In Reply To #1 The old warm cold warm thing is just a myth. Beer will only spoil if it goes through EXTREME temperature changes. A lot of beer is warm conditioned at the brewery in excess of 80 degrees, then sent to coolers, then sent on trucks to distributors where it is kept cool, then to package stores where they sit in the back until they have room in the cooler, or on the warm shelves. Granted, exposure to temps over 80 for a long time would be detrimental to the beer, that is, if over 80 for over 6 months. Trust that once you receive it, you can throw it in the fridge and open it that night. No need to let it 'settle' down. I've done a few trades, and have yet to receive a bad beer.

In Reply To #1 You could just buy the beer warm already if you're concerned with that. I have purchased beer cold before though, warmed it, put it back in the fridge and it has seemed just fine. I think it you probaby do this over and over again it might diminish the quality. The point you make about it "exploding" is a point well taken. I would think after the shipping process (guys who don't give a shit about their jobs - throwing packages around) you would get some that might blow up on you. Just had Stone IPA and know for myself now that it DOESN'T taste like crap. Best IPA I've had...

While I've been drinking beer longer than I care to admit, I'm still relatively new to quality beer drinking. One thing I've noticed is a definite in my region: In higher end distributors, most quality brews are already warm. Yes, there is a good choice in the cooler, but the bulk of the brews are warm, sitting in aisles, ripe for the plucking. As far as being shaken up, I'd think a day or so of settling would do it if not a bottle conditioned abbey ale (for example). As a point of preferrence, I believe I'd let these settle a few days, maybe a couple of weeks. Of course, I prefer my yeast on the bottom of a bottle, not in my glass. On the other hand, with homebrewing, there's always a bit of yeast and it doesn't affect the taste.

Well you guys would know before I would. Thanks for clearing this up. I do remember beer (Heineken) sitting in a friends garage for part of the summer. Once cold and opened it was VERY skunky. There were some other incidences where warm beer sitting around got skunky. I also remember beer and soda, if shaken then settled it didn't seem to have as much fizz? I think beer swapping is only for the true hard core beer enthusiast. Good luck guys.

In Reply To #5 Your Heinekin had other issues rather than sitting around. Skunked aroma and flavor comes from exposure to light. The alpha acids in the beer are very light sensitive, and the green bottle offers little resistance from UV rays. As for loss of carbonation, not unless the cap is not tight. If shaken, a little C02 will be released from suspension. Once the bottle has sat for a while, the C02 will redistribute into the suspension. No problems.