Category Archives: Beer Reviews

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.

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

3 Fonteinen Pruim Mirabelle

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 7.4%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°11, Season 20/21

Brewer Description: (from bottle) This Pruim features the Mirabelle, sourced at Hoenshof in Limburg. We macerated the entire plums for almost five months with two young lambikken from three different barrels. We blended with some more young lambik right before bottling. The final fruit intensity is 518 grams of Mirabelle plums per litre of Pruim. 100% 3 Fonteinen.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.36
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°11, season 20/21, bottled on 6th January 2021. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy pinkish orange colour with a very thin white head that dissipated quickly to a ring around the glass, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Lightly sweet and tart, plum, plum skin, guava, pineapple, lime peel, lemon, damp wood.
Taste: Sour, tart, juicy, plum, apricot, guava, sour pineapple, lemon, lime zest, with light funky notes and damp wood.
Mouthfeel: Medium to light bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: I haven’t tried the actual Mirabelle plum, but I think I would love it. I’ve now had multiple beers that have used the Mirabelle, and I have fully enjoyed each and every one of them and this was no exception. Just great flavours and so easy to drink. I would prefer a bit more carbonation though.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Ireland, Lambic - Gueuze, Land & Labour

Land & Labour Spon: 2 Year Blend

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Brewery: Land & Labour
Country: Ireland
ABV: 5.8%
Style: Lambic – Gueuze
Other Notes: A blend of 1 & 2 year old spontaneously fermented beers

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Spon: 2 year blend is our lambic-inspired spontaneously fermented beer. Brewed with a traditional turbid mash & boiled for several hours with aged hops before being cooled overnight in our coolship. Each beer has had a spontaneous ferment in wine barrels where it remained as it evolved & matured for up to 2 years. This blend is assembled from barrels brewed on the 8th April 2018 & the 9th March 2019. Bottled on the 23rd November 2019. Released in May 2021.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.8
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, with a best before date of 23rd November 2029. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen gueuze glass.
Appearance: A lightly hazy golden colour with a one finger white head that had decent retention that eventually settled to a nice cap while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Funky, earthy, oak, lemon, with some light vinous notes.
Taste: Sour, tart, white grape, vinous, lemon, apple.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Flavour felt a bit simple, as despite getting interesting funk and oak in the aroma, there was a distinct lack of it in the flavour. This being a 1 and 2 year blend, perhaps adding some 3 year old beers would help and improve it.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, FrauGruber Brewing, Germany, IPA - New England / Hazy Double

FrauGruber Cloak Of Feathers

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Brewery: FrauGruber Brewing
Country: Germany
ABV: 8.6%
Style: New England / Hazy Double IPA
Other Notes: Hops – Mosaic Spectrum, Simcoe, Galazy, Rakau and Citra BBC

Brewer Description: (from can) Imperial India Pale Ale.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.89
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.8

Intro: A 440ml can, with a fresh before date of 2nd June 2022. Poured into a winebar glass.
Appearance: A hazy, slightly murky orange colour with a two finger white head that had decent retention and left some nice lacing.
Aroma: Mango, melon, grapefruit zest, citrus rind, resinous, pine.
Taste: As you’d expect from the aroma, fruity, mango, melon, grapefruit zest, citrus rind, floral, a bit soapy, resinous, piney.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: This was interesting and mostly fine, but it had this soapy, floral, zesty flavour mix that didn’t quite work for me.