Hey all - Obvious newcomer here with just a couple questions for the experts. I've been drinking through and exploring the beer world for a few years, but am just starting to really get interested in trading/tasting those that are harder to get my hands on. I've accumulated essentially nothing; only a very recent snag of two '12 FW Parabolas, an incoming (hopefully) DL '12, and some Stone/hopslam/DFH 120/etc. The question is: Did a lot of people start by trading stuff they had amassed over years, or by offering to go out in their area (for me, Chicago) to get beer others can't readily find in their areas? I'm equally interested in both trying to sample rare beers and those I can't find in Chicago, but I also want to be working towards getting my hands on (and trying!), at some point, something like a '12 KBS without going to where I was last night and looking down at the $14 pint listed on the menu. This post was really one part introduction and one part I'm looking forward to my first trade, but in any case thanks for reading! Cheers
I don't amass beer, I drink it. There is plenty available in Chicago that people would love to trade for, especially things like Dreadnaught and Panzer Wolf. Maybe they won't net you rare beers, but they can get you things like Abyss and the like.
I usually trade beer from my area for beer not in my area. I don't think I have ever set up a trade where I purposely retraded beer from another state to get different beer from another state. I guess it doesn't hurt to live in California and have access to a lot of sought after shelf beers.
You have to have the ammo to pull off a trade for the more limited/coveted stuff. I have spent a lot of time and effort over the past year or so getting limited releases like KBS, BCBS and variants, KH, Better Half, Russian River sours, etc, stuff that I had to hunt down but all of it was at stores and I didn't go to any brewery only releases (except maybe picking up Heady Toppers). I made sure if at all possible to get a few bottles of each, some for drinking and some for trading, and I was able to convert it to more difficult to get stuff. BA traders in general are very generous and fair and I've gotten to try a lot of great stuff that I would have missed if not for them. Two other things; getting your trading feet wet with some nice local for local action is a great way to go, and joining a tasting group is another. And be sure to stay up on the release calender for those coveted beers, figure out your distribution network, and make a friend at a distributor or bottle shop! Good luck!
I mostly just trade away local stuff. You'd be surprised at what is easily found to you that can be exotic to others.
here is a good link to see what is distributed in what state. This should help with the trades for shelf beer you cant really get locally http://www.seekabrew.com/
If you post an ISO: your locals FT: my locals, you will probably get a few responses. At that point, you can discuss what locals you have access to and you might be suprised at how many generous BAs are out there. I would try to not focus on the "rare" until you have a few trades under your belt. You will have lots of fun opening boxes of everyday beer that you can't just go out and buy. Nothing is better than having a great regular trading partner or partners. There are many BAs who never need to look at the trade forum at all to get a beer they want, the trade partners all look out for each other. The only ways to develop a trade relationship is to start small and be generous with extras. Make sure you pack well and extra the hell out of your boxes. Good luck and have fun!
