3 Fonteinen Hommage

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

Serve in Flute, Stem glass, Tulip, Tumbler

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@ 2nd RBBSG, thx to Gene

Head: slightly bubbly on top
Colour: murly red
Smell: lots of fruity sour fragerants, mostly raspberry with hints of the cherries
taste: wondrfull fruity flavour with tarty acidic lambic flavour underneath. dry finish , very good !

750 ml bottle
Rating #2,000. For a milestone like this I had to break out a big gun. Rooting around in the cellar I found this to share with about a dozen others at a pre-GTMW tasting. Preceded by another monster (Blauw) it was the perfect way to finish an evening. I don’t know how many bottles are still in the wild but I would love to try this one again. Even after five years it is fresh and tart.

Aroma / Appearance - The rosy red pour looks like someone blended a pound of raspberries then filtered out the pulp. Sparkling and brilliant it has only a trace of carbonation. The nose is sharp, acidic, and pure raspberries. It isn’t rich and complex but it doesn’t try to be blunt either. Despite the intensity it has an approach that makes it inviting and savory.

Flavor / Palate - Each sip is more intense than the one before until the taste buds begin to melt. Sharp raspberries taste like licking a handful which have been powdered with the residue from a bag of Sour Patch Kids. This top notch beer is something that American brewers can continue use as the ultimate benchmark. Somehow I think few will come anywhere close.

Sampled at RBBSG (bottle from 2007). Murky opaque red-brown color, no head just a slight off-white lacing. Smell strawberries, red currant, lightly sweet-sour. Taste is very sour, again strawberries and red currant. Medium carbo, medium body.

Bottle @ De Heeren. After a long evening of excellent rare and vintage beers, I choose this baby to cap off the night. Lightly orangish pink, somewhat hazy appearance with a pink head. Super funky/cheesy, moderate barnyard, mild cobweb, very rich/deep raspberry, tart fruity aroma. The flavor is nothing short of unbelievable with notes of rich, fresh raspberries, funk, dust, mild cheese, dark berries, and light yeast. My new favorite raspberry beer.

Draft at brouwers with Linh and nhi. Pours a deep hazy ruby red with nice white lacing. Aroma is perfected tart raspberries and funky oak. Insane. End the review now. No, let me actually taste the beer. Mouthfeel is fizzy carbonation with delicious mouth puckerig tart, funky oak, sour raspberries and sour cherries.

Bottle shared by ygtbsm94. Thanks Brad! The beer is ruby hued with an oily, thin head that leaves a good amount of lacing on the glass. The aroma is very musty, funky, and fruity. Dank basement comes to mind. The flavor is quite tart, with plenty of raspberries and a hint of cherries. Also a bit of oddness and bandaids, though these characteristics don’t completely overrun the beer. The finish brings a puckering sensation in the cheeks (the ones on your face). A quality lambic. Recommended.

In bottle thanks Craig! Pours a dull ruby colour with a thin white head. A lovely musty aroma of raspberries, cherries, lemon, balsamic vinegar, oak and alcohol. Similar flavours with moderate carbonation, light CO2 prickle and a foamy mouth-feel. A lovely dry finish and beautifully tart. Stunning!

Bottle. Thanks Craig for sharing. Big funky musty aroma, ribena fruitiness, lambic notes, something remarkable I can’t put my finger on. Similar taste, lots of funk and fruit. Tart. Excellent

UPDATED: AUG 13, 2012 Enjoyed this beer in 75CL format at Delirium Cafe in Brussels. Paid about 20 Euro for it and it was served in a Gueuze glass at cellar temp (around 60 Degrees F). I gave one third of the bottle to the bartenders who were interested in trying it.

A - Absolutely zero pop of the cork. It just came right off with no hiss. I poured rather vigorously and had a quarter finger head that subsided quickly. Slight amount of bubbles on the edge of the glass. SRM was around 29. It was a dark blood red appearance that looks like raspberry skins or maybe plums depending on the light.

S - Big grape scent. I’m getting a nice oak backbone and pears. Raspberries clearly dominate the smell but age is starting to creep up it seems with lemon zest also coming through and a funky barnyard scent.

T - Wow. Huge raspberry notes but the expected power feels a bit muted. It’s big but not bold if that makes sense. Fading fruit seems to be common in beers of this type. No, the taste is slightly more vinegar than raspberry. Slightly tasting shoe polish and some chemical aspects to this beer. I get a decent level of cherries and ripe fruits.

M - Surprisingly, the carbonation while drinking had held up well. 10% carbonation on the mouth swish. Medium body and an incredible red wine dry finish.

O - This is a unicorn beer for a lot of people. It’s very tasty but has started to show signs of age. It could have been a complete sour bomb but has held up nicely. It would have been great to have this fresh. *Update: I drank the sediment at the finish. Why not? Turned the beer less fruit and more bread like. Taste moved to a musky finish and more oak characteristics with some rotten grape. Still delicious.

Bottle shared at my 30:th birthday tasting on May 5 (30 år av Surt). Courtesy of sebletitje. Pours deep brownish red with a rather small pinkish white head that is rather quick to dissipate and doesnät leave much trace on the glass. Smell is tiny sweet, sour and fruity with raspberries, sour cherries, hay, dusty barnyard, lemon juice, lemon zest and hints of leather, horse blanket and oxidation. Taste is sour and fruity with raspberries, wood, horse blanket, sour cherries, lemon zest, wheat crackers, leather, dark grapes and hints of vinegar and bilberries. Mouthfeel is tart, dry, intense and medium to full bodied. Finish is sour, tart and fruity with raspberries, sour cherries, grape zest, lemon zest, wood, hay and hints of oxidation. Fruity, sour and plain incredible. Many thanks Seb for bringing me this!