3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze

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

Serve in Flute, Tumbler

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About time I rated this beer. Everyone seems to love 3F and I like them a lot as well. But there are other lambic brewers I would rather drink (not in order: Cantillon, Hanssens, Rene Cuvee) and even more geuzes. But its good stuff. The house character seems to permeate all their beers and to me it comes off as all burnt rubber. It fades as time goes on. Always tart, never very acidic. Well balanced in many other ways. I will always drink it but for the cost I will always pass it up for better geuze.

375ml bottle, bottled in 2010. I have more of these in my cellar to age, but I had to crack this one right now so I could get a feel as to how it is doing, and the overall experience of the Oude geuze. Here goes: pours a beautiful cloudy orange color, like an orange julius (if you know what that it). An initial 5 finger head eventually dies down to a 1 finger head that sticks around for a while. Nose is pure bliss for any lambic lover: cheese, funk, dirty socks, citrus, hay, rotten crotch, sunshine warming up a damp meadow. Fucking amazing. An almost impossible act to follow, the taste delivers ever more. It is delicate where it needs to be, but can also deliver the knock out blow when you aren’t paying attention. Sour, funky, sunshine citrus puts your palate in its proper place. This is a beer that is better than you, you don’t deserve it, and you know it. Bow down.

10 cl sample @ Gastropub Tuulensuu Gueuze blind tasting. BBE 12/2019. Bottled 10.12.2009.
Originally rated on 20100925. (6+3+6+3+14)
Pours clear orange color with small head. Aroma of fruits, grapes and grass. Flavor of grapes, goose berries, fruits and yeast. Very sour and tangy palate.
Placed #10 of 15.

UPDATED: MAY 21, 2012 Tasted @ Gastropub Tuulensuu geuze blind tasting 2012. #3/15 overall rating

2009 vintage - Pours almost clear, light orange with a small foamy head. Aroma of earthy notes, currants, and ripe berries. Taste of currants, berries, some sourness, tart fruits, spices and hints of honey. Finish is medium bodied, slightly tart and fruity. Well balanced and tasty.

bottle @ Haand festival. We tried two different vintages, and they were years apart. One looked and smelled like a nice barley wine, put was very sour. (in the bad way) The other looked, smelled and tasted like a proper geuze. weird...

Bottle from wine warehouse. Pours dark golden with a lot of white head. Smells a bit like sweet tarts on the nose. Nice tartness on the tongue the feels rounded and mellowed. Theres a sharpness to the taste and a funkiness as well. Finishes clean. Notice example of style.

Bottle at WtWBA Brooklyn 2012. I’m pretty sure I’ve had this a couple times in the past and just never rated it. Pours a hazed golden body with white lacing. Aroma is very nice funk, light wheat and tart fruit. Mouthfeel is champagne with notes of funky oak, fruit, sour grapes. Wonderful lambic.

2010 vintage - poured from 12.7oz bottle to tulip glass: Cork bursts from the bottle... Pours a bright honey/school bus gold - lively, noisy carbonation produces a full two fingers of fizzy, starch white head. Abundant needle point beading with muted lacing. The nose is both soft and complex. Subtle white grapes, raspberry, spicy yeast, quite fruity, inviting sourness... a blanket of tart aggressiveness fills the nostrils. The taste - beautifully dry, rhubarb, lemon, sour lime, grassy hops, such lively carbonation. Bits of white wine begin to surface as the beer warms. There is a world of complexity here that can’t be understated. This is the type of beer that brings everything into perspective. It’s the sort of beer that encourages the quest for better beer. It’s hard to explain in words how perfectly executed this is. A perfect balance of everything that I typically look for in a geuze. I’m not sure what else to say... this beer is nearly perfect.

Hunger Mountain Co-Op $13 a bottle, Stored at cellar temp, Bottled 11-18-2010

A - 1 finger white head. Faded fast. Golden color. Almost yellow.

S - Wild grass, lemons, honeysuckle, wheat, oak

T - Intense oak taste. Lemonhead, honey,

M - 50/50 carbonation, champagne finish, toasted almond aftertaste

O - Not a sour bomb. Very lively. Tasty and delicious. Would love to have one a decade from now.

Bottle, 2008. Golden orange color with a foamy white head. Brett, citrus, vinegar and apples in the aroma. Taste is dry and sour with green apples, citrus and some barnyard. Light to medium-bodied, aftertaste is acidic and dry.

Was expecting more from this. Pours orange with no head at all and no lacing. Nose is sweat and sour candy. Fruity in the mouth then backed by medium sour hit. Finish is also sour. Very little carbonation and light in the mouth. Meh.