(Credit: Melissa Finkelstein)

The harder it is to get something, the more we want it--even when it comes to beer, that seemingly ubiquitous and blue-collar beverage. Whether because of their rarity or their lack of wide distribution, some of the most vaunted craft beers in the world are being sold for exorbitant prices online. And not by the people who made them.

Let's say you're a law-abiding citizen of Seattle, and you're thirsty for a bottle of Dark Lord, a Russian Imperial Stout made by Three Floyds Brewing in Indiana. Good luck. Unless you can score a coveted ticket to the annual Dark Lord release in April, travel to Indiana for the event, then get the bottles home without breaking any shipping laws, your best bet is to find a neighbor who already has a bottle of Dark Lord in the cellar. Maybe she'll share.

Or you could join the beer geeks who are buying and selling beers online. The catch? It's illegal. Unless you're a licensed to sell beer, buying and reselling brews isn't something state and federal governments allow. But beer geeks won't be deterred. Tada! A black market is born.

Most of these unsanctioned beer sales happen online: on Craigslist, sites like MyBeerCellar, and, of course, eBay, where, presumably, beer geeks have been swapping rare craft brews for money for as long as the internet has been around. Sure, the same thing happens in person--everywhere from release parties and tastings to beer festivals and house parties--just as it did in the pre-Internet dark ages, but as with so many types of commerce, the Internet facilitates these transactions.

For a while, beer geeks got around the U.S. site's policy forbidding the sale of alcoholic beverages by listing "collectible beer bottles," insider code for selling the collectible beer inside. But earlier this year, eBay changed its policy to prohibit the sale of "collectible containers" that hold alcohol.

According to most eBay watchers, the change worked. Fewer after-market beers are listed on eBay now than before. Just take a look at Beer Auctions, an aggregator of beer items from eBay and beyond. On some days, you have to dig to find actual beer being sold.

But that doesn't mean eBay's move killed the black market. Just last week, on 12/12/12, Westevleteren 12, a rare Belgian ale that's considered one of the best beers in the world, went on sale for the first time outside Belgium. Boxed six-packs (which included two glasses) originally sold for $85, but were being offered online and between friends, within hours, for $300 to $500.