Category Archives: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen

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

3 Fonteinen Zenne y Frontera Season 18/19 Blend 92

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.5%
Style: Lambic – Gueuze
Other Notes: Blend°92, Season 18/19

Brewer Description: (from bottle) 3 Fonteinen Zenne y Frontera is a unique creation of Armand Debelder and maître-sommelier Andy De Brouwer. This natural millésime beer is a blend of young traditional lambics that have aged on forty-year-and-older authentic Oloroso, Amontillado and/or Pedro Ximénez sherry casks. Zenne y Frontera is the perfect symbiosis of a few stubborn characters, a lot of wild ideas, a vast palette of aromas and two beautiful regions!

This Zenne y Frontera is a blend of eleven different sherry barrels – ten Oloroso barrels and one Amontillado barrel. The Oloroso barrels were more than fourty years old. The lambics originate from four different brews and were all a good year old when filling the sherry barrels. Accordingly, the weighted average age upon bottling was a tad more than 25 months. 100% 3 Fonteinen.

My rating: 4+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.49
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°92, season 18/19, bottled on 24th July 2019. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen gueuze glass.
Appearance: A nice clear golden orange colour, with a one finger white head that had pretty good retention, eventually settling to a ring around the glass, while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Funky, musty, oak, damp wood, vanilla, sherry, green apple, lemon zest.
Taste: Tart, lightly sour, sour unripe yellow stone fruit, green apple, lemon peel, funky, musty, wet wood, and nutty sherry notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Enjoyable, easy drinking, with good balanced complexity.

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

3 Fonteinen Pruim Opal

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.5%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°22, Season 22/23

Brewer Description: (from bottle) For this Pruim, we macerated Opal plums from De Kleinaart in Limburg – a small orchard with organic plums. Maceration happened on young lambik, and blended with three-year old lambik. The lambikken originated from two different barrels and five different brews. We macerated for almost six months, rendering the weighted average age to more than 22 months. The final fruit proportion is 477 grams of plums per litre of Pruim. Almost 60% of the cereals used while brewing, were sourced in our Cereal Collective. 100% 3 Fonteinen. Bottle count: 807

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.21
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°22, season 22/23, bottled on 5th January 2023. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A cloudy orangey pinkish colour, with a thin white head that dissipated quickly, while leaving only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart, plum, lemon zest, grapefruit rind, a touch of minerals, and some funky, plastic notes at the end.
Taste: Sour, tart, plum, lemon juice, lemon zest, honey, minerals, funk, and light notes of damp wood.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Enjoyable with a good balance of plum and citrus.

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

3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot XI.xi: Kriek/Mirabelle

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.2%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°14, Season 22/23. Number of bottles – 737

Brewer Description: (from bottle) This Kriek/Mirabelle is a co-maceration of sour cherries and Mirabelle plums on a small oak barrel. We let the fruit sit for over three months on two-year old lambik. The fruit blend was later blended with another two-year old lambik before bottling. The weighted average of the blend hits almost 22 months upon bottling. The final fruit intensity is 509 grams of sour cherries and plums per litre.

My rating: 4-
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.04
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°14, season 22/23, bottled on 7th December 2022. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A very nice ruby red colour with a one finger pinkish head that dissipated quickly, and left some nice but sparse lacing.
Aroma: Lightly tart, cherries, grape skin, plum, and lemon zesty notes.
Taste: Sour, tart, acidic, cherries, plum, lemon juice, with berry gummy candy sweet notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Nice cherry and plum fruitiness, but the sourness and acidity felt a touch too high and not as balanced as it could be. Some berry gummy candy sweet notes here and there helped a bit, and especially appeared as it warmed, but doesn’t balance it entirely.

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

3 Fonteinen Honingbes

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°103, Season 21/22

Brewer Description: (from bottle) For this second iteration of honeyberry, we macerated a larger volume for four months on three-year old lambik. We afterwards blended it with young lambik for the continued fermentation in the bottle. The weighted average age of the blend upon bottling clocks at more than 18 months. The final fruit proportion is 417 grams of honeyberry per litre of fruit lambik. Of the 3 Fonteinen lambikken, around 65% of the cereals used come from our own cereal collective. Bottle count: 807

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.1
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°103, season 21/22, bottled on 12th August 2022. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A deep red colour with a slight orange tinge, and a half finger pinkish head that dissipated fairly quickly but settled to a ring around the glass, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Tart, mixed berries, black currant, green vines, blueberry, blackberry, woody, with light funky.
Taste: Sour, tart, mixed berries, blueberry, blackberry, black currant, green vines, with light notes of wood and funk.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: I have not tried honeyberries before, but it seems to taste like a cross between black currant, blueberries and blackberries. The green viney notes were a bit raw, so the berries weren’t jammy sweet. But it is different, and worth a try.

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

3 Fonteinen Pruim Dubbele Altesse

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°18, Season 22/23

Brewer Description: (from bottle) For this Pruim, we macerated Dubbele Altesse plums from Fruitdas, a fruit farm and cidery. We macerated these plums for more than three months on three-year old lambik, before blending with some more three-year-old lambik. This makes the weighted average age of this plum lambik clock at more than 28 months. The final fruit intensity is 355 grams of hand-picked plums per litre of Pruim. Of the cereals used, more than 1/3 was sourced within our Cereal Collective. 100% 3 Fonteinen.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.23
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°18, season 22/23, bottled on 15th December 2022. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.
Appearance: A nice cloudy dark orangey pink colour, with a one finger white head that had pretty good retention, eventually settled to a ring around the glass, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Lightly tart, plums, lemon peel, citrus zest, 7-Up, with light wood and light funky notes.
Taste: Sour, tart, plum, grapefruit, wood, light funk, and a fruity sour candied finish.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: My first thought was that it was too sharp and tart, but it definitely grew on me, and I enjoyed it. The fruity sour candy like finish, mellowed it out for me, and made for great drinking.