3 Fonteinen Hommage

Formerly brewed at 3 Fonteinen
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Beersel, Belgium

Serve in Flute, Tumbler

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From a 750mL Bottle, Feb. 2007. Generously shared by wetherel. Thanks, John! Pours a hazy, pinkish ruby color with a thin, even layer of creamy off-white head. The body has a brilliant, pectin-like even consistency that practically glows with raspberry coloring. Big fruity nose with a restrained, yet freshening acidity. Loads of fresh raspberries that have a young, almost borderline under-ripe character that’s complimented nicely by a dry, herbal raspberry seed character. Didn’t pick up much wood or excessive funk in the nose, but the berries were backed by an underlying acidity that suggested a squeeze of fresh lemon. Light bodied with a spritzy carbonation, crisp acidity, and wonderfully dry mouthfeel. Fresh raspberry flavors hop out on the tongue right away with a balancing dose of seedy bitterness. A pleasant floral character emerges on the tongue with a cleansing sour acidity. Didn’t really pick up on the cherry characters, and the wood presence was also restrained, but the sour level was definitely on par with expectation. A touch of solvent-like character crept up in the final smack, but didn’t really detract. Delicious.

Bottle... This beer rocks!... Cloudy, ruby-colored ale with orange highlights and a small, fizzy, off-white head. Smells like a marriage of New Glarus Raspberry Tart and an excellent, traditional, highly acidic Belgian framboise. Mild, smoky, meaty phenols and a note of raw leather. The flavor offers restrained sweetness, mild, aged hop bitterness along with lovely, biting, funky acidity. Fruity raspberry and modest cherry. Yum! Medium to full-bodied with a creamy, then abrasive mouthfeel and moderate carbonation. Fruity, wonderfully tart, Mojave-dry finish. Thanks to boboski for making it possible for me to try this new rendition of Framboos!

UPDATED: OCT 30, 2008 Bottled feb 07. Pinkish red color, just a small rim of foam. Oak and almonds with raspberry shimmering through in the aroma. Very complex flavor. Raspberry, lime, cherry pits, almond, oak, honey, some smokey notes even. Absolutely dry with a firm, but not outrageous sourness. Medium bodied. Raspberry, dust and cherry pits in the aftertaste. Great beer, but IMO not the very best 3F can offer. @ the LCRBM 2008 a sample showed that this beer has matured very well.

Big thanks to MikeTD for this rare beer. Dark red pour and just a faint set of tiny bubles appear. Aroma is fresh ripe raspberries and cherries. Taste is dry with the essential gueze like dry funk taste. Cherry and raspberry rides along but does not blast you with sourness. Aftertaste has a lingering sharpness with more of the gueze like funk. Very hard to describe.

2007. Hazy, deep pink with crimson and underlying violet hues, a dense coloration that is darker than anticipated and glows with a radiance only a bottle conditioned Belgian masterpiece could provide. Very low evident carbonation, just some oily residue and scattered bubbly clusters at the edge of the glass. This looks tame, but too enticing to hesitate. The aroma leads with fresh-crushed raspberry, a nose that is so initially complex it’s startling. Very jammy, with mild tartness and low noticeable acidity and little acetic tonation. Mild bread and a hectic and sprawling funk and spice blend are restrained by farmhouse notes that create yet another unique lambic scent array. A strange taco meat/meaty/fleshy nuance emerges, an off-the-wall expression of the overabundance of very little filtering and so much wild raspberry notes...incredibly distorted and awesomely unique. Light floral notes follow, with a low yeastiness for such a fresh bottle of lambic. Mild charcoal and ashen notes creep in at the end of each whiff and provide a fresh brand of mineralic congruence. Fruit notes surely mask much of the other components in the aroma, but never completely. This is just right so far, with an amazing twist on the typical(no insinuation that 3 Fonteinen is ever typical) and fabulous complexity that rings out with little effort on my part. The flavor discharges much more citrus variance, beyond raspberry, than the aroma. Additional notes of fresh green apples, underripe banana and puckering, pithy orange all fold in upon first sip. Shoe leather/sude tinges trickle in(an expansion of just the slightest note in the aroma). Grrenery and powdered sugar sneak up as well, with further warmth. More traditional lambic fruit notes emerge and round out the taste into something more recognizable and more challenging. Sweetness is medium, but a quick downslide to a light level happens shortly after each sip touches the tip of the tongue. Steady dryness comes quickly thereafter and is pleasing and quenching. Acidity is mild and bitterness is low but there are plenty of hints of flowery, aged hops throughout, possibly moreso than was intended or is typically to the traditional adherance of the style. The finish is of strong farmhouse flavors, hay and moderate funk, raspberry flesh and wild yeasts lingering. Light-medium in body, with low carbonation and a challenging palate that leaves particulate feelings stuck in the throat on the way down. Interesting and wonderfully drinkable, this will no doubt only get better. Multiple revisits are a sure bet, an increased enjoyment leading to an increased score a definite possibility. I love 3 Fonteinen. This beer is worthy of the tribute it is intended to signify, worthy of the man who made this blending heritage and brewery a world-class realization.

UPDATED: SEP 26, 2007 Beer one in the tasting to end all tastings. Pours an elegant ruby red, slightly hazy, looks as if kilos of raspberries were gently coerced into relasing their souls. Subdued carbonation, which adds to my introspection. Aroma reveals raspberries, with supporting notes of almond, rose petals, must and earty, with an odd leather back note. It is almost a sensory overload. Flavor is extremely tart, with a mild fruit charecter. Wow.

Bottle, from the BSF at the GBBF. An unclear but shiny cherry red, rough off-white head that settles away quickly. First layer of aroma is heavily wool; lemon, dandelions and pepper follow, then a prickly dry earthiness. It’s not until several sniffs in that the berries register. But then there they are, in a really interesting way. To my nose, its half the leather- tart underipe spring berries, half the noble rot berries of late season. Lovely mouthfiling lemon sourness, filled out with earth and leather. The raspberry character is here too, but a bit coy amid all the other flavors. There is a softness to the palate and a flavor that seems to suggest fruit, without actually being fruity. (If that makes any sense at all.) This is a delicously brash youngster. I can’t help but wondering what a few years will do...

One of the many, "Drewbeerme is back and is a badass for sharing so many awesome Belgium (and... uh hem... German) beers" tasting with Holdenn and me. Murky dark red with small pink head, oh it looks good. Sour geuze aroma dominates, with a secondary aroma of raspberries. Dirty raspberry flavor, earthy, sour sweet, quite delicous. Thin, tangy body. Oh so good, raspberry is dangerously strong.

UPDATED: AUG 14, 2008 A Mes rate: 75cl bottle at home with Sim.<brCloudy and dark blood red colour with a pinkish rim around the edges. The colour is typical 3 Fonteinen. Very fruity aroma with plenty of raspberry obviously but there is also strawberry and cherry and just a lick of 3F sourness. It’s both earthy and fresh at the same time. Flavour is even more special. Wonderfully tart with amazing complex fruity sourness. So many different fruit flavours emerge it is hard to do it justice. Strong citric notes, lemon, orange, kiwi, lime, then completely flooded by strawberry, cherry and a punch of puckering raspberries. It’s like eating a whole pack of Jolly Ranchers at once and it just keeps going and going right the way through to an amazingly lengthy finish. Beautiful sweetness of the likes rarely witnessed but held perfectly in balance by the sourness. I could go on for days. Palate is certainly one of the best I have experienced. On top of all this, it still feels young. 100% certainty to be a future classic.

I’m afraid my English vocabulary is to limited to describe such a superb beer. Hell, even my Flemish is to limited I’m afraid. Purple head quickly disappearing after pouring the bear. Good carbonation. Self-evident fruity aroma’s dominated by the cherries but after some time I also recognise the raspberries. Cherry is dominantly present at the start, but when the cherry’s faint away, the raspberries pop up. I don’t think you can get closer to perfection for this style of beer. My first 20/20. Only a slightly longer lasting head might have resulted in a completely perfect score.