I have a friend that will be in Hamburg for a few months. I'm going to have him do a little beer/bourbon searching for me Any tips on what he could potentially see for sale regarding Cantillon and 3F? Mainly seasonals that pop up often. Also any bourbon that is easier to snag? Blanton's variants come to mind. Not asking to give away your honey hole, but trying to narrow down a list for things to look for. Thanks!
I can get plenty of imported German Lagers here in STL. Plus he can only fly back with so much, so I'd rather score a nice Lambic. He did snag a couple of really awesome dunkels last time that wasn't available in US. Maybe he'll stumble across a local craft brewery? That'd be sweet.
Despite the proximity, he probably won't find Cantillon in Hamburg. If he's a "beer guy" he should probably do a day/weekend trip to Belgium...but in lieu of Covid I'm not sure that the monastery is currently open. Maybe better to look for small batch scotch or whisky rather than bourbon in the UK. Just a thought. There are other forums on FB that might be more helpful if no one has a better answer here. Cheers!
I don't know about Hamburg, but from my experience with Cologne and the surrounding area, I wouldn't hold out much hope for finding any Cantillon/3F seasonals in Germany. You may be able to find some regular bottles at specialized bottle shops, but that's about it. There's actually one place in my area that gets Cantillon seasonals in semi-regularly, but that's a big exception because the owner is friendly with Jean. I don't know anything about the availability of Bourbon except that Scotch is much more popular in Germany, I've never seen much Bourbon on the shelves here except for the cheap stuff. So once again I wouldn't hold out much hope for anything rare or exclusive except maybe at specialized whiskey shops, which still seems unlikely and would probably be pretty expensive. You should be able to find some pretty good Single-Malt Scotch though, which is better anyway . Your best bet is googling for shops that specialize in craft beer and whiskey in Hamburg and pray that they will actually be open when your friend is over there, with the lockdowns and everything.
