Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot I.iii: Nocturne In’t Putteke Van De Nacht | The Darkest Hour

Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 7.6%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Unblended)
Other Notes: A spontaneously fermented and barrel matured beer following the lambik process, but with stronger dark malts only. Number of bottles – 1338

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen “Speling van het Lot” (Twist of Fate) is a series of small batch experimental brews, barrel maturations, fruit macerations and/or blends. Somewhere in March 2015, Armand and Michaël brewed a beer according to the lambic process, but with a total absence of wheat and with a wide variety of malts instead of pale malts only. This beer was then aged on wooden barrels for more than 30 months. Surprisingly, the colour of the resulting spontaneously fermented beers was not the same! While all beers are bottled straight from the barrels, we therefore made 3 different versions: the lightest in colour: Nightfall (I.i), the darkest in colour: The Darkest Hour (I.iii) and the blend of both: The Hour of the Wolf (I.ii). Give this beer the time to open up and to let it evolve in the glass. Taste, savour and experience with the best of friends, old and new.

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

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle at 3 Fonteinen lambik-O-droom, blend n°48, season 16/17, bottled on 20th September 2017, with a best before date of 26th October 2037. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen ballon glass.
Appearance: A clear dark brown colour with a thin beige head that had big bubbles, but left only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Tart, dark fruit, plum, prunes, raisin and a tinge of honey, syrup, toffee.
Taste: Sour, tart, funk, plum and cherry. Almost Oud Bruin like.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Interesting and quite different. Although the lambik process was used, the use of dark malts definitely created something nice and unique. A good experiment.

3 Fonteinen Jonge Lambik

Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 5%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Unblended)

Brewer Description: From the cask and aged (12 months, I believe).

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.06
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 200ml pour by hand pump from the cask into a 3 Fonteinen ballon glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour with no head and no lacing.
Aroma: Lightly sweet, fruity, almost stone fruit like.
Taste: Sour, light funk and light fruit flavours, lemon, apple.
Mouthfeel: Light bodied with light carbonation.
Overall: Not what I expected but it’s one of the better Jonge Lambik’s that I’ve tried.

Tilquin Mûre – Draft Version

Brewery: Gueuzerie Tilquin
Country: Belgium
ABV: 5.3%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit)
Other Notes: Draft version

Brewer Description: (from lambic.info) Mûre Tilquin (Draught Version) is a blended, fruited lambic created by combining a low alcohol lambic beer called Meerts (from Boon) and one- and two-year old lambics. According to the blendery, it is comprised of 50% meerts and 50% lambic, in order to keep the ABV down. No 3-year-old lambic is in the draught version. The final fruit concentration is at least 350g/l of blackberries and it is typically 4.8% ABV.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.43
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 250ml draft pour at Moeder Lambic Fontainas into a Tilquin gueuze glass.
Appearance: A bronze copper colour with a tinge of red, and a thin off white head that left sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Funky, lots of funk, barnyard and blackberry.
Taste: Creamy, sour, tart, blackberry and hints of lemon.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Very nice creamy fruitiness. Very balanced and easy to drink. I enjoyed this more than the bottled version.

Cantillon Mourvèdre Carignan

Brewery: Brasserie Cantillon
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.5%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Fruit)
Other Notes: Mourvèdre grapes and Carignan grapes

Brewer Description: (from Untappd) A blend of two grape varieties. 75% Mourvèdre and 25% Carignan.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.19
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 250ml draft pour at Moeder Lambic Fontainas into a Cantillon Gueuze glass.
Appearance: A hazy red grape wine colour with a thin pinkish head that had a lasting cover and some nice lacing.
Aroma: Grape, mixed berries and a touch of wood.
Taste: Lightly sour and tart, red grapes, mixed berries, oak, light lemon and funk on the finish.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Very enjoyable and easy to drink.

Bokke Barrique Akevitt

Brewery: Bokke
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6%
Style: Belgian Lambic (Gueuze)
Other Notes: 2017 vintage

Brewer Description: (from bottle) 1, 2 & 3 year old lambic aged in aquavit barrel exclusively made for Barr.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.43
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 750ml bottle at Restaurant Barr, 2017 vintage, bottled in February 2018. Poured into a stemmed white wine glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden orange colour with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly, while leaving some nice sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Funky, barnyard, apple, apple skin, citrus peel, hay and aquavit? (maybe).
Taste: Lightly sour, funk, barnyard, oak, orange peel, honey and apple peel.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Aquavit is not something I’ve tried before, but this beer has shown that lambic in aquavit barrels does work. Lots of nice funky barnyard notes are balanced with oak, apple and citrus peel.