So I am new to this trading thing. BUT, I live in a pretty damn good area for good beer. Weyerbacher is 5 minutes from me. Sole Artisan Ale is 3 minutes away. So I do have access to some pretty good stuff.
Unfortunately, neither of those 2 breweries has (m)any beers that are sought after. The most wanted Weyerbacher is probably SMS and that is widely distro'ed. Sole is neither here nor there, was very briefly "hot" for some select cans, then basically disappeared from desire. If you want tradeable beers, hit up Kane special releases, which now is basically making sure you're good at buying tickets online within a few seconds. Tired Hands cans, especially Milkshake and variants, are very sought after, but expect to spend a lot of time in line. Some select bottles (Emptiness series and Parageusia series) are relatively tradebeable as well.
While @mythaeus advice is spot on, I would suggest starting with a local for local trade first. Get your feet wet and go from there.
People mention Weyerbacher often on the message boards. Thought it might be something for trade bait. In the end, it probably will be more headaches than it's worth.
I think trading is a ton of fun. Don't get frustrated before you start. I think people searching for Locals for Locals trades would be interested in the breweries you mentioned. You may not be able to score big or rare releases, but you can definitely get other good beer that you would not have immediate access to in your location. Just need to find people looking to try something new! Feel free to send me a message if you want to set something up.
I started with locals for locals and it was a lot of fun. You'll find some that aren't looking for rare releases and just want to try new beers. I have a lot of irons in the fire right now, but once it slows down, I'd be happy to trade some Illinois/Iowa locals for some NJ locals.
I agree with this 100%! And @ThinBlueLine feel free to hit me up if you ever want to try any of our goodies. If you're not sure what's awesome near me, look at the first 3 letters of my screen name. That's all you need to know. Seriously though I'm sure @jhavs or myself would be happy to break your trading cherry here!
Don't listen to this guy. He's relentless. He'll make you think you're only trading once, but donsomething nice for the guy and he'll retaliate. It's a never ending battle with quality BAs like @FFFjunkie . Buyer beware.
A lot of traders on this site seem to be 'whales bro' only. I wish it were a little more locals for locals friendly. Good luck.
While there are a ton of trades looking for whales, I've seen a lot of locals for locals get done as well. If you post a local for local trade and are somewhat specific of what you have to offer (breweries, styles and the like) I'm confident you'll get results. Besides, I've met some AWESOME ba's that I routinely trade with that started out as a local for local trade. Those same ba's I now trade with have developed a friendship and we now send each other the best beers we can get without worrying about secondary value or what they are currently going for. Be patient, have an open mind and you'll be shocked where some of your trades wind up. Feel free to send me a pm if you have any other questions. Cheers!
I don't have access to a lot of whales or sought after beer (now that Westbrook and Wicked Weed are now more available/fallen out of favor). I like trading local stuff, especially fresh IPA's
