Thanks to senior editor Sean Carroll for this post!

Got so much beer lying around that it's just going to go bad if you don't get rid of it by the end of this weekend? I can't tell you how many times that hasn't happened to me. But if you do have suds to spare and you live in or near Manhattan, you might lug some of it down to bag-maker Crumpler's New York stores and barter it away, Aussie style.

Crumpler is an Australian company with a bit of an attitude; they sponsor a variety of events like nude footraces, mountain bike races, road bike races, and concerts. The "beer for bags" event is a nod to the still thriving Australian reliance on barter as an informal, friendly medium of exchange, according to Crumpler. When I stopped in at the event, it was already in full swing, and the store was jammed with cases, sixpacks, loose bottles and cans of beer stacked nearly to the tops of the storefront windows. There were plenty of limes, too. Oh, and bags.

I got a handsome Barney Rustle Blanket bag (shown here), which goes for one case of Coopers and two Fosters oil cans.  The Barney Rustle is a small, sturdy messenger bag with one main compartment with several smaller subpockets, a zippered pocket for documents, and one of those luxuriously padded and somewhat complicated (to those of us who aren't professional bike messengers) shoulder straps with a variety of adjustments and straps hanging off it. (It'll keep the bag firmly behind you and secured to your waist when you're leaning low over your handlebars terrorizing pedestrians and disregarding traffic signals.) If you prefer to pay with boring old filthy lucre, the Barney Rustle, which comes in a variety of colors, will set you back $85.

Otherwise, you can trade in your beer at 45 Spring Street or 49 8th Avenue in New York City, through June 11. Only certain combinations of given beers net you bags, so don't plan on just showing up with a case of The Beast and hoping for the best. Check out the virtual beer spinner at Crumpler's U.S. Web site for a list of what'll get you what.