3 Fonteinen Doesjel

Brewed by 3 Fonteinen
Style: Lambic - Gueuze
Beersel, Belgium

Pours a light hazy apricot with absolutely no head. Aroma is cider vinegar, citrus, clove, and tart overripe fruit. Flavor is hay pasture, oaked accents, tart cherry, fermented apples, and the slightest malt sweetness. Palate is smooth; lack of carbonation provides a silky quality that finishes tart and dry. Very enjoyable.

Pour looked like dehydrated urine with less head. Nose was an oddly smooth funkiness, not harsh, slightly horse, some feint vinegar notes, and some slight lemon. Taste was good, the low carbonation was quite nice, started with some nice bright citrus notes, fineshes with a slight vinegar flavor.

Bottle Feb, 2006 dating. Amber beer with a thin white head. Tart, oaky aroma with some malt. Tart, light fruit flavor with malt, light wheat. Lighter bodied and very drinkable. Almost a rubbery note to mouthfeel. Lingering tartness and a bit of malt. Not overly sour - has a light acetic background note.

Bottle thanks to sloth: Pours a mostly still transparent brass orange with a thin ring of bubbles. Aroma of tart lemony citrus. Body starts lightly pale malty with puckering tartness before a drier, crisp sour finish. Not overwhelmingly sour, but could use a little more sweet balance and carbonation.

Poured a lightly hazed orange amber color. The aroma had tart citrus notes with light funk. Citrusy tart lemon flavor. Some acidity but all was to the lighter side of things. Really not too bad.

My Bottom Line:
A farmy lambic nose announces its colours before lemony fruitiness and wild yeast lead to a long, puckering sourness. This Gueuze is not the usually wondrous blend I expect from Drie Fonteinen, but it’s sure to please the lambic lover in you anyway.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-Headless, the cloudy orange blond looks like a glass of grapefruit juice.
-The body is rather slender, an impression enhanced by the low carbonation.
-A more active carbonation might have made this more enjoyable a lambic; as is, it is all you expect from the style, but it’s not as drinkable as the regular DF Gueuze.
-Even though the flavor profile is off-the-wall (like most lambics), this one did appear more linear than usual.

Bottle.

Bouteille verte de 375 ml avec bouchon de liège obtenue via Importations Privées Bièropholie. Arôme: Odeur de vinaigre avec une pointe de pulpes de fruits et de foin. Apparence: La couleur est dorée-orangée légèrement voilée. Saveur: Goût de vinaigres légèrement fruité. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture huileuse. Faible effervescence en bouche. Arrière goût légèrement acide. (Rating #2487)

This one was a huge disappointment considering what I have come to expect from 3 Fonteinen. Nice sour aroma with yeast. Strange, very thin palate. Sour flavor, but it is like a lambic-light. And its not like a Jacobins or anything like that, but for a lambic brewer with their reputation, and the price of the beer, it doesn’t get there. Thin palate, and nearly clear palate.