Hello! I recently started collecting and shipped my first trade today. I've been looking over the FT:ISO forums and would like to know what beer y'all all looking for from and around our great state. I know Jester King and Prairie are very popular. Which ones in particular? Thanks!
I'm a new trader as well. On my recent trade Yellow Rose came up quite a bit. You might keep an eye out for that one.
Yeah, I actually traded one. Btw, Sunrise and Mueller market got a couple today. I've talked with some other traders and based on what I've heard, IPAs are tricky cause of its freshness (Yellow Rose doesn't have a date stamp yet). Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems stouts and porters, especially the barrel aged varieties, are more popular.
Jester King is a pretty good drive from Round Rock but lots of people do that drive and even further when they do releases of the 500ml sours (lots of people from Houston, Dallas and San Antonio make the trek). Depending on what you're looking for, those are typically going to be the best place to start. A good rule to follow is to try to trade brewery only releases like that for other limited brewery only releases or limited distro beers but, at the end of the day, if both parties are happy you're good. Prairie sees very large distro now so you may not get that much response with those, although there are sometimes TX exclusive releases like Coffee Noir and Brimstone Bomb. The Bishop's Barrel series is a good limited release that you should be able to find up there as well. It's all dependent on what you're after. If you're after some of the more limited, hyped, high demand beers, it will take something similar to get it in most cases. If you just want to try good locals from somewhere else, you should be able to find someone willing to do it for our locals. If you ever need any input or advice on any trades, feel free to BM me.
I'm currently working a trade for Yellow Rose, so there's a solid option. Also I liked a locals for locals trade I did with a buddy for Community and Revolver
There are a lot of currently or one-time active traders in Austin. @mgr78704 wrote a great blurb. I'll add that figuring out what you want to try (whether rare or simply out of distro shelfies) is step 1. That should give you an idea of what you'll need to have on hand to trade for the other beers. Before posting any ISO:FTs spend some time looking around the trade forums to get an idea of what people are trading for in what ratios (and the help section so you know what pitfalls to avoid!). Trade with an experienced trader your first times, and expect to ship first. If you want, reach out to other traders in your area to see if deals are fair. Be careful, because trading can get addicting. And yes, barrel-aged things (sours and stouts) tend to be the most traded/coveted beers. They have more to the tasting experience, and unlike a fair amount of locals and other styles, they're more differentiable. E.g. Fire Eagle could be substituted for X IPA in a different state, and be similar, nbd. Great expansion or extra beer, not likely to be the core part of a trade.
Also Growlers or Crowlers of Sputnik when its available would likely get some hits, not Austin but BBA Temptress also.
