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If this were a 60 Minutes undercover segment, “Sam’s” face would be blurred, his voice pitched down to a low, warbly frequency. But for print, we’ll just change his name and the organization he’s involved with. You may laugh, or think the security measures unnecessary, but believe me—this is serious business. Sam doesn’t want to lose access to his riches. Nor do I.

Ever wonder why it seems impossible to get your hands on those one-off beers you’ve read about on forums? It’s not because you’re unlucky, or that your local store can’t acquire them. Rather, a highly organized underground collection of beer geeks is controlling the market to intercept all the most coveted limited releases—and leave you with only “shelf turds” (lingo for common beers that sit on store shelves).

Two years ago, Sam was in your boat, until he received an intriguing invite on Facebook. He had just returned from a business trip to Belgium, bringing home with him dozens of bottles of Cantillon lambics. That was more than he could drink, and he wondered if they would draw interest on the public Facebook group Beer Trader ISO:FT. (For the uninitiated: ISO means “in search of” and FT means “for trade”; thus, a trader might post “ISO: King Henry/FT: Fou’ Foune.” There are also trading forums on Beer Advocate, RateBeer, and Reddit.)

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