St. Ambroise RIS 2014 -- sorry - no private orders

[Frere Ambroise]

Fellow BTers,

I will be heading up to Montreal this week to determine what package format I can bring in for this year's version of RIS.

Also - I need to go through the Private Ordering process at the LCBO as an agent (new to me) to understand and to determine what their pound of flesh will be in terms of the final price.

Once established - I'll update this forum thread with more information. There will be a separate thread for the Vintage - just so I can keep the two orders separate.

Cheers,
Barry

[Soods]

Great! Looking forward to this.

[IPA_Lover]

Still bourbon barrel aged? I'm looking forward to this. Kept one from last year to compare.

[instantkamera]

Still bourbon barrel aged? I'm looking forward to this. Kept one from last year to compare.

I recall someone a few years back saying that they had an aged and non aged, but Im pretty sure that's not the case now (it's all aged).

On the topic, I've always wondered if it's technically BARREL aged at all, the wording on the package makes it sound like it's aged with bourbon staves, but the french portion reads "brewed with wood aged in bourbon". Tasty beer nonetheless.

[iguenard]

Its bourbon WOOD aged. I dont think it ever was put into barrels, sadly. Call me as soon as that changes though

[Belgian]

Its bourbon WOOD aged. I dont think it ever was put into barrels, sadly. Call me as soon as that changes though

I'm going to go ahead and guess aging stout IN bourbon oak barrels might affect the cost & the volume of available beer. Thoughts?

By comparison, DDC Péché Mortel en Fût de Bourbon Américain is a little more pricey and sold out in about eleven minutes.

[spinrsx]

The peche sells for about 5 dollars per bottle in hull, ambroise was 6 dollars. Of course one is much harder to find

[rfrf]

bump on this one, any news?

[Ceecee]

This has just been listed on the LCBO website.

Barry?

[Ceecee]

...Vintage Ale pack too.

[Frere Ambroise]

Sorry folks for the late response here. I am quite bewildered that the LCBO site is showing both RIS & Vintage. Then again, a lot of things done there bewilder me.

I asked my boss for an explanation -- to see if LCBO have changed their minds -- we'll see.

In the meantime, the process to setup the private order process is a painfully slow one. We are trying to make it easier for everyone to order once all the kinks are ironed out. New to us and we just don't want to make the experience painful for anyone involved.

I will update once I get any info.

Cheers,
B

[Frere Ambroise]

Oh - just to clarify -- the RIS has bourbon aged wood involved in the process. I asked Peter McAuslan at our 25th anniversary about it, he clarified that they bought a bunch of bourbon barrels for the intent to age the liquid in the barrels -- however, the barrels were so aged and delicate that they were concerned that the liquid would seep out and become a huge mess. He and Ellen still wanted the barrel characteristics so they broke down the barrels and included them in the process. Does that make sense?

[beerguykw]

Has this made it to the lcbo yet?

[Frere Ambroise]

Sorry folks,

For a number of reasons, this is not going to happen. We tried to make this viable but logistically it became a bit of a nightmare. Most notably the cost of bringing the cases via Private Order would be way more than what Ontario consumers have experienced in the past. We just didn't want to be perceived as "gouging" to the very people who have supported us for the past 25 years. I thought of filling up my van and selling out the back but licensees would have been put in a very awkward position should they be ever challenged... we just didn't want to burn any bridges.

However, due to the LCBO receiving requests from folks who appreciate great beer like yourselves - they are considering our submissions to have the 2015 version on the store shelves for the end of this year.

Fingers crossed.
Barry

[Ceecee]

There is still some of these kicking around Gatineau. I will be in the GTA the weekend after Easter, briefly in the area of Summerhill LCBO and the rest of the time in Burlington. If anybody wants me to grab a couple for them or other QC goodies, I'll gladly go $4$ on Toronto beer that I can't get in Ottawa.