Why America’s Craft Beer Trading Market Is Moving to Facebook | Eater

"Since 2004 the brewery’s annual release of its famously hoppy triple IPA, Pliny the Younger, has become a major local event, generating millions in visitor revenue and driving a mini tourism economy around its Sonoma County brewpubs. A one-week draft rollout and later keg distribution traditionally kept the beer local, but the recent decision to bottle the beer for the first time and limit purchases to two per customer upended the system, prompting a brisk secondary market in trades and cash sales that saw bottles commanding many times their $10 retail price. The move exposed tensions between breweries trying to protect local allocations and a passionate nationwide collector/trader culture that values rarity, often converting scarce bottles into beer-for-beer swaps or high-dollar resales." - Caleb Pershan