On this day in 2005, Mississippi’s Sun Herald newspaper reported that beer, gas, and cigarettes were the most valued items to barter with during hurricane Katrina. After the massive hurricane gave a lashing to the lower coasts of the United States, cash became useless. One could trade “beer for cigarettes or cigarettes for beer”. If you bartered wisely, these items could even get you food and/or a ride up the road.

Bartering can be easily found in the beer industry. Many up-and-coming breweries barter manual labor for beer and food, beer for pickin’ hops, and in some of cases (I’d check the legalities in your state first) beer enthusiasts will barter hard to get rare beers for other rare beers or even tickets to GABF. Inky Beer loves the concept of the bartering system.

What would YOU do for beer?

(Black Star Beer also runs an annual barter. See the video below for footage!)