Help finding Cantillon in Massachusetts?

I never see Drie Fonteinen, there is a little of the intense red around right now, but I haven't seen the gueuze in a long while.

 

It pops up in places all at once and then fades for a long periods.

 

Guess I'm just unlucky or not in the know enough, I haven't seen it for more than 2 years.

 

I've come across bottles of intense kriek, oude kriek, golden blend, oude geuez, and golden doesjel in the past year. And zwet.be, but that was disappointing. All of these I came across by chance. Places like Julios, CBC, and random Boston bottle shops.

That 3F oude kriek has pretty much ruined all other kriek for me. If I could just find their Schaerbeekse version.

 

Tyler,

Have you tried the Backacre Sour Golden Ale? It isn't distributed outside VT, but it was pretty easy to find when I was there in October. Really amazing stuff. I even passed on a bottle of Cantillion (there were a few options, but no Fou) with dinner at Hen of the Wood in Burlington and had the Backacre instead. Really awesome stuff.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/30947/90467/

http://www.backacrebeermakers.com/beer.php

 

Ha! I'll know better next time. If it helps, we savored the beer over a period of time and it warmed in the glass. But yeah, rookie move on my part

 

It is illegal, but I don't think the foreign shippers care and will send it anyway. It puts the onus on you, but I haven't heard any horror stories to date.

 

People almost always try to serve it to you out of the fridge and that kills the flavor. My usual method for ordering a bottle of lambic at a restaurant or bar is to order the bottle + another drink. Sip casually on the bonus beer while the lambic warms and then dive in.

 

Backacre is awesome! They release once a month to a few bottle shops, worth the effort. Not extremely easy to find though. I happened to be in the right place at the right time both times I picked it up.

I have had plenty of Cantillion on tap and in bottle in the Burlington, VT area. The Farmhouse and Hen of the Wood in Waterbury. Both great locations.

 

Oh yeah just remembered if you are in Peabody may be worth the drive to Portland, ME. Novare Res always has some Cantillion in bottles.

http://novareresbiercafe.com

 

Novare sometimes has Loons. A lot of times they don't, and the website doesn't reflect that. I'd give them a shout before embarking on a trip....

 

I had a 375 of the classic gueuze at Eastern Standard in Boston about a month ago. First time I've seen them Cary Cantillon, but makes sense as Hawthorne is owned by the same people. Deep Ellum in Brighton used to carry it fairly regularly. I split a bottle of St Lam with a friend for like $30 I think. This was a few years back.

In my 7+ years of beer hunting, I've only come across one bottle in Boston, and even then the beer mgr had set it aside for me. Raffles and buy $x of other store products aren't worth my time...

Seconded on the 3F and Backacre. Both make outstanding sours and are worth seeking out.

 

Were you looking for Cantillon in those 7+ years? Bottles that had been hanging around for years (some were close to 10 years old) started getting cleaned out in early 2011. Even right before that it wasn't incredibly difficult to buy a case of something like the gueuze or Fou Foune at the shops that knew to carry it. You'd probably even get a mix of vintages.

Before that I think it was pretty difficult to sell people a $20+ bottle of beer. The easiest way to get it now is pay the markup at a bar. Row 34 had Vigneronne on their bottle list New Years eve for $45. They may have had a couple other flavors too. I'm not sure if it was just offered for the special occasion or they are still available.

 

My sources tell me there should be some 3F Oude Gueuze available in MA relatively soon. Despite Shelton Bros being based out of MA, Bier Cellar in Portland, ME already got their shipment of Oude Gueuze this year. I always wonder why that works out that way but sometimes it's because it's harder to allocate proper amounts to the amount of stores in MA whereas Maine doesn't have as many places to sell those kind of beers.

Cooper's Corner in Florence has about a case of the regular 3F Oude Kriek 375ml on their shelf.

 

Row 34 also had Hommage a few months back; was $60 I think.

Easiest way to get Cantillon "basics" is just to order online.

Otherwise find a good overseas trader and you should be able to go close to $4$ for beers they can't access. Bottles are cheap enough at the source that even considering shipping I only pay $20-$25 for even the limited bottles. Fou Foune has been at the brewery with 6x limit for over 3 months now, it's not like it's super hard for someone who lives around there. And it only costs like $10. Granted there was a lot made this year. LP Framboise only lasted a couple weeks at 3x. LP Kriek last for 2-3 months as well

 

I should have qualified that statement with the fact that I didn't start getting into sours until around 2010, so you're likely correct. I didn't necessarily hunt around for them prior to that point, I just don't recall seeing them around. That said, I was living in Allston/Brighton at the time so maybe Marty's/Blanchards sold out more regularly.

To your second point, I "splurged" on a shaersbeekse Kriek around that time for $25 as I just got my first substantial bonus from work. A year later, they were marked $45, and a year after that the shelf was continuously empty.

If any one is looking, I just saw likely a case of 3F Oude Gueuze at the Bees Knees (next to Trillium). $14 for a 375.