Okay, so when you make a trade, it’s a common part of the culture to include a couple/few extras in the box, unless it’s agreed that we’ll skip that part. Me, I’ll often research (cyberstalk) the hell out of my trading partner to find out what (s)he likes/wants/needs/doesn’t already have. Tools like seekabrew.com and wants/gots lists exist to make this easier.

Lately there’s been a disturbing trend… after years of getting solid extras in trades, all of a sudden I’ve had a string of trades where people are sending absolute garbage — and some from established, repeat trading partners. Here’s some of the highlights of the shit I’ve received in just the last six weeks:

• Jolly Pumpkin (distro here)
• Lees Harvest Ale (distro everywhere)
• Petrus Pale (distro everywhere)
• Victory at Sea (distro here and listed as a beer I have already)
• Sierra Nevada Bigfoot (distributed… well, fucking EVERYWHERE)
• Some Sam Adams dunkel (Sam Adams has even better distro than SN)
• BCBS (not distro’d here yet, but listed as a beer I have already)
• Random cans/bottles that don’t get distro in the sender’s state, and are obvious “regifts” of stuff they’ve received from others
• Six-month-old pale ales and IPAs that were scrounged out of the back of someone’s fridge
• Nothing at all

Some of these are honestly baffling.  Really guys, if you’re gonna send them, don’t just grab whatever you have laying around that you’re not gonna drink.  Extras are your chance to blow someone away and establish a good trading relationship.  Fuck it up and just send a bunch of random shit and you’ll soon be wondering why no one wants to do a second trade with you.