some (United States) Drie Fonteinen news; Shelton Bros. in Ch. 11

https://mailchi.mp/3fonteinen/bringing-traditional-lambik-back-to-the-us?e=6a286bb90a

With this (news)letter, we would like to update you on the current situation of the distribution of 3 Fonteinen lambik beers to and within the US, and how we will pick up the thread again and continue with our endeavours.

First and foremost, we are delighted to announce you that 3 Fonteinen has welcomed Christian Gregory in its team. Christian, a US resident and a long-time trustee of Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, will further develop the American market, and dive into the specifics of a lot, if not most, and maybe all, States.

The United States has always been an important market for Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen. That is also the reason why we dedicate this specific newsletter to you. In what follows, we would like to draw you a complete picture of our past, current and future efforts.


How the US adventure all began and grew
In the late nineties, with general interest in traditional lambik at an all-time low, Dan Shelton appeared in the cellars of 3 Fonteinen. Armand was surprised that “an American” was interested in his craft and completely astonished when he proposed to start selling his beer in “America”.

Right from the birth of Shelton Brothers Inc., Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen has always been an important “supplier” and partner of Shelton Brothers.

As a small brewery with a clear vision against the mainstream direction of beer brewing – and quite a fanatic one within the lambik landscape – 3 Fonteinen has always served a niche of consumers – caring about the true values of good beer, tradition, quality, and passion.

The volume exported to the US has always been small compared to the demand. And payments were always done up front, shipment by shipment.

With the increase of our barrel room between 2013 and 2018 from roughly 3,400 US barrels to 6,800 US barrels and bottled production from 1,250 US barrels to 2,500 US barrels between 2015 and 2019, Shelton Brothers also grew with us, allowing us to get in more States and with different approaches like for example the “Twist of fate/Spelingen van het Lot” series in some selected bars.

We would like to explicitly express our gratitude to Shelton Brothers for having helped us to enter the American market.


What changed and the current situation
In the second part of 2019, payments were held off while lambik was underway or already in the US being distributed. It appeared later that the afterpains of contract ruptures with two of their biggest breweries, combined with payment issues with distributors, made Shelton Brothers’ cash pool dry up. And that was even before the Covid-19 crisis hit.

Currently – we are writing mid-March 2021 - Shelton Brothers Inc. is going through a Chapter 11 procedure. Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen is the biggest supplier creditor, and an unsecured one, as are all other breweries. Half of the outstanding and considerable debt are uncollected invoices with Shelton’s customers (distributors), the other half is inventory of Oude Geuze and Cuvée Armand & Gaston, in all sizes, and stored in a conditioned warehouse in New York. We are trying to retrieve these bottles, as each blend was carefully selected for the US, and with great ageing potential – some blends were bottled in the 17|18 season and are almost four years of age!

3F :heart: USA, a new chapter
Regardless of what the outcome will be, we did not want to waste this crisis. Instead, we think of it as an opportunity to continue with a clean slate, but with the experiences and learning points of the past.

Enter Christian. Christian Gregory has always been our contact with Shelton Brothers and has been going a lot of extra miles to help getting 3 Fonteinen to you. Whether it was by entering new States, label approvals, communication, legal aspects of selling beer, etc. Despite the troubles of his employer, we did not have to think long to discuss this wild idea with him… What if we take matters a bit more into our own hands? We are humbled and grateful that Christian accepted this challenge.

Another important part is the role of Lime Ventures. Lime Ventures has always been our Californian distributor. They now take up a role of importer for a select number of European brewers.

What can you expect?
In the coming weeks and months, we will further align with Lime Ventures on the way forward, while mapping the States and respective approaches first. Eventually, we would like to be able to cover all States and have an even and equitable spread among them.

Having Christian as a local representative, the aim is also to dive deeper into the state distribution and retail level and increase our efforts here as well. Consumer price alignment, going against price gouging and “combined” sales with other brands and beers, will be prime focus points. And closely following up on direct-to-consumer opportunities within and across States.

While we will be increasing our efforts towards a more diversified portfolio of fruit lambik and older geuzes and vintages, the idea is also to have this trickled down to the US market as well, both in bottle shops, bars and restaurants.

While we will remain a small brewery, next to keeping the highest level of quality, we would like our traditional lambikken to be available to all American lambik aficionados.

Glad 3F will still be available in the US, and likely with more and wider availability. While I give Shelton Brothers a lot of credit for importing/distributing many beers that I love, I’ve found their efforts in WA, especially in the last 1-3 years, pretty poor. Hopefully Lime and Christian can improve on the availability and supply in WA and the US generally.

I wonder what’s up with that? I’m somewhat shocked to see an industry titan falling like this.

They have been falling apart for years. Reports of “infighting” have been rampant. Importers are now fighting over the brands. We have a Belgian beer bar aside from our Brewery, and specialize in Trappist Ales, and we are doing everything we can to get ACHEL over to Merchant du Vin. It looks like Wetton Imports is getting Mahrs, and we are praying they get Timothy Taylor as well. Fingers crossed. Love that Shelton Brothers catalog, but it’s been so long since they have brought into the country the meat of the catalog.