Beer Trades

This is a guest post from James Marks. James is a beer connoisseur (not a snob) who loves to spend his time drinking beer, talking about beer, and imbibing with anyone in Columbus! You can follow him on Twitter @beergarcon.

Phillip Rivers for Eli Manning. Ken Griffey Jr. for Mike Cameron, Brett Tomko, Antonio Perez and Jake Meyer. Wayne Gretzky, Marty McSorly and Mike Krushelnyski for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, and $15 million dollars. What do all these athletes have to do with drinking in Columbus? Well, not much, but these individuals were all involved in famous blockbuster sports trades. In the beer world, epic beer trades occur everyday. How and why? There are over 1,400 craft breweries across the United States, but most of them you’ll never see for sale in Ohio, because distribution makes it nearly impossible for a single state to carry even half of these breweries.

Distribution? The business world of beer is controlled by a three-step distribution process. First is the brewery, who brews the beers. Next are the distributors (which, in the most part, are controlled by the major breweries: Coors, Miller, and Budweiser), who distribute craft beers as well as the products they themselves brew. The last part of the cycle is your local bar, liquor store or any place that sells beer for home consumption. Only after all of this is beer available to you, the consumer. With this process in place, craft beers are limited to certain shops or bars based on where the distributor sells.

Add to that the problem of production. A brewery such as Sierra Nevada or Samuel Adams has the funds and capacity to brew much larger quantities of their beers which allows them to distribute to more places than that of Columbus Brewing Company or Great Lakes Brewing Company.

You also have to factor in company philosophies. For example, New Belgium Brewing Company, based in Fort Collins, Colorado, known best for their amber ale “Fat Tire”, has a strong environmental philosophy. Until two years ago, it was impossible to see New Belgium beers past the Mississippi River (unless someone “illegally” transported them over state lines) as New Belgium believes in a greener community and doesn’t want to create a large carbon footprint even if it means less money in their pockets. With these factors and others, it is almost impossible to try every beer in the United States.

But wait, you can trade beer! With the vast popularity of social media, whether it be forums on BeerAdvocate or BeerNews, the connection of beer connoisseurs through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., you are able to get your hands on almost any beer produced in the United States.

There are even sites specifically tailored to the trading of beer! One such site is TradeBeer.com. After signing up, members are able to search for beers by type, message other users and receive notification for successful beer trades. What’s neat about this site is that not only does it appeal to beer drinkers, but brewers as well! TradeBeer plans to provide for the trading of beer-making ingredients in the near future.

I have been able to make beer trades with friends in other states, and even other countries. The midwest has some very prized possession beers which allows for some pretty fun beer trades (like Bells’ Hopslam, Troegs’ Nugget Nectar, Founders’ KBS, or Hoppin Frog’s Doris The Destroyer). If you are looking for beer such as Deschutes, Russian River, or Cigar City, then your only means to possibly get your hands on these beers is either to visit the breweries, or engage in a more economically-friendly beer trade! So next time you see a special release of KBS from Founders or Hopslam from Bells, pick up 2 6-packs: one for yourself, and the other for your beer trade!

While I don’t foresee the creation of Fantasy Beer games on Yahoo! or ESPN.com anytime soon, beer trading through sites such as TradeBeer.com, or any other form of social media, will prove integral to the tidal wave that is the craft beer movement washing over the U.S.