To sell or not to sell that is the question?

What do you do when you have something other people want and are willing to pay money for it? Do you take the opportunity to make some money or do you stand on some sort of principle and not sell it?

I recently had the foresight to drive to Winston-Salem to stand in line and buy some beer. I drove for an hour and a half and stood in line for an hour. I then bought four bottles, met some great people had lunch and drank some good beer. All in all it was a great day. There were about 100 people doing exactly the same as me.

Now some of those people are selling the beer online for close to 10 times what they paid for it. Is this wrong? I have to say no. Many would disagree. But here is what I say. The people who bought the beer have several options. Drink the beer by them selves, share the beer with fellow beer snobs and geeks or sell it. All three are viable options in my opinion. If all 100 people who went and bought the beer drank theirs then no one else would get a chance to try a truly great beer. That in my mind is a shame. Beer is to be enjoyed with other people. So I view the selling of the beer as sharing the enjoyment. If they can make a profit at it more power to them.

Will I be selling mine? No. Why, because to me beer is about savoring the experience not about money but about the beer. I look forward to a nice cold winter day and being able to open a bottle of Foothills Sexual Chocolate Stout and enjoying the next hour. Of course if someone wanted to trade something equally special then I might be tempted.

One last thing before I end. If you live in or near Charlotte it might be worth going to your local friendly beer store. You never know what Michael might have.

~ by alelagerlambic on February 14, 2008.