Down to my last bottle of Boon Gueuze

[Andicus]

Hi all,

After stocking up the last time Vintages brought in the Boon Lambics, I'm down to my last bottle of Gueuze. I made it back to the Bayview LCBO a few months after I made my initial purchase, but it was already gone. Ditto with Queens Quay.

A few questions about this:

How can I get more?

Has anyone tried any of the Gueuze more recent than the 96-97 release? If so how did it compare?

What are the odds on the LCBO stocking this again and could it be ordered through their private ordering service?

Sorry to sound desperate, but I guess I am.

Thanks,

Andrew Summerfield

[joey_capps]

Is there any at Premier Gourmet in Buffalo? If you're in St. Catherines, it's not far to drive ? It will cost you with exchange and duty, but you said you were desperate.

Cheers, Joe.

[Lyle]

We don't have any in stock right now. It hasn't come in on our last two orders from the distributor. I'll speak to the importer directly and see what I can find out. I seem to recall hearing a rumor that it might not be imported any more - but don't quote me. Regardless, I'll find the answer.

Boon Geuze has always been a personal favorite of mine. Funny thing about that beer - check the "best before" date on the back of the label. They usually say something like "March 17 2024" - or similar. While I totally agree that this beer will continue to age beautifully almost forever, its hilarious that they decide to put a "month" and "day" on the label - like suddenly on March 18th, 2024 it will no longer be any good...

[esprit]

As a beer importer and a great fan of most Belgian styles, I'm sorry to say it's highly unlikely you'll see Boon here anytime soon. In it's last VINTAGES release it performed rather poorly and, the truth is, lambics in General still don't do very well in this market. For those of you that may not know, Belle Vue Gueuze was de-listed by the LCBO last year and their Framboise has also recently been de-listed leaving only the Kriek. We represent a number of lambic producers including Mort Subite, Timmermans and Cantillon and, needless to say, it's frustrating that consumer response to these products is still very cool. This summer's LCBO Summer promotion will include our Mort Subite Gueuze and Mort Subite Framboise.
As for Private Orders, good luck. The problem is that there is so much work involved for the breweries to export a few cases, if they're not doing a larger order for the LCBO itself, they'd lose money on the Private Order so most won't do it. As some of you may know, we bring in Private Orders for various breweries but we piggyback them onto LCBO retail orders which is why Smokeless is able to get some of these exclusive products.

[Andicus]

Thanks everyone for the replies!

Joe: I was thinking that Premier may be my only hope. After seeing Lyle's comments, I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Lyle: I will await your reply as to whether you will get any more Boon Gueuze at Premier. Is there anything you'd suggest as 'similar'? I was pretty surprised the first time I saw the Best Before date on a Lambic. My last bottle is best before May 22, 2020. Nope. I don't think it's going to make it!

Esprit: Yes, I inquired at Esprit a while back but was told it was not available through them either. Too bad to hear about the Belle Vue lambics being delisted too. Although I wasn't too keen on the Belle Vue Gueuze, I don't mind their Kriek. I wonder how long that'll survive. Actually the Mort Subite Gueuze I had in the LCBO sampler pack wasn't too bad either, but certainly, in my opinion, didn't hold a candle to Boon Gueuze. How are the Cantillon and Timmermans? I've only tried the Timmerman's Cassis.

I'm surprised to hear the Boons didn't do too well with Vintages. As I said, when I went back to Bayview a few months later, they were cleaned out (except for some Boon Kriek). I can just picture a stock of Gueze sitting in some out of the way LCBO somewhere!


Andrew

[esprit]

Timmermans is similar in style to Mort Subite. Cantillon, on the other hand, is regarded by most serious connoisseurs as the epitomy of lambic brewing. Their lambics are absolutely wild and, frankly, not to everyone's taste. I have to be honest, they're a bit too much for me but my friend, Steve Beaumont, the beer writer, cannot say enough good things about Cantillon. Many would say that Rene Cantillon and Frank Boon are the only two producers who are making real and traditional lambics in Belgium. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that the LCBO will ever buy Cantillon simply because it's so far out there in terms of style.

[Josh Oakes]

Yeah, them, Girardin, De Cam, Drie Fonteinen and Hanssens. Oude gueuze lives on in the hearts of many.

[Cass]

I agree, Cantillon is one of the most unique beers out there. Definitely not something that the general Ontario beer populous would respond well to.

That being said, I did quite enjoy it (I believe I had the Kriek & the Rose).

It's a shame that lambics don't do better in Ontario. One would think so, as fruity alcopops do quite well, but fruit beers do not (although all would agree they are infinitely better). And we had them cheap up here too - the dollar amount is the same if not more in Buffalo.

Andrew - once you run out and need a quick fix, I believe Smokeless Joe still has stock of the Boon lambics.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Cass on 2002-02-13 13:26 ]</font>

[Andicus]

Esprit: Is Cantillon available through Esprit Agencies? If so, what are the cost, and minimum order requirements? I didn't see it listed on the consignment program page. Have there been any additions or changes to what is listed on the consigment page?

Cass: Thanks for the Smokeless Joe's tip. I'll check it out next time in Toronto. Now I really regret not going to the auto show on Friday!

[esprit]

Andicus: Well, we were Cantillon's agent and had hopes of selling some products to VINTAGES before they got out of the beer business but it never happened. Again, it's simply not worth either our or the brewery's time and effort to do a small Private Order. Freight alone would be a killer, driving the price through the stratosphere and I can't justify brining in even 30 cases through Consignment because the demand just isn't there. Only a handful of licensees in Ontario will buy and as for consumers, I can't remember the last time I had a Consignment order from a Bartowel reader. In fact, we've sold more of our Consignment beers to Quebecers than people in Ontario! In answer to your question about Consignment, there have been no new additions and there are unlikely to be any. In fact, other than Trappists, we're seriously looking at getting out of Consignment...again, it's just not worth it because there aren't enough people interested and, after all, we're trying to run a business that makes a few bucks.

[Andicus]

Esprit: Sorry to hear you folks are thinking of getting out of the consignment business. If I could get what I wanted, I wouldn't hesitate to use it. Any idea what constitutes a reasonable sized order for a brewery like Boon? It seems to me that the Boon Lambics that didn't sell well were the Kriek and Framboise. The Gueuze seemed to disappear quickly enough.

It's so frustrating not to have an alternative method of obtaining the beer that the LCBO will not provide.

[esprit]

Anything less than a pallet is usually not worth it for a brewery and a pallet is about 60 cases.

[anthony9]

We don't have any in stock right now. It hasn't come in on our last two orders from the distributor. I'll speak to the importer directly and see what I can find out. I seem to recall hearing a rumor that it might not be imported any more - but don't quote me. Regardless, I'll find the answer.

Boon Geuze has always been a personal favorite of mine. Funny thing about that beer - check the "best before" date on the back of the label. They usually say something like "March 17 2024" - or similar. While I totally agree that this beer will continue to age beautifully almost forever, its hilarious that they decide to put a "month" and "day" on the label - like suddenly on March 18th, 2024 it will no longer be any good...

Dang, this one would be drinking really nice up until very recently.

[distr0]

We don't have any in stock right now. It hasn't come in on our last two orders from the distributor. I'll speak to the importer directly and see what I can find out. I seem to recall hearing a rumor that it might not be imported any more - but don't quote me. Regardless, I'll find the answer.

Boon Geuze has always been a personal favorite of mine. Funny thing about that beer - check the "best before" date on the back of the label. They usually say something like "March 17 2024" - or similar. While I totally agree that this beer will continue to age beautifully almost forever, its hilarious that they decide to put a "month" and "day" on the label - like suddenly on March 18th, 2024 it will no longer be any good...

Dang, this one would be drinking really nice up until very recently.

have you been waiting for 22 years to necromance this thread?

[Cass]

Damn, how did you find this thread??