How often does Cantillon release Lou Pepe bottles? Are the distributed? How much do they sell for? I've yet to try Lou Pepe Kriek and Gueuze and would like to get my hands on them, I'm just not sure how available they are.
They are distro'd. and they normally go for about $30, but with the way Cantillon markup is these days seeing one on the shelf for $40-$60 would not be surprising. The Lou Pepes fit between Fou'Foune and Lamvinus/Vigernonne for aquisition difficultly, but they have been becoming more scarce so people seem to be holding them more tightly these days. That is, Canada basically got no Lou Pepes in 2012 for example, although we did get a pitance (8 cases or so) of Fou'Foune. Oh, and Lou Pepe Gueuze for some reason is more rare and harder to get than Fram/Kriek, although I have no hard #'s on bottle counts from Cantillon (just personal experience over the years).
They came through the Bay Area a few weeks ago. I was able to get a LP Geueze but didn't get a whiff of Kriek or Framboise. It all depends.
LP GUEUZE WAS HERE??? Grah, nowhere in the East Bay got any, that I know of, at least. Fucking annoying. I think there's actually more FF than any individual LP. I believe LPG is Cantillon's most limited yearly release.
There hasn't been any in the last two Cantillon shipments to Australia (this month and in December 2012/January 2013). Probably the last time we had Lou Pepe's arrive was 18 months to 2 years ago.
I believe you're right. FF production is probably at least 2x of Lou Pepe Gueuze (and Mamouche) production, but FF is the one that everyone goes for. I actually think I prefer LP-G with 3+ years on it than FF, but then not many people probably bother to age LP-G.
I'm starting to get the feeling that there has been some...changes...to the agreement in place with the various distributors. That is, I wouldn't be surprised if Shelton has gotten some sort of deal where all of the Lou Pepes bound for export go to the U.S. now and Canada/Austriala is now getting shut out. That is, it's VERY unusual for us here not to get any Lou Pepes through QC private order for both the spring/fall shipments in a given year. I've never seen a year where we got none before. I'm starting to think we may not get any more going forward...
i feel like every time i start to feel like i should just stop looking for them then i find a place that has all three lps for a ridiculously low price. Case and point about 2 weeks i went to this small liquor store thats on my way home from work and they had all three 3 lps for 18 a bottle and bottles of lamvinus for 16
Yeah Stu I was able to get a 2010 lp kriek and lp 2009 gueze this was the week in between mikkeler bar and t26.
Damn. I wish I could be one of these people who can walk by a shelf, see a couple bottles of LP, buy them and just walk out the door.
The San Francisco discussion here involves reservations for members of a beer of the month club. It's not quite that simple. And even then, you had to call in within about 30 minutes of them sending out their newsletter.
