Tag Archives: 3 fonteinen

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, Lambic - Fruit

3 Fonteinen Pruim Reine Claude D’Oullins

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.7%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°64, Season 19/20. Number of bottles – 655

Brewer Description: (from bottle) For this Pruim, we used Reine Claude d’Oullins plums from Wijndomein Hoenshof in Hoepertingen, Haspengouw region, Flanders. This aromatic golden-green plum has a juicy flesh and honey-like sweetness. For this run, we macerated these plums for almost nine months on an oak barrel that previously held red wine. The lambikken originate from two different barrels and four different brews. The final fruit intensity is 550 grams of plums per litre of Pruim. 100% 3 Fonteinen.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.65
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.5

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°64, season 19/20, bottled on 16th April 2020, and with a best before date of 26th October 2040. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy golden orange colour with a two finger white head that had decent retention and settled to a very nice fluffy cap while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Lightly tart, plum, plum skin, lemon zest, dusty, funk, oak.
Taste: Sour, tart, grapefruit, lemon, some sweet notes, plum, yellow stone fruit, oak, and light funk.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Very nice juicy fruit flavours going on here with a good sour and sweet balance. Aroma and flavours just make this super enjoyable and so easy to drink.

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

3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot XI.iv: Pruim: Sultana

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.8%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°21, Season 19/20. Number of bottles – 684

Brewer Description: (from bottle) For the last two summer seasons, unfortunately, peach harvest was almost non-existing with Ludo Rosseels, the last peach grower of importance in Belgium. Luckily, he also has some plum trees that we are fortunate to be able to harvest from. Last summer, we were able to harvest about 250 kilos of Sultana plums from his fields.

We macerated these on an ex-Bordeaux barrel with young lambik for five and a half months. We blended with some jonge lambik prior to bottling. This way, we used lambikken from four different barrels and four different brews. The final fruit intensity is at 500 grams of plums per litre. 100% 3 Fonteinen.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.29
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°21, season 19/20, bottle 084/684, bottled on 13th January 2020, and with a best before date of 26th October 2040. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A very lightly hazy golden orange colour, with a two finger white head that had decent retention and eventually settled to a nice thin fluffy cap, while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Light plum, plum skin, funky, with some herbal earthy notes.
Taste: Lightly sour, lightly tart, plum, plum skin, dried apricot, funky, leather, oak, earthy.
Mouthfeel: Dry, medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: Balanced and enjoyable with the plums coming through nicely with the funk.

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

3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot IX.iv: Aardbeiiteraties: Aardbei + Kriek – Blended & Alive @3 gr/l dosage

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 5.9%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°4, Season 18/19. Number of bottles – 1299

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.i). The proportion is 65% strawberries to 35% sour cherries, while the final intensity is 260 grams of fruit per liter of finished fruit lambic. The ToF’s IX.iv to IX.vii follow the same principal except we played around with the sugar priming dosage, which is in this case 3 grams per liter.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.29
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°4, season 18/19, bottled on 22nd November 2018, and with a best before date of 26th October 2038. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A slightly hazy amber orange colour with a very thin white head that dissipated quickly, and no lacing.
Aroma: Very nice strawberry jammy, with light cherry notes. Lightly funky, wood, hay, straw.
Taste: Fruit forward, strawberry, cherry, sour, lemon juice, wood, light funk.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Good fruit forward and balance of strawberry and cherries. I actually tried the 3F Aardbei/Kriek just before this bottle and I preferred that bottle even though there was slightly more acidity, because there was a more appropriate amount of carbonation for my taste.

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

3 Fonteinen Aardbei/Kriek

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°7, Season 20/21

Brewer Description: (from bottle) For this Aardbei/Kriek, we blended three quarters of a foeder-matured strawberry lambik (the one we bottled straight away for the 6th blend of this season) and one quarter of a kriekenlambik that macerated for 10 months. The weighted average maceration period is almost four months. The final fruit intensity is at 600 grams of red fruits per litre of Aardbei/Kriek. We bottled it without adding any additional lambik.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.36
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°7, season 20/21, bottled on 5th January 2021, with a best before date of 26th October 2041. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A hazy orange, amber, pinkish colour with a thin white head that settled fairly quickly to a ring around the glass while leaving some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Strawberries dominate, funk, straw, hay, with light cherry and acetone notes on the finish.
Taste: A little sharp, but unlike the aroma, cherry is stronger here, although the strawberry is still noticeable. Funky, oak, hay, lemon juice.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: Another example of 3 Fonteinen doing well with strawberries in beer. The balance between strawberry and cherry was good, and resulted in something very enjoyable.

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

3 Fonteinen Oude Kriek “Toast”

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Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 6.4%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°14, Season 17/18

Brewer Description: (from bottle in Dutch) 3 Fonteinen Oude Kriek wordt bekomen door het macereren van handgeplukte volle krieken op jonge traditionele lambik gedurende minstens vier maanden, in een verhouding van één kilo per liter. Daarna wordt de kriekenklambik geassembleerd met jonge lambik en wordt alles gebotteld, en zet de vergisting zich verder op fles. Hierdoor ontstaat een zacht fruitige Oude Kriek, geraffineerd, en met evolutie in het glas. Natuurlijk fruit, zonder toevoeging van sappen, siropen, of suikers. Ongefilterd en ongepasteuriseerd.

Voor de zes maanden durende maceratie van deze specifieke Oude Kriek “Toast” werd een vers gebrand eikenhouten vat gebruikt. De finale fruitintensiteit bedraagt 350 gram krieken per liter afgewerkte Kriek. Aantal flessen: 1,150.

(translated to English) 3 Fonteinen Oude Kriek is obtained by macerating hand-picked full cherries on young traditional lambic for at least four months, at a ratio of one kilo per litre. Then the cherry lambic is assembled with young lambic and everything is bottled, and the fermentation continues in the bottle. This creates a soft fruity Oude Kriek, refined, and with evolution in the glass. Natural fruit, without the addition of juices, syrups, or sugars. Unfiltered and unpasteurised.

A freshly roasted oak barrel was used for the six-month maceration of this particular Oude Kriek “Toast”. The final fruit intensity is 350 grams of cherries per liter of finished Kriek. Number of bottles: 1,150.

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

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°14, season 17/18, bottled on 17th January 2018, with a best before date of 26th October 2038. Poured into a 3 Fonteinen stemmed glass.
Appearance: A very nice ruby red colour with a slight purple tint, and a one finger pinkish head that dissipated fairly quickly to a ring around the glass while leaving some lacing.
Aroma: Lightly sour and tart, cherry, cherry pie, oak, cherry candy, with a slight hint of vanilla, strawberry, and funk.
Taste: Sour, tart, cherry, cherry skin, cherry pie, sour berries, lemon, oak.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.
Overall: I’m not really sure about the “toast” part, as it’s not really obvious in the aroma or taste. But this version of the Oude Kriek is enjoyable and nicely balanced.