The Bar Towel

Those interested in getting cases of Boon Mariage Parfait should list how many cases they would be interested in having should Peter be able to bring it in for us.

A while back I had stated that I had an chance to bring some in via a supplyer but that avenue had run dry. This is the link where I had taken the pains to describe the beers. The kriek is discontinued.

http://www.bartowel.com/board/viewtopic ... highlight=

At the time, I had emails commiting to more than 5 cases over and above what I was getting. We should be able to put forth a worthy order here.

Now Peter from Esprit appears to be willing to bring some in see thread under the condition of us taking the risk that perhaps the LCBO will destroy the order (although not entirely unlikely they have passed the Grand Cru and the Cantillon products lately which are at least as acidic) and the we prepay once a price has been negotiated.

Esprit wrote:
"I'm prepared to bring in Mariage Parfait but I am very wary of doing so because of all the problems we have had with traditional lambics. Bottom line is my supplier will want to be guaranteed payment. The LCBO will not guarantee payment since they can arbitrarily lab test any product they want with or without a lab waiver. If they test it and deem it to be unsuitable for sale in Ontario, my supplier has to either authorize destruction (at a substantial cost to them) or arrange to ship the product back to Belgium (again, at an even more substantial cost). If any of you want to go ahead with an order, I will have to prepay the supplier so I want to be prepaid in full and then you assume the risk of the LCBO rejecting the product. If anyone wants this deal, I'll gladly get pricing and we can go forward. I'm not prepared to roll the dice with my money for a few cases on which I make a few bucks but could lose many times more."


I would be ready to commit to 5 cases (of one or the other or a combination of gueuze and framboise but with a prefernece towards the gueuze).

I firmly believe that continuing to bring the big sour belgians is extremely important for the future availability of these beers (flemish sour and lambics - and Germany's Berliner Weiss) in Ontario.

So far we have seen two Cantillon products and the Rodenbach Grand Cru in the last year. Since it had been 5 years since we last saw one cross our borders this should be seen as a good sign - we should not let ourselves concentrate on the ones that got away (Cantillon kriek and subsequently Vignerone, Cru 2000 etc.). The more we bring in, the more precedence there is to justify the product in our province. I hope one day there will be some stocked on our shelves regularly.

I'd be in for one or two or three cases, depending on cost & bottle size. My preferences would be for 75cl bottles of the gueuze, but I'd be in for at least a case of any Mariage Parfait order.

Also, as I said in the other thread - given the Cantillon Kreik debacle, the gueuze might be the safest bet if the beer were to be subject to lab testing.

As an aside, I fully agree that keeping these beers flowing into the province can only be a good thing.

Well,

I am sure we could have enough interest in the Ottawa area for at least 1 case here (do you agree Inertiaboy?). The only thing is that caveat about losing our $$$ if the LCBO decides its unsuitable for sale. How much is it per case, you mentionned 5$ a 375 and 10$ a 750 mL. Do you have a final price? And could our order be shipped to an Ottawa LCBO?

Merci!

Luc

The price was what I felt was a reasonable estimate at the time when I needed to find out how much interest there would be when I had a supplyer tell me he could produce based on a minimum purchase of 5 cases.

This supplyer chose not to respond to repeated attempts to contact him via email to go ahead with the pricing and purchase. We are in a totally different situation now with Esprit. As such, obviously, although I am quite positive that the price estimate should be within the ball park, Esprit will be making those decisions when he has all of the information he needs for pricing. I am sure that volume will play a role in pricing, and as a result, Peter, I am convinced, will need to know how much product he needs to price out.

Daniel

I'd be in for 2 cases.

I'll get a base price for Gueuze and Mariage Parfait first based upon the maximum 5 case order. I need to determine whether the lab fee of $155 kicks in if the orders are all for consumers who sign lab waivers. That will have a significant impact on pricing if we're over 5 cases of any beer. Re. Ottawa, there is no problem getting the cases to an Ottawa area LCBO store with no cost to the customer.

I've had a great experience with previous BArtowel Joint orders. I'd definitely be willing to take a case. Or making some arrangement to get half a case of each.

I've got some pricing for you guys but it did not include any Framboise. You can guess that Framboise will be about 10% more expensive than the Kriek so if you want me to get pricing on Framboise and Framboise Mariage Parfait, I will do so:

Boon Gueuze 12 x 750ml $94.60
Boon Kriek 12 x 750ml $100.60
Boon Gueuze Mariage Parfait 12 x 375ml $58.70
Boon Kriek Mariage Parfait 12 x 375ml $67.70

Peter

esprit wrote:I've got some pricing for you guys but it did not include any Framboise. You can guess that Framboise will be about 10% more expensive than the Kriek so if you want me to get pricing on Framboise and Framboise Mariage Parfait, I will do so:

Boon Gueuze 12 x 750ml $94.60
Boon Kriek 12 x 750ml $100.60
Boon Gueuze Mariage Parfait 12 x 375ml $58.70
Boon Kriek Mariage Parfait 12 x 375ml $67.70

Peter

Peter, four questions/comments:

1. Is the Mariage Parfait (any of them) available in 750ml bottles?

2. Ratebeer has the Boon Kriek Mariage Parfait listed as retired (and BA doesn't have any new reviews on it in over a year) - any idea what the story is here?

3. What's the protocol for officially comunicating intent to purchase on this one?

4. Yes, I'd like pricing on the Framboise Mariage Parfait (and on 750ml bottles of any of the Mariage Parfait beers), if possible.

Thanks!

-Josh

esprit wrote:I'll get a base price for Gueuze and Mariage Parfait first based upon the maximum 5 case order. I need to determine whether the lab fee of $155 kicks in if the orders are all for consumers who sign lab waivers. That will have a significant impact on pricing if we're over 5 cases of any beer. Re. Ottawa, there is no problem getting the cases to an Ottawa area LCBO store with no cost to the customer.

Since the cases are for 12 small bottles are we still limitted to a maximum of 5 cases?

Daniel

Answers from Peter (hope you don't mind me posting them):

esprit wrote: 1. My master product list does show Gueuze and Kriek in 750ml but why do you want this size as I can't imagine anyone sitting down and drinking this in a sitting?

2. No...I asked for a price and was given one and they normally do not quote me prices if the product is not available.

3. Not sure what you mean. I'm assuming that a number of bartowellers will want some of these so they'll confirm on the website and then we'll start the process of collecting money, et...

4. Apparently there is no Framboise Mariage Parfait as it was a "one of". There is their regular Framboise apparently available in both 375ml and 750ml.

esprit wrote: 1. My master product list does show Gueuze and Kriek in 750ml but why do you want this size as I can't imagine anyone sitting down and drinking this in a sitting?

2. No...I asked for a price and was given one and they normally do not quote me prices if the product is not available.

3. Not sure what you mean. I'm assuming that a number of bartowellers will want some of these so they'll confirm on the website and then we'll start the process of collecting money, et...

4. Apparently there is no Framboise Mariage Parfait as it was a "one of". There is their regular Framboise apparently available in both 375ml and 750ml.

1. No, but I'd be buying these for (a) sharing and (b) aging - I've found that the large bottles tend to develop better with age.

4. Hmm... interesting - a quick web search seems to indicate that the 375 and 750ml bottles are actually different beer (the 750ml being the more traditional lambic). Does anyone have any more information on this?

Peter:

All that being said, if you're counting who'sinterested in what at this point, I'd like:

1. One case of the Gueuze Mariage Parfait - 750ml if available, 375ml otherwise.

2. One case of the 750ml Framboise, if available.

Thanks,

-Josh

Mariage Parfait Geuze (only one "u" in Boon's spelling, btw) is usually only available in 37.5cl bottles these days. According to Frank Boon, who sometimes posts on another forum, the last 75cl bottling took longer to sell than it did to make, so they switched to the half-size bottles and saw a vast improvement in sales.

I'm not certain on this, but there is a good possibility that Boon Mariage Parfait Kriek and Boon Oude Kriek are the same beer, with the latter being the primary brand now.

To add to the confusion, Boon Kriek and Boon Oude Kriek are two different beers. Boon Geuze and Boon Oude Geuze, on the other hand, are the same beer--"oude" having been added in order to separate it from the commercial gueuzes on the market. (The change happened in the mid- to late-90s, I think, which would explain why we got Boon Geuze at the LCBO one year and Boon Oude Geuze the next. I'm pretty sure that it's all Oude Geuze now, but I'm curious to know what's on the labels of the stuff in Peterborough.)

The difference between the two Boon Framboises seems to be the alcohol content. One is 5%, the other is at least 6%. They can both be vintage dated. The 6% version is sometimes, but not always, called Mariage Parfait. I'm not sure if bottle size is important or not in this case.

Wheatsheaf wrote:Mariage Parfait Geuze (only one "u" in Boon's spelling, btw) is usually only available in 37.5cl bottles these days. According to Frank Boon, who sometimes posts on another forum, the last 75cl bottling took longer to sell than it did to make, so they switched to the half-size bottles and saw a vast improvement in sales.

Really? What forum?

I'm not certain on this, but there is a good possibility that Boon Mariage Parfait Kriek and Boon Oude Kriek are the same beer, with the latter being the primary brand now.

To add to the confusion, Boon Kriek and Boon Oude Kriek are two different beers. Boon Geuze and Boon Oude Geuze, on the other hand, are the same beer--"oude" having been added in order to separate it from the commercial gueuzes on the market. (The change happened in the mid- to late-90s, I think, which would explain why we got Boon Geuze at the LCBO one year and Boon Oude Geuze the next. I'm pretty sure that it's all Oude Geuze now, but I'm curious to know what's on the labels of the stuff in Peterborough.)

Right - but Boon (Oude) Geuze is a different beer than Boon (Oude) Geuze Mariage Parfait, right? (I'm going by RB, which seems to think so...)

The difference between the two Boon Framboises seems to be the alcohol content. One is 5%, the other is at least 6%. They can both be vintage dated. The 6% version is sometimes, but not always, called Mariage Parfait. I'm not sure if bottle size is important or not in this case.

Yes, but again, I'm pretty sure these are different beers. The samples I've had were different vintages, and not tasted side by side, but my recollection is that the 375ml bottles were closer to the 'commercial', sweetened lambics and the 750ml bottles more traditional (again, RB seems to back this up).