Category Archives: 4 – Good (buy)

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij Oud Beersel, Lambic - Gueuze

Oud Beersel Oude Geuze Vieille Barrel Selection Demi-Muids

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Brewery: Brouwerij Oud Beersel
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.5%
Style: Lambic – Gueuze
Other Notes: 2021 vintage. Bottled 20 years before best before date

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Demi-Muids are wooden barrels up to 650 litres with thick staves. The Demi-Muids at Oud Beersel, which we purchased in 2013, had previously held Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Bordeaux red wines for 9 years. Since making their way to Oud Beersel, these Demi-Muids have been exclusively used to age Lambic.

My rating: 4+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.39
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 375ml corked and caged bottle with a best before date of 10th November 2041. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen gueuze glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden orange colour, with a one finger white head that had pretty good retention, while leaving some nice curtain like lacing.
Aroma: Grapefruit, orange peel, lemon juice, green apple, cucumber, hay, wood, funk. At times it seemed like there was stone fruit and leather.
Taste: Crisp green apple, lemon, oak, funk, with notes of melon and leather.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate prickly carbonation.
Overall: A very enjoyable gueuze that drank easy with great aroma and flavours.

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

3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot XII.i: Braam On A Toast – Blended & Alive

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 5.9%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°15, Season 18/19. Number of bottles – 1088

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. This 12th version features a 10.5 month maceration of blackberries on a medium toasted 1,000 litre barrel. The total fruit intensity is a staggering 843 grams of fruit per litre of finished blackberry lambic.

My rating: 4-
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.12
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°15, season 18/19, bottled on 13th December 2018. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy dark amber crimson colour with a very thin white head and pretty much no lacing.
Aroma: Blackberry seeds, blackberry jam, wood, with some light funk.
Taste: Tart, lightly sour, blackberry, blackberry seed, lemon zest, wood, and light funk.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft to no carbonation.
Overall: Good blackberry aroma and flavours, but my preference is for some carbonation, and there is a distinct lack of it here.

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

3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot IX.ix: Aardbeiiteraties: Aardbei + Kriek – Blended & Alive with some wort

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 5.9%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°47, Season 18/19. Number of bottles – 939

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. This 9th version features a range of strawberry maceration iterations aiming at balancing the intense fruitiness of strawberries with the subtleties of traditional lambic while minimising the unpleasant phenolic characteristics of the small pits. For this fruit lambic we barrel macerated sour cherries on a previous barrel macerated strawberry lambic (featured in the ToF IX.viii). The proportion is 70% strawberries to 30% sour cherries, while the final intensity is 462 grams of fruit per liter of finished fruit lambic. Additional maceration took another 4 months, and while blending, we primed with fresh wort instead of refined sugar.

My rating: 4+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.48
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°47, season 18/19, bottled on 1st March 2019. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A slightly hazy amber pinkish orange colour with a two finger white head that had pretty good retention and eventually settled to a nice replenishing cap, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Zingy, strawberry jammy, strawberry seeds, light cherry, orange peel, wood, hay, funk.
Taste: Sour, tart, strawberry, yoghurt, lemon, cherry, wood, straw, funk.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Enjoyable aroma and flavours. The strawberries really shine through which is rare in most beers that have tried incorporating strawberries.

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

3 Fonteinen Perzik Geel

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.7%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°14, Season 21/22

Brewer Description: (from bottle) As local harvest has been non-existent for the last three summers, we looked farther to find the juiciest of peaches. Hence, for this Perzik, we macerated freshly hand-picked yellow peaches from an organic producer in the north of Spain. We only used two- and three-year old lambics for macerating. Maceration took almost five months. The weighted average age of the peach blend upon bottling is almost 24 months. The final proportion of fruit used is 384 grams per litre of Perzik. 100% 3 Fonteinen brewed lambic.

My rating: 4+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.55
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°14, season 21/22, bottled on 5th January 2022. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden orange colour, with a one finger white head that dissipated fairly quickly to a ring around the glass, while leaving only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Juicy peach, lemon zest, light wood, and a touch of funk.
Taste: Lightly sour, tart, juicy peach, lime, lemon zest, oak, with some funky notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Really enjoyable with the aroma and flavours full of juicy peaches. Just drinks really easy. Almost as good as the Red Heaven varietal.

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

3 Fonteinen Perzik Rood

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.2%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°20, Season 21/22

Brewer Description: (from bottle) For this Perzik, we macerated red O’Henry peaches for almost five months in two-, three- and four-year old lambics. And we blended with even more four-year old lambics. This makes the weighted average of the complete blend clock in at almost 34 months upon bottling. The final fruit proportion is 390 grams of fresh peaches per litre of finished Rode Perzik.

My rating: 4+
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.45
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.4

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°20, season 21/22, bottled on 20th January 2022. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden orange colour with a thin white head that had decent retention, while leaving only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Lightly tart, peach, lemon zest, sweet orange peel, woody, with a touch of funk.
Taste: Lightly tart, sour, stone fruit, ripe peach, orange zest, citrus rind, woody, and funky.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Very enjoyable with the peach coming through nicely, creating a good balance between the fruit, wood, and funk.