Cantillon Lou Pepe Gueuze

Description

Lou Pepe Geuze is part of Cantillon's Lou Pepe series which is bottled on a regular basis. The series also contains Lou Pepe Framboise and Lou Pepe Kriek. Lou Pepe Gueuze is not a gueuze in the traditional sense. It is made from two year old lambic that has been aged in used wine barrels. To carbonate the beer, a small amount of sweet liquor is added at bottling, causing the refermentation in the bottle.

According to Cantillon's official website, "the particular name of these beers comes from the south-west of France, a region the Cantillon family is very fond of. In this beautiful region, the grandfather is called Lou Pepe."^[1]

History / Other Notes

Lou Pepe Gueuze, as with the other Lou Pepe bottlings, comes with two dates. A vintage date and a bottling/cork date. They are generally two years apart, with the vintage date shown as a sticker on the bottle above the label. The earliest known vintage is 1998. Lou Pepe "Pure Gueuze" received label approval in the United States in 2004, pictured below.

Unsubstantiated Stories

Some reviews mention that there may be 375ml bottles of this beer in existence. To date, none have been shared publicly, and thus, cannot be verified as existing.

Label

Label, Lou Pepe
U.S. label approval application, 2004
Side by side with LP Framboise and LP Kriek

Bottle Log

Bottle date (mm/dd/yyyy)	Cork Date	Sticker Date	Bottle Size	Label / Notes	Image Link
N/A	2000	1998	750mL	Japanese Import
N/A	2000	1998	750mL	US Label, Shelton Brothers import. Rear label out of 120 bottles
N/A	2002	1999	750mL	Bottleworks cellar, Seattle
N/A	2002	2000	750mL		N/A
N/A	2003	2001	750mL	Imported by Shelton	N/A
N/A	2004	2002	750mL	Euro label
N/A	2005	2003	750mL		N/A
01/16/xxxx	2006	2004	750mL	Imported by Shelton	N/A
01/24/2008	2008	2005	750mL	U.S. label, oval stick has description below vintage year.
01/28/2008	2007	2005	750mL	U.S. label, oval sticker has description below vintage year	N/A
12/01/2008	2008	2006	750mL	U.S. label, oval sticker has description below vintage year	N/A
12/19/2008	2008	2006	750mL	U.S. label, oval sticker just has vintage year	N/A
10/12/2009	2009	2007	750mL
04/21/2011	2011	2008	750mL	3 year gap between vintage and bottled on date, also available in Japan	N/A
12/27/2011	2011	2009	750mL	European labeling	N/A
02/22/2013	2013	2010	750mL	European labeling	N/A
12/30/2013	2013	2011	750mL	European labeling	N/A
01/27/2014	2013	2011	750mL	Shelton Brothers labeling, cork date doesn't match bottling year	N/A
04/27/2015	2015	2013	750mL	European labeling	N/A
03/14/2016	Season 15/16	2013	750mL	European labeling. Also contains a small amount of lambic aged in cognac barrels	N/A