same for others, but when you say things like "a lot easier than shopping for beer in-person, buying packing materials, packing a box, arranging shipping, and assuming risk for illegally shipping alcoholic beverages" you surely have no interest in returning the favor to someone (which is pretty much what trading is).

Surely you can see how such statements are perceived?

 

boohoo all you want, but my answer was correct: it is simply easier to trade than to buy. not just cheaper, but less effort and less risk. all the more if you get a tasting group.

p.s. re: "sometimes i just want what i want without the hassle of trading," i'd like to be fluent in french again without the hassle of putting in effort. guess what?

 

They'd benefit by getting paid.

When did I say I wouldn't be willing to do it for someone else?
I'm not sitting on a cellar of beer. I don't have a cellar, nor am I sitting on any beer. If I were, different story. You're just assuming that, what? That I wouldn't do unto others as I would ask them to do for me? Being as how we don't know each other, that's an unfair assumption to make.

Uh, no, actually.
I appreciated what you said in your initial post (notice the "like"), but I was actually replying to Pahn's post - not yours - Pahn said that trading or joining tasting groups to facilitate trading was somehow "easier" than simply asking someone how much they'd want for their beer. I totally disagree. He also said that people who don't want to trade "can't figure out how to do more than take money out of their wallet," which I construed as vaguely insulting, even though he wasn't directly quoting/replying to me.

The OP's post was asking about ways to get hard-to-get beers other than trading, and all I was doing was exploring an option in response to OP's inquiry using myself as an example.

But if I did contact a BA and offer a certain amount of money to have them ship me a beer in their possession, and they were amenable to that transaction, why would another BA have a problem with that, or to judge any of the involved parties?

Sorry if this took on a personal tone - toward you or @Pahn - not my initial intention, but I honestly felt like I was being referenced in Pahn's post, and that you were misjudging me in yours.

I still completely disagree. If I wanted to learn French, I'd pay a French teacher to teach me or buy a CD or lessons online. I wouldn't negotiate a trade of services or involve third party if I didn't have to.
And again, read the original post in the thread - he was looking for ways OTHER than trading.

 

for the record, i hadn't read your post when i made my initial one.

the fact is, if you hit up a trader and offer money, they'll probably say no. if the beer is rare enough, they're already halfway toward getting something else that they can't get "just for money" so they will likely refuse. add to this that, due to trading being a little expensive on top of craft beer already being expensive, most traders aren't really getting their pants blown off by an offer of $100 or something.

note though (to add on to my earlier posts), the other thing is to talk to beer store employees, talk to bar owners, etc etc. *go to festivals, especially beeradvocate ones*. it's not hard to score rare beer in the end, just don't get over-excited. there's tons and tons of great stuff around.

but yeah, i want to further clarify: i'm not even judging "those who would ebay beer," i'm pointing out that the rare beer market just isn't there yet. there's cutthroat liquor store prices, but unless you have an in for a case of such-and-such rare beer, chances are it's not worth your effort to chase down a hill farmstead rarity *to make money*. if you want that beer for more than drinking, you likely want it for trading. well, if i want that beer of yours for drinking, how am i supposed to get it? trading, obviously.

 

The assumption is when you complain about buying, shipping, packing, taking the risk, etc...i dont think im out of line in making such an assumption?

There are sites out there that allow you to buy beer, this site doesn't (its against the rule). Those sites have a huge markup, for a reason....people dont like doing that, especially with beer you cant just buy off the shelf - those relationships are formed, thru trading.

Didn't take offense to it at all, just that its not really a viable option, but you seem to think it is.

 

I would never sell any beer I have, I'll trade them , I give a lot away to friends . To flat out offer to buy is just bad form and not a part of this site. Shipping is a shared risk, weather, bad handling; bad luck all the above. Trading had allowed me to enjoy brews if never sniff being from NC. Plenty of online stores, but hard to get stuff I've only seen on my beer cellar, nose bleed prices, but if you need a Rare and have $250 to spend look no further.