Regular Trades

I try to get some Hop JuJu every year.

I also like to try the new batches of some Jester King bottles. Atrial, Fen Tao, etc. Have traded for these when new batches are released.

Other than that the trades I set up are kind of random or with consistent trade partners that send me stuff they think I will like.

 

I'm content with my local access and having "gone through it all", here are some breweries and styles of the top of my head to trade for that are reasonable/easy to go after. I'm sure other will chime in with recommendations:

NE: Tired Hands (cans and bottles), Trillium (cans), Alchemist (cans), Kane (porter)

Midwest-ish: Toppling Goliath (non-stouts, especially PsuedoSue and Sosus), Revolution, Pipeworks, 18th Street, Fat Heads, Kuhnhenn, Dark Horse, Surly, FFF, Jackie O's (stouts)

South/Southwest: Jester King (already mentioned by @jhavs , limited sours, not super easy, but not as difficult as it used to be), Live Oak (their Hefe is to die for, lagers), Prairie, Cigar City (Huna, Jai Alai), Funky Budhha

PNW: Block 15, Fremont (stouts), Hair of the Dog (BA old ales)

 

I have a semi-regular trade partner that sends Trillium...other than that every now and then I will try for a favorite hops from regional breweries. Tropicalia from Creature Comforts, Haze or other DIPA from Tree House, most offerings from Veil, Aslin, Monkish.

 

I don't have a regular partner for it, but I trade for Hardywood KCM every year around Christmas for cringy, obvious reasons.

 

I'm the biggest Bourbon County fan. If I cannot get regular in the coming years, I will trade for it. Same for at least some of the variants. Beyond that, I am still a little bit young in my craft beer career to really make too many more of these decisions.

I will say, I don't have good access to Lost Abbey, and there have been a couple beers that I strangely really enjoy. I don't think they are brewed super frequently (released once a year?), and I suppose I'd probably be willing to trade for a bottle or two each of those each year.

 

Beers I repeatedly go after when I hear about releases, which are not too difficult to get:
Tired Hands Alien Church
Funky Buddha Last Snow, Wide Awake, Morning Wood
Surly Todd The Axe Man, Darkness
Marble Brett IPA
Pipeworks S'More Money
Several others I'm not thinking of.
I get a hankering for some Heady or Pliny and will seek those out.

 

Thirsty Dog Wulver...I Bought some when I was in Michigan last April and loved it...I traded for 4 more a few months ago....no doubt I'm gonna try and get some more this spring/summer

 

Great suggestion! Add that to the list when you trade with someone in OH (they do distro to FL IN KY ME MD MI NC NY OH PA SC). BA Siberian Night from them is also very respectable and easy to trade for.

 

damn. thanks for the tip. that's more distro than I thought they had.

 

For a few I have a regular hook up. But many times I see someone offering the brew in a post and realize I'm thirsty for it again.

 

I mainly just swap bottles with a RTP so it's not agreed upon trades ever but he consistently sends me Mexican Cake every year. On the flip side I can never send him enough of the New Glarus fruit beers or anything from Black Husky. Over the years I must've shipped out a pallet of New Glarus to him.

We also do some BCBS ABV cap swapping; I send him BCBS and other variants he can't get due to the ABV, he sends me BCBCS which is way easier to get in Georgia than it is in Wisconsin. I'd definitely trade for BCBCS if he hadn't hooked me up the past couple years.