Friday, November 7, 2008

I'll trade you two Russian River Supplications for two Westy 12s!

"I'll give you one '86 Topps Cal Ripken Jr. and one '89 Upper Deck Mark McGwire for your '86 Topps Jose Canseco." I'm pretty sure that is a baseball card trade that I actually made at some point in my childhood. I was crazy about Jose Canseco. Any Jose card I could get I traded for it. Yeah, yeah I know Jose Canseco is the big joke in baseball now but he wasn't when I was a kid. You know, the funny things is I still have all my cards.

Baseball cards, football cards and even Garbage Pail Kids(remember those!)were traded regularly in my neighborhood. Eventually though you grow up and you move on and the fun and excitement of trading becomes a memory. Or so I thought.


When I joined Beeradvocate.com a little over a year ago I learned of the world of beer trading. Ah Ha! Trading for adults!!! YES!! It's the same concept as card trading(I'll trade you beer X for beer Y) but just a little more expensive and well, possibly illegal. The illegal part I'm not even sure of. Call any of the major shipping companies(FedEx, UPS, DHL) and they'll tell you they DO NOT ship alcohol. Legal Schmegal! It's only illegal if you get caught right?


I just recently traded with a buddy up in New Hampshire(Matt Young)and it was great. I sent him beers he hasn't had or couldn't get and he sent me beers I couldn't get(plus a glass-Hell yeah!). It was great. Trading is a win/win for everyone and a win/win for the world of beer!! I think this is one of the many things that makes the beer world special. I doubt that you'd see anyone trading wine or any other alcoholic beverage. It just doesn't sound right. But for beer it seems to be natural. It's like we're kids again sitting on the front porch on a hot, lazy summer day trading for our favorite sports players but now we're big kids trading for awesome beers!


If you're interested in beer trading there are many sites out there that can help you get started. Just google beer trading. I prefer using Beeradvocate.com which does a great job of having forums site aside for single trading or multiple group trades called BIFs. They also do a great job of explaining the ins and outs of trading. Good luck and have fun! It's addicting!


Cheers!

The Beerbuddha

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fantastic blog! I would love to get in on some trading! There are a lot of West Coast Beers that I want to get my hand on that I can not find in Florida!

Let me know if I can ever hook you up with something!

Good Burp said...

I have wanted to do this for a while. But I don't have anyone to trade with. Let me know if you are looking for something on the west coast.
Jose Canseco was a stud, and a jerk back in the day. But as Giants fans would scream, "Jose is a Jerk", the Oakland fans would scream back, "But he is Our Jerk"!