Does CSA still distribute Lambic to retail shops?

Drie Fonteinen and Tilquin both hit stores this year and were obliterated in record time by truck chasers. I don't think Cantillon has seen a Colorado shelf in at least a couple years.

 

Tilquin can occasionally be seen at random small shops. It doesn't last all that long, but I've seen it "linger" for a week on occasion. Haven't bought a Drie off the shelf in forever, though.
Tilquin seems to sit in about 1/2 the country (since bottles are like $30) so I typically stock up whenever I visit family in AL.

 

I think I recall seeing people posting Cantillon and Drie bottle pictures right around that time, so they might have still sent some out. Obviously it never made it to a (normal) shelf, but it could have been sold via retail channels. Best customers, store clubs, friends of the staff, lucky randoms, etc. Either that or they were just industry folk.
I suppose I feel fortunate that we get so many other Lambics regularly these days. Drie and Cantillon might be the cream of the crop, but I can scratch the same itch with shelfies.
I still wish we got additional Mort Subite bottles beyond the sweetened Kriek, though.

 

I've purchased all three this year without truck chasing. Just support your local store and they'll take care of you... Though it's very tough this past year as Shelton has been hosing CSA on the lambic.

 

How do you know the Shelton Bros. are hosing CSA? I suspect CSA is getting similar amounts and hoarding it for events and "giving" it to special accounts, especially on-premise accounts. But, that is just my suspicions, not based on any inside information.

 

I was told that by two different CSA reps.

Sometimes they'll get like 3 cases of something. Most of the time they'll hold it all back until they get more instead of dropping one bottle per account.

 

I support my local store(s) and they don't sell me anything special anymore, and not because I'm spending any less money there. They seem to either lottery them off, hold them back to drop at random to tourists during GABF week, or random drop on shelves w/out notice. This is becoming more normal. Maybe it's a sense of charity, maybe they don't want to deal with the chasers. Maybe more people in the dis

While admirable to distribute the rare beer around, I do question why (as a business owner) one would cater to an out of town crowd versus keeping the local loyal customers that give you their $ the other 51 weeks out of the year.

I'm choosing where I spend my money more carefully now, and will likely not support any store that holds beer back for GABF. The visitors that come here that week get their own beer in their own market. When they come here they shouldn't be given the limited beer that's sent here the rest of the year for us, we don't get that much of it as it is.

I haven't seen 3F, Cantillon, or Tilquin on the shelf anywhere in CO in the last year. Aside from (1) 375ml of Tilquin Squared.

 

I second this.
There are fine lines, it seems, all around. Big stores can get the goods, but rarely have the "people" connections. Small stores have the people connections, but rarely the special goods.
And I can see where a small store does actually get the rare stuff, and they are pressured by new-comers who have deep pockets. Not that I'm saying this is the case, but maybe someone spends more money than you, more regularly. Or an out-of-towner drops $1K and says, "any Blah Blah Blah barrel aged Blah?".

For me, I stick to the regulars for the reason you mentioned. The problem I have is that we're extremely close to a big corporate store and can't get the drops on most of the rare stuff. But the rare stuff we do get goes to regulars. Except that most regulars are not beer geeks. If I could get more rares, I would probably have more beer geek regulars. And round and round we go. Which is why I cringe at the law changing to allow corporates to dominate.

 

Blah Blah Blah barrel aged Blah is so 2015. These days it's all about vanilla coffee Blah Blah Blah barrel aged Blah.

 

From my experience, these are smaller stores that can get the goods and take care of regulars:
Mondo Vino
Joy
Mile High
Grapevine
Small Batch
Littles


They all also hold stuff back for GABF because it's fun and because it drives a hell of a lot of business.

 

See you with your four pack of vanilla coffee Blah Blah in an hour.

 

It's not worth chasing anymore. I can't be a "regular" at 6+ stores to figure out how they dole out their Cantillon, let alone get to any of them before the gueuzebros in the middle of the day. The one bottle I managed to get of any of the three mentioned above was at a store that holds it back and puts 1 or 2 bottles on the shelf at random over the course of a couple months. Just right place, right time.

It has made me appreciate that I can just walk into a number of stores and grab a Cuvee Rene, Boon Black Label, Marriage Parfait, Oud Beersel, Hanssen's, or even a pricier Lambicx just about any time.

 

FWIW I got a St Lamvinus at Molly's last year. Pure dumb luck.

 

HAHA I am not suggesting being a regular at a bunch of these I'm a regular at one place, I've just heard good things about the others

 

HOW? Everything worth buying there is behind a paywall.

 

Went to get wine for a dinner party. Got a beer club email 5 minutes before pulling in the parking lot saying there was a couple of random bottles in the store. One of the bottles was right there amongst the wine i was looking at. Pretty much two lightning strikes within about ten minutes. Sadly, I still have not won Powerball.

 

Littles is the hidden gem. I mean....no, it isn't. Nothing to see there. Please disperse.

 

I was going to look for the Pappy once...then I remembered that even if I found it, I couldn't afford it.