Vigneronne

It's basically a little easier to get than FF, probably similar to St. Lam.

 

On the bottle count scale, Vigneronne is a bigger release than FF/St Lam. It's more on par with Iris, CdC, or Bruocsella. But, Cantillon releases are rarely consistent, so a lot depends on timing. Point being - trade for Vigneronne right after a release and it will be a lot easier to get than in between releases. It has to be coming out soon I think...

As an aside, I'd argue St Lam is now harder to get than FF. I think for a while there was a surplus of St Lam bottles sitting around due to the $30-$40 price tag. Now that those have been cleared out, we are seeing the impact of just how limited that bottle is. FF is super popular, but releases like clockwork.

 

We just got St. Lam and Vigneronne down here this week. Vig was $17-18 and priced right where Cuvee, Classic, & Rose were (750's) when they were here and St. Lam was $26 or $27, a little higher than Fou was when we got it a few months ago. We got some Lou Pepe's too which I believe were priced around $23, $24 at the place I go to. I was pretty surprised to see St Lam at that price point and Vig so cheap. I have seen Vig for trade, but only in combo lists. Shouldn't be too tough to trade for compared with their other fruited lambics.

 

Just to clarify, I was referring to what they trade for, but this is correct.

 

When we got these in Iowa last Vigneronne was $28, St. Lam $35, and Classic was $15 as a reference.

 

It will take about $22 worth of high-bottle-count brewery only stuff (BBPt5 type releases) or hard to get limited shelf beers that have limited dist.

Good luck, it's delicious.

 

what the fuck. people actually get to just buy Cantillon still? like at the store?!

fuck IN... i mean like hard.

 

Where do you get information on Cantillon bottle counts, releases, etc.?

 

Nothing authoritative on counts, just mental compilation of bits and scraps that leak around over time. For example, Jean van Roy might say they sent 30% of this bottle allocation to the US in an interview, Shelton will say they imported 3000 bottles of it, and you have a rough bottle count... or you can approximate relative counts based on what stores/bars get of Gueuze vs FF, etc. New batch releases can usually be found by keeping tabs on Belgian beer stores, which get them way quicker than the US stores.

 

Ok, just curious. The stores around me that get Cantillon all seem to get it in a very random manner.

Do you have any idea how many bottles of St. Lam are produced each year?

 

For me, St. Lamvinus is a hell of a lot easier to get than Vigneronne. I just setup a trade of St. Lam for Vig 1:1.

 

This. In Chicago I'd guess that most of Shelton Bro's loons just goes to bars and Restaurants, in fact I've never seen either St Lamvinus or Vigneronne at a bottle shop in two years.

In spring 2012 I lucked into 750's of RdG and LP Gueze, then the next time I saw any loons for sale at an actual store was in fall 2012 at that Walgreens (Fou Foune and Bruocsella Grand Cru), then a few places had Classic, St Gilliose and Kriek in May of this year.

Even at WLV Zwanze day there was plenty of FF, Iris, and Classic being pulled out of the cellar but no LP's, St Lam, or Vigneronne.

 

dude.... i haven't seen any cantillon on a shelf in 2 years. as in ZERO. i haven't even seen it at a bar (though i admit i haven't sought it in bars like i have in stores).

 

I suspect that is because St. Lam has been released more recently. I'm pretty sure they are produced in similar numbers. I believe I read FF was only around 3000 bottles a year, which if true, would make it the most limited regular release.

 

Absolutely. They're unquestionably way better.

 

This info is two years old, though I suspect it hasn't changed much. (in fact things may have gotten worse) Quoted straight from an email I had with Shelton:
"We normally get three or four shipments of Cantillon per year, with each of them having 4-500 cases total split between four to six beers. We then have to spread these cases over 45 states."

So, even at the upper end of those numbers, that is 12,000 bottles of Cantillon per year total that gets sent to the US. A beer like King Henry is about the same release size, but only hits about half as many states, and it hits all at once.

So, yeah - certain states might be lucky to see 100 bottles of Cantillon in a year. That's why you just don't see it much anymore.

 

It's more like VEEN-RONE. But no harm in pretending it is Italian...

 

clearly you haven't been looking at Walgreens