Monthly Archives: May 2022

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, Lambic - Gueuze

3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze Geturfd

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 7.8%
Style: Lambic – Gueuze
Other Notes: Blend°62, Season 19/20

Brewer Description: (from bottle) In the spring of 2019, we received a series of very old Oloroso, PX and Amontillado barrels through a local Jerez cooperage. The aromas were a mix of typical fine sherry notes and toasted, peated characteristics, which we have never experienced before. However, after a year of bottle conditioning – because of the higher peated aromas, albeit balanced – we decided to release this bottle not as a Zenne y Frontera, but as a peated geuze. This blend, like blend 61, comes mostly from Oloroso barrels. The weighted average age of this blend, upon its release, is almost three years old. The oldest lambik was brewed in April 2018.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.3
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°62, season 19/20, bottled on 15th April 2020. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen gueuze glass.
Appearance: A nice clear golden orange colour with a near two finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly to a nice thin but replenishing cap, while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Funky, barnyard, musty, dusty, oak, green apple, pear, with lemony notes.
Taste: Peaty, leather, funk, barnyard, hay, oak, sherry, apple, lemon, lime.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: It was interesting, as I didn’t get any hint of peat in the aroma, but it was very obvious in the flavour. Generally I enjoy peat, and it was nice here, but if I had to compare it to the regular Oude Geuze, I think that I prefer the regular version just that slightly bit more as the lack of peat just made it more refreshing. Still good though.

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4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, Lambic - Gueuze

3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.7%
Style: Lambic – Gueuze
Other Notes: Blend°63, Season 18/19

Brewer Description: (from bottle in Dutch) 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze is een assemblage van één, twee, en drie-jarige traditionele lambikken, vergist op fles. Dankzij de spontane vergisting, de lange rijping op eikenhouten vaten, en de continue evolutie op fles ontstaat een uitgesproken complex en elegant natuurlijk bier. Lambik en Geuze zijn rijk levend erfgoed, eigen aan de Zennevallei! Ongefilterd en ongespasteurisserd.

Deze specifieke Oude Geuze werd geassembleerd met lambikken van 9 verschillende vaten en afkomstig van 6 verschillende brouwsels. De assemblage bestaat uit jonge lambikken en drie jaar oude lambik (33%), gebrouwen door Brouwerijen Lindemans en Boon.

(translated to English) 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze is an assembly of one, two and three-year-old traditional lambics, fermented in the bottle. Thanks to the spontaneous fermentation, the long maturation in oak barrels, and the continuous evolution in the bottle, a distinctly complex and elegant natural beer is created. Lambik and Geuze are a rich living heritage, characteristic of the Senne valley! Unfiltered and unpasteurised.

This particular Oude Geuze was assembled with lambic from 9 different barrels originating from 6 different brews. The assembly consists of young lambic and three-year-old lambic (33%), originating from Brouwerij Lindemans and Brouwerij Boon.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.5
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°63, season 18/19, bottled on 3rd April 2019. Served from a 3 Fonteinen lambic basket, and poured into a 3 Fonteinen gueuze glass.
Appearance: A nice clear golden colour with a just over one finger white head that had decent retention while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Lightly tart, barnyard, funky, oak, hay, green apple, with light lemon notes.
Taste: Sour, tart, funk, oak, hay, green apple, lime, lemon, with light notes of grape skin.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with high, lively carbonation.
Overall: Surprised I didn’t review this much earlier. For an Oude Geuze in the core range, this is right up there among the best in my opinion, along with 3F A&G and Tilquin Oude Gueuze. I also specifically picked blend°63 of season 18/19, because it’s been one of my favourites lately, since the paper label blends of 2015 and earlier. It’s just super easy and enjoyable to drink, it’s basically something I could down at all hours of the day.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, Lambic - Fruit

3 Fonteinen Perzik Wit Vroege Amsden

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.5%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°24, Season 18/19

Brewer Description: (from bottle in Dutch) 3 Fonteinen Perzik wordt bekomen door de maceratie van handgeplukte en handmatig ontpitte perziken op jonge traditionele lambik, gedurende minstens vier maanden, in een verhouding van één kilo perziken per liter. Daarna wordt de fruitlambik verder geassembleerd met jonge lambik en wordt alles gebotteld en zet de vergisting zich verder in de fles. Deze Perzik is een verfijnde fruitlambik met uitbundige aroma’s van steenvruchten. De perziken zijn afkomstig van Ludo Rosseels, één van de laatste, zoniet de laatste Belgische perzikenteler. Natuurlijk fruit, zonder toevoeging van sappen, siropen, of suikers. Ongefilterd en ongepasteuriseerd.

Voor deze specifieke witte perzikenlambik werd de variëteit Vroege Amsden gebruikt en gedurende 5,5 maanden gemacereerd op 3 Fonteinen lambik in een eikenhouten vat. De finale fruitintensiteit bedraagt 412 gram perziken per liter witte perzikenlambik.

(translated to English) 3 Fonteinen Peach is obtained by maceration of hand-picked and manually pitted peaches on young traditional lambic, for at least four months, at a ratio of one kilo of peaches per litre. Then the fruit lambic is further assembled with young lambic and everything is bottled and the fermentation continues in the bottle. This Peach is a refined fruit lambic with exuberant aromas of stone fruits. The peaches come from Ludo Rosseels, one of the last, if not the last Belgian peach grower. Natural fruit, without the addition of juices, syrups, or sugars. Unfiltered and unpasteurized.

For this particular white peach lambic, the Vroege Amsden variety was used and macerated for 5.5 months on 3 Fonteinen lambic in an oak barrel. The final fruit intensity is 412 grams of peaches per liter of white peach lambik.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.45
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°24, season 18/19, bottled on 20th December 2018. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A very nice slightly hazy golden orange colour with a thin white head that dissipated fairly quickly to a ring around the glass, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Peach sour gummy candy, juicy peach, yellow stone fruit, lemon zest, with light notes of oak and funk.
Taste: Sour, tart, peach, apricot, nectarine, lemon, light funky notes and a touch minerally.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Loved the aroma which was full of peach and just nearly perfect. I could just smell that all day long. Flavorwise, there was perhaps less funk and it was more sour than expected. Just minor things, but still very peachy and still really enjoyable.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, Lambic - Fruit

3 Fonteinen Druif Dornfelder

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 9%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°30, Season 19/20

Brewer Description: (from bottle) For this Druif, we used Dornfelder grapes from Wijndomein Hoenshof in Hoepertingen, Haspengouw region, Flanders. Dornfelder is a dark-skinned variety, originally from Germany. We co-fermented lambic with freshly-pressed-shortly-skin-macerated Dornfelder grape juice in an oak foeder. We let it sit for four months and blended the grape lambic with some fresh lambic wort for the “prise de mousse” in the bottle. The final fruit intensity is 51.7% of grape juice per litre of Druif Dornfelder. 100% 3 Fonteinen.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.28
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°30, season 19/20, bottled on 22nd January 2020. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A very nice deep dark burgundy colour with a one finger pinkish purple head that dissipated fairly quickly to a nice but thin replenishing cap, while leaving nice lacing.
Aroma: Grape skin, vinous, blackberry, with light musty, funky, oaky notes.
Taste: Sour, red wine vinous, grape skin, oak, with some light musty and funky notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft to moderate carbonation.
Overall: This was very enjoyable and it got better the more I drank. It was vinous and almost wine like, but also had nice oak and funk characteristics.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, Lambic - Fruit

3 Fonteinen Druif Muscaris

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 9.1%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°16, Season 20/21

Brewer Description: (from bottle) This Druif features the Muscaris variety, a crossing between Solaris and Muskateller. This rather young variety originates from the Freiburg region in Germany and combines an intense muscat bouquet with a higher sugar density than other Muscat varieties (especially when harvested slightly late). Anyhow, we put the must with fifteen-months old lambik on a small oak foeder. The lambikken that we used for blending, was a three-year old lambik (and makes up more than 10% of the total volume). The final fruit intensity is 469 grams of Muscaris grapes per litre of Druif. 100% 3 Fonteinen.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.95
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°16, season 20/21, bottled on 19th January 2021. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden orange colour with a very thin white head that dissipated quickly to a ring around the glass, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Candy-ish sweet, white grape, muscat, grape gummy candy, with light tart notes, funk, and a touch vinous.
Taste: Sour, light tart, funky, vinous, muscat, grape skin, grapefruit, orange, oak.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Good and interesting grape muscat aromas. But flavourwise, it had some strong notes of grapefruit and orange along with the vinous grape, with the citrus being somewhat ‘spicy’, almost cocktail like. And while this was fine, it wasn’t among my favourites.