ISO: Tart of Darkness x3 FT: You tell me, Im open

Trading isn’t always as smooth as I would like. Fortunately I have yet to run into any situations where the other party just decided not to keep up their end of the bargain, something I’m surprised to see happen at least once or twice a month.  I’ve come close several times with poor communication and long delays on their end, but they’ve always managed.

This is the tale of one of those times.

I’ve mentioned in the past how frustrating it can be every now and then to collect fresh Surly cans, it’s an off the self beer that you can pick up almost in every liquor store in the Twin Cities, yet I frequently see locals for Surly go nowhere.

I sent to him...

I don’t know what people’s mindset is, but I had grown a little frustrated by it so when I say the following thread by Kyle (kstrickler) on the 28^th of July, I knew it was time to put my money where mouth was.

ISO: Tart of Darkness x3 FT: You tell me, Im open

“I have been trying to nail these down for some time, I would love 3... 1 to pop fresh and 2 to age... I have a pretty good cellar if I have to open it up to get this done, but hoping to find an easy trade for these... You can still get these at the Provisions shop correct?

cheers”

At that point in time they were still available for $15 dollars a pop on the self at the Bruery Provisions just down the street from me.   Kyle also happened to be running the Sour 4.0 BIF that I was in and had over 50+ completed trades so I figured this would be a low risk quick trade.

I was feeling a little altruistic at the time so when he stated that as they (the Tarts) were off the self I shouldn’t be after anything huge, I told him I wasn’t concerned as was willing to go $4$ on this.

On my end it did take me a week or so to collect the three Tart of Darknesses he was after, $45 plus does not grow on trees and I needed to save up a little. I did he Kyle informed throughout on my status and let him know both when I had secured the bottles. 

Once I finally shipped out the three Tart of Darknesses plus a bottle of Hottenroth on the 15^th of August I sent Kyle a tracking number and asked when he would be shipping.  It took awhile to hear back from him but when I did he mentioned that he was waiting for some bottles to come in and would be shipping soon after. 

This is where my mind started to play games.  In retrospect it is clear he really wanted to put together a nice package for me as a thank you, however with all the recent rash of even good traders going bad (JoshVandy anyone?) I was a little concerned.

... and eventually got this in return

Don’t get me wrong this trade took it’s time and communication was less than stellar, but it’s not like it went on for months and he did always reply.

I don’t want to get the impression that Kyle is a bad trader, he isn’t and I would trade again with him in the future.  If this post is about anything it’s the need for patients and nailing down what is coming your way.  While it was cool to open out that mystery box I would have been better to know so that I could put my mind more at ease while I waited.

In the end Kyle held up his end of the bargain in spades and on the 16^th of September I opened my packaging from him containing the following;  Lips of Faith Clutch from New Belgian, Hoppyum IPA from Foothills Brewing Company, Terrapin Reunion Beer 2010, Tiny from Weyerbacher, Oak Aged Hatter from New Holland and Marshal Zhukov from Cigar City which as a huge want for me.

All in all a pretty awesome box of beer and worth the wait.

Cheers

-SNB