What do you do with large hauls?

Don't generally make big hauls, especially of styles that don't age well.

 

Hey, you try getting together a beer enthusiast group in the US - somewhere around half, if not more, of the beer involved will be from the pale ale tree of styles, with most of the remainder composed of hyped-up stouts. Hence the "who share my taste" portion.

That does deprive me of spreading a bit wider of a net of joy when things like my upcoming trip to Brussels happen, but there's no real need for me to bring back more than a handful of bottles for myself, and perhaps a couple to share with friends. No extra crates required.

 

Drink and then share for me. If I have a big haul, most of the time there are several big and maltier beers in there, so aging is rarely a problem.

 

I've never done it but if I ever make it up to vermont I want to get enough to share with my friends, family, and coworkers.

 

I went to Vermont two weeks ago, grabbed A LOT of beer. We hit treehouse on the way home. I had coolers for all of my growlers and they went right into my beer meister when we got home. I ended up with close to 3 cases of heady, sold a full case to friends(just at cost of course), a full case of Sip(of which we kept all but 1 4pk), and lots of treehouse stuff. I have a case of heady in my fridge in the basement, the rest fit in my upstairs fridge. The HF bottles I grabbed ended up in my cellar. It was more overwhelming than I thought it would be actually. To answer your question, I traded some heady and HF bottles, but the rest I am keeping. That was my last trip for the year, and likely my last beer purchase until Xmas(BC not included). If the right offer was there though, I would trade any of it.

 

Truth be told, I'm actually in the same situation here. For my few friends that are actually into beer here, that means 80-100 oz (4-5 imperial pints) of a bitter at the pub after work. I can only do that about once a month max. I road trip to Belgium a couple times a year for my cases of Westy and Cantillon re-stock, but like you, am deprived of spreading that net of joy. My wife doesn't even drink. On the plus side, it is cheaper to buy for one.

 

Definitely would be sharing with friends if I had the budget and ability to pick up a huge haul like the OP mentions.
Of course with that much Heady and SoS it would be tough to give away too much.

The part of our beer culture (if you want to call it that) is sharing with others that cannot or do not have the ability to get those beers themselves. I have had quite a few great BA's on here send me beer and not ask for anything in return! I have also shared beers with guys from work too.