Reason to be careful beer trading with people you don't know

[swenocha]

I normally wouldn't post links to other message boards, but it's worth reading through this thread. If you don't want to read through, the short story is a guy refilling and recapping bottles and passing them off in trades as the real thing. As most of us know, it would be real easy for any of us to do this with equipment on hand (we do it every batch if bottling our own beers), and obviously it would be just as easy for someone with less scruples. Be careful out there, folks...

[Rebel_B]

Looks like a lot of effort for very little gain; kinda like making counterfeit $1 bills.

[John Sand]

The link didn't work for me.
Rebel, yes, within limits. I mean, if you're trading reasonable beers, the shipping exceeds the cost of the contents. But there are exotic beers that cost hundreds, and rare beers for which collectors will pay or trade much. I'm not interested in such things, I can't imagine a beer worth $200. But it's out there, and there are many for whom it is a passion.

[swenocha]

Link works for me. Weird....

He was sending fake Toppling Goliath Assassin, which is one of those single day release beers that is quite rare. It sells for $20, but only has 1200 bottles per annual batch, so you can imagine it sells for much more than that on the after-market.

Here's Toppling Goliath's response:

Hello, Friends.
Yesterday, we had the misfortune of experiencing one of the most dishonest acts that we’ve ever had to face. A certain individual had been taking our beers, refilling them with other beers, and then trading the forgeries. To prove a trust-of-trade, the individual had been citing close relations to several of our employees, including our owner. These claims are exaggerated and are definitely not the kinds of actions Toppling Goliath does, or would condone.
While we will not share the person’s identity, we do know who the perpetrator was and have taken actions to prohibit their access to our beers. No longer will they be welcome in our tap room. Should it be found that others are exercising the same dishonesty with our beers, similar actions will be taken.
On a lighter side, we are thankful for the craft beer community and their continual support for Toppling Goliath in all that we do. We enjoy making great beers, and sharing great beers. It is our hope, with your support, that we can continue along a positive path and prevent instances like we experienced yesterday.
Cheers.

[John Sand]

Thanks for the summary Swen. While the link didn't bring me to the story, some searching did. People are strange.

[Rebel_B]

Yes, there is a dark side to pretty much every activity. Thanks for the head's up.

[Bluejaye]

Here is the direct link (i.e. not passing though Facebook with errors): http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/t ... se.234718/

[DaYooper]

That is crazy. I mean, all you are really getting out of it is a free beer. And the doofus not only swindled by mail, but actually met some of the people he swindled. Being from a low population state like Iowa he is just asking for trouble.

[RickBeer]

What's really funny is that by sending them through the US Mail, he a) broke rules about sending beer and b) committed mail fraud by sending counterfeit product. Federal case now.