3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze

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

Bottle - I’ll preface by saying I don’t know as much as I would like to about the style... Over attenuated I think, since it bubbled over and out of the bottle for about 5 minutes. Nose is zesty, sour, yeast, barnyard, hay, cheese, light citrus and spices with some floral notes, really nice. Unfilitered honey color with a bubbly white head. Flavor is spot on, simple and grainy (like semolina) with a tart/sour finish and light bitter background. Not overly sour but very enjoyable, the more I drink it the more I like it. No alcohol that I can detect. World class. Rerate, 2006 bottle - amazing.

My first Fonteinen product and it is excellent. Aroma has a great barnyard character and promises a sour flavor. Flavor has very light wheat, a touch of citrus, and a sour flavor. Probably not the most sour gueuze I have tasted, but full bodied and very flavorful.

1999 Bottle Pours out a nice cloudy yellowish color with a nice white head. Aroma was somewhat sour, but im sure that is has mellowed with age. Flavor was not nearly as sour as I expected it to be. This as well had mellowed and was somewhat sweet. Over all the best lambic I have ever had.

March 2007. Vintage 1999. The pour is a cloudy, thick haze. Light orange, dusty color. Lemon aroma comes first. Blue cheese, sawdust, pepper. Finally it’s like stepping into a misty nighttime fog, the wet air heavy with the smell of new flowers. Damp as the walls of the cave. Spicy wheat flavor unravels into wild but sophisticated strangeness; orangey citric acid, wet moss, infection, white pepper. Brisk, clean, wild. Incredibly textured finish of greek olives and dry, sour goat cheese. Fascinating but comprehensible brilliance; so good that I couldn’t stop myself shivering a little. 9/4/9/5/19 4.6

July 2008. Vintage 1999. Clean apricot orange pour, with a touch of mist. Caramelized skins of citrus aroma, lemon and lime juices, vanilla, and a soft champagne vinegar. Seems to have sweetened a bit. A film of attic must envelopes the middle in dusty haze, even if there isn’t much horseblanket stink to make it really funky. A blanketing, if distant, salty, cheese and cured meat antipasto quality is really appetizing. Fruit characters are firm and soft, in watermelon, cantaloupe, and nectarine. Fleshy and chewy, and still seeming somewhat caramelized. The moist, evocative late summer sweetness of those fragrances seems crisply reminiscent of the glory of the Blauw gueuze.

Flavor is a burst of cheesy funk settling in the mold of citrus yogurts and stony fruits. Apricots and blood oranges swimming the tang of goat cheese cream. Mineral heavy, and coldly bitter at times, but ridden with a wild and fresh cleansing herbal character. A tang of a heavier balsamic type of vinegar lends a certain syrupy quality, sweet and musty. Wooden. I love the resilience of the bright and soft fruit sweetness; it’s like a stagnant humid sunrise of fresh summer stone fruits.

Medium bodied, cotton soft palate is bright and reasonably acidic. Middle brings a bit of mint, and the finish just lacquers the back of the throat in dried out, herbal goat cheese, smacking more intensely on the rind of the cheese and dirty minerals than almost every other confident gueuze I can think of, almost belligerent in confidence and force. It’s a textbook rewriting finish. All around awesome; gentle, but unbridled. A classic. 8/4/9/5/19 4.5

gold color with nice white head. Wonderful sour nose. Wonderful sour body with maybe the faintest hint of apple. Dry.

Monsterous champagne head,wonderful outdoorsey, haybarn horseblanket aroma,soft but spritzy tartness,touch of lemon, a touch of fruity sweetness, drys out quickly,a pleasing fruit sourness,a real thirst quencher,delicious

bottled 22JAN04 pours a hazy amber gold with minimal fizz and head. lemon wine nose is balanced with expected funk. flavor is tartly acidic with notes of hay and more citrus. not overwelmingly complex, but nice enough. oak flavor comes through in finish.

Had an 04 bottle.Lots of sourness dominates the aroma.Pours a very cloudy orange with an off white head.Flavor is a very balanced sourness.Medium mouthfeel with a very smooth sour finish.