JOIN US FOR THE FIRST EVER THANK HEAVEN FOR BEER, BEER SWAP! Recently we enlisted the help of a veteran beer trader, Howard, in educating readers on the ins-and-outs of beer trading.  After a fantastic five part series, we thought it fitting to host our own first annual (or semi-annual) Thank Heaven for Beer swap.  In actuality, this is not going to be a typical beer swap in which participants will compare beers they are stocked up on and make decisive trades; rather, it will be a Secret Santa event. Basically all those who decide to participate in the event will sign up (click HERE or on the picture on our home page).  Upon signing up for the event, your name will be put in a pot.  Through random drawing, your name will be paired with another participant.  You will send a beer or two to whomever you are paired with and vice versa.  This is no different from the secret santa shindigs you participated in during grade school or at the office last December.  Of course, you will not know who had you until you get your secret brew in the mail. We felt doing a secret Santa type beer exchange would ...

This guest series has actually been written by Howard, a reader and frequent commenter/educator here on Thank Heaven for Beer. Since his experience far outweighs ours, we thought it only fitting to open up the floor. Thanks Howard! Packaging For my shipping, I buy the Duck brand bubble wrap at Wal-Mart for $10-$11. It’s 100 square feet, perforated every 12”, and I wrap each bottle with one sheet and tape it in the middle. When I have a 22 oz or 750 ml bottle, I use two sheets, one for the bottom half and one for the top. I typically fold the loose ends at the top and bottom and secure them with tape. I buy boxes at Office Depot in the $2-$4 range. I’ve seen people line the ends and sides of the box with foam rubber, bubble wrap, and/or crumpled up newspaper, either will work fine. I also wedge crumpled up newspaper in between bottles so nothing moves when the box is shook. I also use the 4- and 6-pack holders to separate the beers so they’re not knocking into each other. I’ve seen people use all kinds of stuff to ship ...

This guest series has actually been written by Howard, a reader and frequent commenter/educator here on Thank Heaven for Beer.  Since his experience far outweighs ours, we thought it only fitting to open up the floor.  Thanks Howard! BIF stands for Beer It Forward, which is just like the movie “Pay it Forward”, but with beer instead of good deeds. Sometimes they’ll allow new traders, but they usually require you have at least a little bit of trading history. The way these trades work is: 1. A user posts that they’re starting a new BIF. They will either lay out the rules, or they’ll look for other people’s input on what the rules should be. There is usually a minimum or maximum amount of beer per package, plus a theme like local beer only, >10% ABV beer only, beeradvocate.com Top 100 only, etc. Sometimes there are extras, like X number of beers and X number of cigars, or a T-shirt, or glassware, you get the idea. 2. Users sign up for the BIF by replying to the thread and asking if you can join in, or by sending a private message to the original poster. 3. A master list ...

First you need a place to setup a trade. I use the beeradvocate.com forums, but there is also a trading area on ratebeer.com, and I’m sure several others that I don’t know about. Since beeradvocate.com is what I use to trade, it will be used for my examples. The site offers three ways to trade beer: Wants/Gots lists, the Beer Trading – ISO/FT group, and the Beer Trading – BIF group. Wants/Gots When you’re browsing for beer on the site, there are a few links in the upper right portion of the page that relate to trading: Clicking “+ Add to your Wants” will add this beer to the list of beers you’re looking for. Clicking “+ Add to your Gots” will add this beer to the list of beers you currently have. Keep in mind that you don’t actually have to have the beer you add to your Gots, it can be any beer that you can buy at your local liquor store. If you click on the “44 wants” link it will show you all of the users looking for this beer, and the “16 gots link” will show you the users who have this ...

This guest series has actually been written by Howard, a reader and frequent commenter/educator here on Thank Heaven for Beer.  Since his experience far outweighs ours, we thought it only fitting to open up the floor.  Thanks Howard! Beer Value Most traders like to trade dollar-for-dollar, meaning if they send you $40 worth of beer, then you send them $40 worth of beer in return. They also like to trade rarity-for-rarity, meaning if they are trading a hard to get, or brewery-only release, they expect to get an equally scarce beer in return. So if you really want to get a bottle of Dark Lord, you’re going to need a one day only, brewery released beer (Darkness, Sexual Chocolate, Kate the Great, etc.) to trade. Some people are incredibly strict about this and will only trade for equal rarity. Others are happy to share their beer, and are willing to trade for other stuff that they want that isn’t so hard to come by. Some people will not give up their rare beer at all without completely taking advantage of you. When you’re trading up, meaning trading regular beer for rare beer, all bets are off. There ...

This guest series has actually been written by Howard, a reader and frequent commenter/educator here on Thank Heaven for Beer.  Since his experience far outweighs ours, we thought it only fitting to open up the floor.  Thanks Howard! If you want to try something that’s not available at your local liquor stores, you have four options: Online Retailers Ebay Traveling Trading The first three are very straightforward transactions: you pay the money, and you get your beer. The fourth option is a little trickier, but also more rewarding. When you trade beer, you set up a deal with another beer enthusiast where you ship them the beer that they want, and they ship you the beer that you want. What kind of beer you trade is really up to you, because there are people out there willing to trade the most rare and hard to find beer, or the year-round beer from their local brewery. Just looking at the first page of the beeradvocate.com trading forum right now, the following beers are up for grabs: Kate the Great, Dark Lord, Firestone Walker 10, 11 and 12, Mirror Mirror, Sculpin, Hopslam, Double Crooked Tree, Barrel Aged Blackout, New Glarus Unplugged, Brute, Behemoth Blonde, and Barrel ...