Armand'4 Set

I've seen the set on sale in the past on this site.

http://www.bieresgourmet.be/catalog/

 

The last time I saw the set on sale was on etre gourmet, i believe with shipping I have read it came to about 350$$. Trading for it has been impossible for me, well I suppose I could go way over the top, but It's just really hard set to grab. Honestly, If you are willing to pay, just try and grab them 1 by one as they pop up on pay sites.

 

Also, that guy who posted that set for 699, originally had it on there for $500. then changed it. He wont get any action at that price. If you look through those sites you will see sets were sold for around 350-400$$$ recentlly.

 

I have a certain goal in my mind on how to acquire. Its gonna take time tho. But good luck!

 

I've seen them at MBC at $400 for the set. I doubt you will find them for sale at any legitimate store, they were a one time shot. I did acquire a full set via trade last month, but I had to send numerous rarities in return.

 

I've still got about 5 bottles of the Lente. It seemed to be the best one, so I just dropped my wad on that one and forsook the others.

 

^^. I posted a trade a few days ago and got crickets. And for what I was giving up I dont know how much higher I'm willing to go. May re-visit in a few months after my stock goes up.

 

Interested in trading 1 of your lente's? Lente?

 

This are indeed hard to come by these days.

FYI, some background:

3F has always been a small brewery/blenderie. On May 16th, 2009, Armand walked into his storage facility in Halle, Belgium (a town or two over from the 3F brewery) and discovered a thermostat failure had allowed ~ 50,000 L (~ 100,000 375 mL bottles of gueuze and kriek) to rise in temperature from the expected 16ºC to around 60ºC for some 36 hours or so. Some bottles burst and after tasting a number of others, Armand decided to scrap them all (as beer) for being unworthy of the the 3F label.

Fortunately, he had been taking a distilling class and was able to distill some of those bottles into an unsweetened eau de vie (40% alcohol) which you should be able to find at many of the online stores.

The loss represented ~ 1/3 of his annual income. As a result, he ended up selling off a huge number of his older vintages of gueuze (at least back to 2002) and selling off all of his brewing equipment. The brewing aspect of 3F was always small relative to the blending aspect (blending began under his father Gaston in 1953, but Armand only began brewing his own lambic in 1999) and he made then (and makes now) no secret of the fact that a large proportion of his wort was provided by Boon, Girardin and Lindemans. In fact, after the "disaster", it was only through the generosity (i.e., pay us when you sell your product(!)) of these other brewers that 3F was able to stay in business as a blender.

Since he thought he'd never brew again, Armand decided to take the last 50 barrels of his own (and only his own) lambic and make the Armand '4 set, one blend for each of the seasons, blended on separate days (~ 4250 750 mL bottles of each blend) in March and April of 2010. The first season, Lente, went on sale in May 2011 for the Toue de Gueuze, followed by Zomer in July, Herfst in September and Winter in December of 2011.

When I visited 3F in November 2012, they were still selling full sets (in the collector's box) as well as all individual seasons except Lente. The collector sets were limited (I believe) to 500 boxes, so if you've got a thing for the box, there you go. Individual seasons were sold in printed cardboard boxes as well and Armand signed many of those sold at 3F. Individual bottles were (I think) 34 Euro at the brewery with the set/box coming in at 125 Euro. YMMV on the prices.

The thought was that these would never be made again since Armand would never brew again. In November 2012, he completed installation of his new brewing system (hooray!) and when I was there in March of this past year, his business partner Michael told me that the first batches of lambic from that system were just becoming ripe enough for use...that some may be blended into the 2014 bottles of gueuze. He stated that even he only had "four or five full sets" remaining (not for sale) and that Armand had a number more. So, you may see them here or there at special events.

Also, if things go well, Michael hinted that it *might* be possible for 3F to produce new version/take on Armand's own lambics...perhaps the seasons again...or perhaps something different.

Only time will tell of course.

 

^^ craziest story ever, and just makes me want to hunt a set down. haha

 

I grabbed a Herfst off the shelf in Paris about 2 months ago. Left 2 or 3 sitting (though not sure if they were Herfst or the other 3 as I was holding in my excitement and trying not to look like a kid in a candy store ). Clearly did not expect it but if you're headed to Paris anytime soon I would suggest checking the shops listed on here just in case.

 

In general, I'm open to trading them. I've soured on sours lately (Hah!), and I drink barleywines/stouts almost exclusively now. But with that said, I'm just too lazy to trade anymore. I had a box confiscated a couple years back (eventually recovered it, but it was a huge hassle) and the experience made me lose my zeal for trading. Plus, the whole "trade negotiation" process just feels too much like negotiating a purchase for a used car - just not fun. And the boxing, packing, shipping thing is tedious.

Eventually I'll probably trade them. Lente is just too fine of a beer to not be enjoyed by someone. I actually don't drink nearly as much as I used to, and I've got tons of great beers just sitting in my cellar. I've actually contemplated hosting a massive tasting "open to the public" before my stash starts going bad lol.

 

This is one of the saddest stories I've ever read on so many different levels

 

@F2brewers while its not directly related to this thread, have any tid bits of info on A&T you can share? especially bottle numbers?

Other than loving the beer itself and finding more and more difficult to trade for, I haven't been able to find too much info on it and most of what I have read about bottle numbers (~3-4,000?) seems like its all speculation. Since you seem to be quite knowledgeable about 3F and have visited many of the more well known breweries I'm hoping you can provide a little more definitive information.

 

Sorry for delayed my response, life called.

I asked about A&T when I visited in 2012 since it was a hot commodity at the time. I was told just over 4000 bottles. It seems a standard 750 mL bottling run for 3F runs between 4000 and 5000.

Many went to the Sour and Bitter festival in Copenhagen in May 2012 just before CBC.

A huge number (700 or so?) also made their way to Sweden and, as I'm sure you're aware a number made it to Canada even as late as last year.

When I asked, Armand indicated they had held a fair number back for cellaring. That was over two years ago, so I'm not sure what he's let out into the wild since then.

Bottled (I think?) February 17, 2011. Blend of 1, 2, 3 and 4 year old lambics including Armand's own 3 year old (2008) and Boon 4 year old (2007).

 

I have started hunting an Armand'4 set alongside a buddy, and these are my experiences as someone halfway there:

Any of those bottles will take trading whales or paying over $100 per bottle, this is almost a guarantee. As stated earlier in this thread, MSRP when the blends were released 4 or so years ago was $65+ a bottle, and they go for way more than $4$ selling or trading these days. I have looked up and down the web and not found any business selling them, only re sellers.

Good luck!

At least they are easier to get than my ultimate target, Soleil....