Has anyone organized one in the past? would love to set one up if not and bring some local goodness from CT.
From WI and I may be interested. Any requests?
Nothing in particular. Love trying new stuff. Just did one at pax east and it was super fun. Met a bunch of like minded people since we were all into gaming and beer. Thought it would be fun at gen con as well.
Hey you read my mind on this post. I was going to wait till a little closer to the convention, but here we are.
I live about 20 minutes from Three Floyds, who make some of the top rated beers in the US of A. Distribution is limited to Indiana, Illinois, and some parts of Ohio and Kentucky.
I have good access to Gumball Head, Alpha King, Yum Yum, and the infamous always hard to find even locally Zombie Dust. These are available all year. Retail value $10-15 per six pack, depending on where purchased. Mostly interested in trading for other low distribution IPAs, APAs, and anything with citra hops. http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26/9478/ http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26/9478/ http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26/110744/ http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26/64228/
I also have a bomber of Quaanto 219 and a wax sealed bomber of Behemoth I'd be willing to trade for something special. Retail $15 per bomber. http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26/195142/ http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26/220471/
Those two will age just fine in my cellar. Anything else I'll purchase fresh within a month of the Con, but preferably just days before it. Outside of the big 4 you have to buy it before it sells out. Who knows what is likely to show up in their carryout kiosk.
Sweet, we have some really great beers here around CT as well. Planning on getting some treehouse and some Maine beer company stuff. Both are super tasty. If I can track down and g-not from nebco or sip of sunshine from Lawson's I will as well. Glad there is some interest already.
I will setup a Facebook group as well so we can all communicate time and place as the event gets closer. Also going to limit the amount of people we include so it doesn't get too big. I will update when this gets going.
In the IPA department we get stuff from Toppling Goliath that is really good (about $8 a bomber) they also have 4 packs of Pseudo Sue which is pretty good. Central Waters makes some good stuff as does Karbien 4. Fantasy Factory ($10 a six pack) is one of my favorite IPAs at the moment. I also like barrel aged and stouts. I have a couple bottles of Founders KBS laying around and also some Bells 30th. I LOVE Zombie Dust but it is very hard to get in Wisconsin. I am planning on stopping there on my way down and hopefully getting lucky.
I don't do the Facebook. Please keep me updated.
rodoubleb ?[@]? ~-h0tmail-~ d0+ com
No worries I will keep this updated as well, thought that might be a problem with a few.
Sign me up! I from Michigan and we have lots of great beers here. I would love trading a few of my favorites for something new! Oh, and several Mead makers also! Keep me informed please!
I don't do beer, but Virginia has some fine cider makers, some of which don't distribute outside the state, or have limited distribution outside the state. When I travel for work, I always find ciders that are not available in VA, and would love to do an exchange at gencon. I am interested in dry ciders, farmhouse styles, ciders that highlight specific apples, and ciders that include berries or cherries (even if they are sweet). Plain, mass market cider, not so much.
I can bring the following to an exchange. I'll have other suggestions closer to the event, depending on what is actually in the store in the two weeks or so before gencon. I'd also be happy to sit down and share bottles at the convention.
Potters Farmhouse Dry is the one that I almost always have on tap at home. That keg is empty at the moment, and I need to get it replaced. Available in 750ml bottles, it is dry, and I don't think I will ever get tired of it. It's tart, and there's some variation over time, a little farmhouse funky, but not overpoweringly so. It is very much a hand made craft product. If all you have had is woodchuck, or angry orchard, this is a totally different sort of thing.
Foggy Ridge makes several really great ciders. Handmade, serious cider and first fruit are all top shelf ciders, again, the 750ml bottles. They don't do kegs, their approach is closer to a wine making mindset.
We also have bold rock here in va, which is pushing for a much broader distribution. If it's not available where you are, it probably will be in a year or three. Their India Pressed Apple is the only thing I have ever liked that has hops in it. Their other ciders are pretty normal, nothing to get really excited about, ciders, but if you haven't had them, and don't want to pop for a 750ml bottle of craft cider, it's something new. Seriously, I can just about get two six packs of bold rock for the price of a bottle of first fruit.
I could be in. My Gencon schedule is fairly full, but if the time is right. Or I could send a proxy :)
I'm in Iowa, lots of good breweries here too. Millstream, Kalona Brewing, Backpocket, Confluence, Exile, Peace Tree, Toppling Goliath...oh, and ciders. I've got access to Sutliff Cider, one of the best around, as well as a place right near me called Wilson's Orchard. They make a hopped up cider, really good.
In particular, if anyone is from the Columbus OH area, or can get their hands on some Columbus Brewing IPA, I would be very interested.
This is a great idea! 3 of us from MI are attending Gencon and we all are active in our local Brewers club. I would be interested in opening some like valued beers with others, not so much interest in buying/selling. We do that every week where we get together and share hard to get beers. What is the Facebook account you will be using to organize this?
Hey everyone, thanks for all the interest. Trying to solidify a good day and it's looking like either the Wed night before or Saturday night. We can open it up for discussion. Also here's the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/982893111792825/ would love to do it in the food truck area as opposed to a hotel room so we can accomadate more people. This will also be open for discussion.
Wed could be good for me depending on time. Sat would not be. (And I try my hardest not to Facebook, so I'll just be checking here. I accept if that leaves me out of the loop :)
Depending on time I'm interested in either a Wed or Sun swap. Out of NE Ohio myself which means Greatlakes and other interesting stuff depending on your bent. Would love to make a deal to get some decent cider's or some of the lesser distributed New Holland products that never make it over the border (Dragon's Milk reserve and other stuff comes to mind).
Just to be clear this is a bottle trade and sampling of bombers / growlers. I saw there were some questions. The ciders are fine as well. Bring a six pack come back with a different mixed 6 pack of things you probably won't be able to acquire. Or bring 12 swap for 12 different ones.
I would guess that doing this in a hotel room, or empty conference room at one of the hotels would probably be best. When I stayed at the Hilton there were conference rooms on each floor, most were not in use. I do not know about other hotels but it might be worth looking into. I would wager a guess that Sun King has exclusive right to distribute beer in the food truck area (I could be wrong.) and bringing outside beers into the area could be problematic due to this or local laws. No such issues with a room.
Wednesday evening seems ideal for a swap.
I'm not worried about Sun King's exclusive sales rights, but less sure the police would be friendly with open glass containers outside. Otherwise there should be no issue with adults of legal age possessing and/or trading beverages.
I would say Wednesday evening is definitely the best bet to get everyone together. The question is where to meet up. If anyone is staying very close to the convention center we can see if their hotel can accommodate us with a meeting room for a bit. Otherwise I think it's fine to meet in the food truck area - maybe even that raised area outside Bee Coffee Roasters. We are only trading bottles, which does not affect sun king's sales deal and everyone is walking around with cups of beer in the area, so drinking isn't an issue if we choose to (I'll probably be downing their new rye brew like crazy).
Also, hi, my name is Jason - I'm from CT, the same area as the original poster. We have Two Roads, Firefly Hollow, Relic, Black Hog, Stubborn Beauty, Back East, Thimble Island... A ton of great breweries nearby. Back East's Palate Mallet is still one of my all time favorite DIPAs. I'll definitely bring an assortment.
Always looking for good IPAs but I'm most interested in solid Goses and Berliner Weisses if any of your local breweries offer them.