ISO: "Rare beers"

Am I missing a point here somewhere? Are you talking about someone specific, or just assuming we're all mindless automatons searching out beers we have no knowledge of?

Not trying to be a jerk, but I really don't see what you're getting at here.

 

I browse the ISO's daily, I cant ever recall someone putting "rare beers" in their ISO. If your thread is something like "FT: Cable Car, Blabaer, VSB...ISO: BA DL, Hommage, other rarities", I dont see the problem. As long as you are bringing comparable beers to the table FT as you are seeking out, no biggie.

 

I've noticed it a few times, and I agree with what you're saying.

 

I just scrolled thru 5+ pages, didn't see a single one. It obviously might happen from time to time, but is far from the norm or any kind of widespread problem. Lots to complain about with the trading forums, I dont see how this is one of them?

 

Id love to see some examples

 

There are two ways people approach ISO/FT threads: looking to obtain beer or looking to trade away beer. If the primary goal of your thread is to trade away beer, there's nothing wrong with adding "or Other Rare Beers" (i.e. other beers of comparable trade value) to your ISO.

 

There are many reasons someone might want to trade away beer, but to offer an obvious one: I have a chance to purchase a highly-rated beer, buy multiple bottles (perhaps one to drink fresh and one to cellar), try one bottle and hate it, and decide to trade the second away for something I might like more. Result: I get a bottle I want to drink, someone else gets a bottle they want to drink, and everyone wins. It has nothing to do with "establishing a cool collection".

 

Everyone trades for different reasons. As long as they're honest and not a dick, if they want a beer just because it's rare and someone is willing to trade it to them, why would that bother anyone else?

 

I'm confused as to how you know this is everyone's intention. Because that is a huge generalization based on some dumb observation.

I've ended ISOs with being open to other beers not offered on my list. Many times people offer things I didn't know existed and I end up doing a trade.

 

Not sure why the OP is taking so much flak for this. I see it occasionally too and always find it funny when folks are primarily interested in obtaining rare beers, regardless of taste or style.

To be clear I have no problem with ISO/FT posts that mention being open to other beers. But there is a clear difference between "open to other highly rated sours and stouts" (or whatever style you were looking for) and "open to other rare beers" in terms of what it says about your motives for trading. People are welcome to trade for whatever reason they like, I'm just in agreement with the OP that trading with the main goal of obtaining rare beer for the sake of it being rare is missing the point.

 

I don't get why the OP is so mad about it. If someone posted "ISO: shelf beers" or "ISO: locals" with nothing specific then no one would get angry. I have seen hundreds of open-ended ISOs like that too.

People ask for something rare and its like someone threw some hypothetical sand into the community's vagina.

 

Yeah, it happens. Its not always there in the ISO/FT post itself, but once in a while, I'll BM a guy about his post and he says "I want something more rare than what you're offering" or "If I trade this, it needs to be in return for something really rare". And that's OK. Nobody's forcing him to trade his beer for what he thinks is less rare. Everyone has motives, and sometimes two peoples' motives align and a trade is born. Other times it's not, but that's OK. I don't expect every single person that I BM or get BMs from to agree to my trade proposal and only my trade proposal.

 

Could someone point me to a thread where someone just says "ISO: any rare beer" I've not been able to find one, but this thread makes it seem like it an epidemic problem.