Users could scroll through forum ISO:FT (In Search Of: For Trade) posts in search of beers, link to Google Docs or Excel spreadsheets of cellar lists, and set up trades via emails and private messages.
Now, beer trading has its own social media network. Called BottleTrade, it was founded by Charles Eck and his brother Patrick Eck, with help from their web development team, which includes Nick Jacalone and Brian Soumakian. Users can register a profile, upload bottles to their Cyber Cellar, browse other users’ cellars, make offers, and set up trades on the Trade Details pages. It also includes features such as the ability to add friends, leave a Trader Review on a user’s profile, and the Find A Trader tool, which matches traders with others in the network based on whether they have bottles in their Cyber Cellar that match a user’s ISO list.
The site launched in February 2014 and has more than 1,200 users currently. I talked to co-founder Charles Eck about beer trading and what BottleTrade is all about.