How to purchase Cantillon stateside

The times I have seen it stateside in bottles it shows up around zwanze day. When that happens, if you know of a reputable store, you should have a couple of days to get your hands on some. I paid $26 for a bottle of Geuze, $22 for a bottle of Iris, and recently got two 50cl bottles of geuze for $16 each. I think it is worth those prices for a couple of bottles per year

 

Shipping costs are always going to be the killer for self-importing beers

Agree, Boon is very good at a (comparatively) good price. I've had some good Lindeman's also.

 

This is what I find most fascinating about the wild ale type of beers. I cannot stand Boon, the geuze tastes like sweaty water to me. Tilquin is a pretty east pass for me as well although I would be more open to trying things beyond their geuze. 3F is good to great in the few I've had but not something I would want all the time. Cantillon, I could drink their geuze every day. I absolutely love it. I've talked to other people with near polar opposite palate preferences. Interesting stuff indeed

 

It's what's great about wild yeasts. Just a few miles can make a difference.

 

The only other thing I'd add is that if you have a shop that specializes in high quality imports its worth your time to make nice with the employees/owner. From the outside it certainly looks to me like most places trickle out one load of cantillon rather than putting it all out at once and a friendly relationship might get you a bottle or two. Obviously every shop is different but if you're a regular customer at a shop that carries European beers then it really can't hurt to make it known that you would love a chance to try some cantillon

 

Try https://www.belgianwhalez.com/home if you’re looking for some more limited bottles of Cantillon. I haven’t personally used them yet, but they have a great selection of bottles.

 

i feel like bottles appear in your local well stocked beer store all over the country, its just playing nice/spending a lot of money there where you are able to have the opportunity to purchase. i was just able to get classic gueuze and bruocsella for ten dollars a bottle and they were 750s.

 

would i pay more? yes. absolutely. but boon,hanssens, tilquin, cuvee rene, 3f are always available so i dont really think about it. would mebbe get a box from biab someday

 

I’m not a sour guy, but the last time I was in Vt the Black Back Pub had bottles for sale for in house consumption for $30, cant remember what it was though. There was a drop here maybe 2 years ago, a few cases, other than that nada.

 

I would say just be patient, understand the offerings around your area better, and take advantage of a good opportunity to get a bottle at a reasonable price. I love Cantillon, but I don’t even by the beers from the local (45 minutes from Brussels) beer shop that charges 4-5 euro more. Trade is always a good value over purchasing at a hiked up price. That is just people taking advantage of other people because it’s hard to get. Where are you located?

on a side note, if you have somewhat regular access to Tilquin then you have kinda tasted Cantillon Gueuze. Tilquin fruit lambics are subtle from what I have experienced. I taste the Gueuze more so than the fruit, which is fine and tasty. In some of the Tilquin offerings, I taste Cantillon Gueuze. Tilquin does (or has in the past. I don’t know if he still currently does) source from Cantillon among other places. So if you like Tilquin and have tasted some of his fruit lambics, chances are you have tasted Cantillon Gueuze and will like it. If you like lambics, you will enjoy Cantillon.

 

I remember back in the day these bottles collected dust. I bought one when I got into craft and I really thought it was bad. I have come to appreciate sour but this was back in the late 1980’s early 1990’s. Oh well.

Enjoy