Tag Archives: belgium

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

3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot XI.v: Pruim: Conducta + Opal

Leave a comment

Brewery: Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen
Country: Belgium
ABV: 7.9%
Style: Lambic – Fruit
Other Notes: Blend°24, Season 19/20. Number of bottles – 969

Brewer Description: (from bottle) For this Pruim Speling, we co-macerated two different plum varieties from Wijndomein Hoenshof, Conducta and Opal. We freed up a small 1000L toasted foeder from our friends at Garbellotto, a small family run cooperage. We macerated the plums, with stone and all, for almost five months on two different young lambikken. We bottled the fruit lambik straight from the barrel to the bottle. The final fruit intensity is 769 grams of plums per litre. 100% 3 Fonteinen.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.02
My ratebeer.com rating: 4

Intro: A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°24, season 19/20, bottle 673/969, bottled on 15th January 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 just under one finger white head that dissipated quickly to a thin cap while leaving only sparse lacing.
Aroma: Plum, plum skin, minerals, with light notes of lemon zest, leather and funk.
Taste: Sour, tart, plum, apricot, lemon, oak, and light funk.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with moderate to soft carbonation.
Overall: There was nice plum notes, but the sour intensity and lemon flavours in this Conducta + Opal was higher than other plum varietals I tried recently, and I preferred both Sultana and especially Reine Claude D’Oullins more.

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

3 Fonteinen Pruim Reine Claude D’Oullins

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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.

3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Belgium, De Struise Brouwers, Stout - Russian Imperial

De Struise Black Damnation XIII – More Anger

Leave a comment

Brewery: De Struise Brouwers
Country: Belgium
ABV: 13%
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Bottle 1000/2000, 2012 vintage

Brewer Description: (from bottle) A massive stout from Flanders, matured in Glenmorangie barrels.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.88
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 750ml bottle, number 1000/2000, 2012 vintage, bottled on 3rd April 2017. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a very thin brown head that disappeared almost immediately, while leaving only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Boozy, whisky, chocolate.
Taste: Light roast, chocolate, coffee, caramel, whisky, oak.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Aroma felt overly boozy for me, to the extent that experiencing it with each sip was quite overpowering. It also felt that the taste had more booze and alcohol than the other Black Damnation variations, but at least unlike the aroma, it was still acceptable. Obviously not one of my favourite variations.

4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Belgium, De Struise Brouwers, Stout - Russian Imperial

De Struise Black Damnation XIV – Talisman

Leave a comment

Brewery: De Struise Brouwers
Country: Belgium
ABV: 13%
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Bottle 769/2000, 2012 vintage

Brewer Description: (from bottle) A massive stout from Flanders, matured in Talisker barrels.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.15
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.9

Intro: A 750ml bottle, number 769/2000, 2012 vintage, bottled on 2nd April 2017. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a very thin brown head that disappeared almost immediately, while leaving some sparse spotty lacing.
Aroma: Sweet malt, chocolate, dark dried fruit, raisin, prunes, whiskey, boozy.
Taste: Lightly sweet and a touch bitter, roasted malts, chocolate, molasses, whiskey, with some light smoky, burnt sugar, and dried dark fruit notes.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Enjoyable nice sipper, but there’s less smokiness in the beer from the Talisker than I expected.