3 Fonteinen Framboos (Framboise)

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

[Vintage 1985-1987 bottle] The aroma is fantastic containing raspberries and great sourness. The color is dark amber (rather than red - could be the age) with some sediment floating around and it has a fine off-white head. The flavor is very powerful with notes of wood, lending it some dryness, raspberries, grapefruit and a sourness that draws out the mouthwater. The finish is dry and woody. A great beer that gives a flavor explosion in the mouth. Thanks a lot to Joris for this fantastic experience.

Clear red. Dry with fruity raspberry flavour.

Date: 10/12/2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting

opaque light purple, fine off white head, tart berry aroma with a light raspberry character and a funky tart twang, creamy body, big tart berry flavor, lots of wild twang, lasting tartness,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.7/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **4

1986 Vintage, sampled May 2004
Orangey-amber colour. Funky aroma - stinky cheese, raspberry and earth. So well-integrated you can’t help nosing the beer over and over again. Slight acetic hint to the big acid body. Hugely complex - raspberries, nuts, leather and oak. Extremely well-balanced. Some sips you’re drinking a collection of great flavours, other sips you’re drinking just one great flavour. Drinking this is like peeling back layers of time as the beer slowly reveals itself. Outstanding.

Vintage 1999, 5 ½ years old
Amber color; the head disappears quickly. Solid Lambic, smells like a wonderful Gueuze, later some raspberry appears… Lovely, so real and so sour (but low fruitness).

This is the drie fonteinen Framboos/Framboise enjoyed (thanks to JorisPPattyn and MartinT) with MartinT, kimchee, Oakes and Tiggmtl. As Joris points out, this is refermented in bottle. The vintage is 1986 and I swear this bottle is like 1 inch thick. The cork looks completely ravaged like in an horror movie. Apparent soil lie everywhere under the cage which is barely holding in place. There is no label on this bottle, the vintage is written with chalk, simply Despite its age, it opens up with a serious pop. A nice off-white to pink head forms over the top of the reddish, pinkish orange body. Such a head seems like a mirage from the past and scores an easy 5. The aroma is totally unique and exploding of raspberries. They hit the deep end of your nose and penetrate your brain and you know when it happens that the smell will haunt your memories for a while. It feels very dessert-like, wet, creamy. Some sweetness seems to come from the vanilla notes. It’s earthy, leafy with leathery peaks. Very complex lemon and citrus complement the lactic tartness and funky brettanomyces character. In mouth, it’s definitely the most lactic beer i’ve ever had. Extremely dry and fruity, dusty out-of-date yoghourt. Potent lemon juice with the wheaty acidity really coming out. With the slightest effort (and it’s really not that demanding actually), you grasp all the typical barnyardy and horsey characteristics. Aftertaste is long, tart, astringent, salivating, begging for more, but begging to let this moment be enjoyed for a while. Medium bodied, very dry and with medium to high carbonation which seems like a miracle. Once you’ll have tried it you’ll know, but it’s one of those beers that is such a labyrinth of flavors and at the same time keeps such a nice focus that it’s just adorable and deserves to be seeked out and tried to be believed. It's hard to paint in words all the nuances a brewer can attain when exploiting his full brewing art potential.

1999 bottle shared by cquiroga: Pours a slightly cloudy copper amber with a thin, wispy-lacing spotty white head. Aroma of tart funky raspberries and some fresh earthy oaky notes and complexity. Body starts with a fairly full, almost oily maltiness with good tartness and fruit character. Very well balanced and slightly puckering with nice light funkiness throughout. An outstanding lambic that I sure wish they’d brew again.

1999 vintage, sampled 12711/2004 - slightly hazy reddish colour, the initial foam quickly reduces, haye and vinegar, notes of red fruits, very sour, very dry and sour vinegar aftertaste - a big punch in the face ! (thanks to fiulijn vor this very impressive beer)