3 Fonteinen Framboos (Framboise)

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

750ml bottle, vintage 1999
Consumed at Bier Circus, Brussels, May 2006 (7 years cellared)
Has a slightly cloudy still dark ruby red colored body with a small filmy white head. Slightly murky. The nose is a strong, pungent seedy, woody raspberry aroma. Intensely sour up front, then a bit numbing, with an intensely puckery finish, at times tingling like a flemish sour. One of the most sour beers I’ve had, rivals aged Cantillon. Rich, flavorful, robust woody raspberry flavor, with the added funk of the lambic yeast wafting around hints of aged cheese and hay. The apparent acidity feels like it would corrode flesh. The age on this bottle I think is spectacular. I never throught that my highest rated lambic would be a framboise, but this one is amazing. Drinking this was one of the most amazing food and drink experiences I’ve ever had. 5.0 at first sip, and has always been.

Photograph of Bottle & Glass
http://www.youforgotpoland.org/beer/3FFramboos.j

Unbelievably amazing beer. Without doubt the best lambic/gueuze I have ever tasted. Massive raspberry aroma & flavour; this beer looks superb and tastes superb. If I can have one wish, it is that Armand starts to produce this masterpiece once more, as we can’t keep relying on Joris’s cellar to keep pumping this one out for ever!

Drie Fonteinen Framboos (1986). Label has worn away completely over the years and cage around the cork is rusted clear through in places and is impacted with soil. We were blessed not only with a fine lambic but also a little piece of Belgium. Year has been marked by hand in white on the side of the bottle. Cage and soil, once removed, reveal a wax plug sealing the top of the cork and apparently still intact. Pulling the cork resulted in a very satisfying pop and a mist of CO2 after all these years. Poured a very strong, pink-tinged head over a murky, red-brown body. Fantastic crisp lambic aroma. Raspberries are still there and strong - captured all those years ago and released at last. Barnyard, horse-blanket, musky sweat, mustard seed and leather all come out as it warms. Assertive sourness marries perfectly with explosion of raspberry flavour in the mouth. Wonderfully tart and noticably funky - a perfect complement to the fruit. Puckers the edges of the tongue very gently despite the strength of the sour, tart acidity. Acidic (lactic and acetic) without any burn. This is a gentle giant. Smooth, fresh palate. Incredible lasting carbonation. Medium body with lively mouthfeel after all these years. Head lasts throughout despite the fact that I lingered over this one. Long dry finish with raspberry that endures for minutes after the sip. Probably the most complex thing I have ever tasted. The only issue I took with this one is that even with the loitering pace, it was gone far too soon. The empty glass continues to provide new wonders in the aroma and the bottle the next day further still. There is truly nothing I can think of that would make this a finer beer. It got better with every sip. My first perfect five. If this one has any peer, I am looking forward to that discovery. Absolutely sensational. Bottle given by JorisPPattyn to MartinT. Thankyou both for sharing this fantastic lambic (savoured with MartinT, mr_kimchee, Oakes and Rastacouere).

Vintage 1986. Consommé en compagnie de Jocelyn et d’une belle étrangère dans un petit coin de paradis Flamand, le 30 Décembre 2005. Superbe couleur rose scintillant sous une mousse abondante et crémeuse blanche finement teintée de rose. Fruits d’une authenticité invraisemblable, framboise, écorce de citron, vanille (serait peut-être en provenance des sucres non-fermentés), composantes sauvages modérées sous des pointes respectueuses d’acidité citrique et lactique. Le plan de framboises semble y être en entier; la chair, les parfums et l’acidité du fruit, l’aspect de caoutchouc des tiges, la jadis verdure du feuillage. Tartrique, tannique et sèche en finale laissant le fruit s’exprimer longuement dans toute sa splendeur et sa complexité. Toutes les composantes co-habitent dans la plus grande harmonie. Tout simplement exceptionnelle ! Bouteille, Kroegske, Izegem. Merci Dany !

Bottle (1999 Vintage, Bier Circus, Brussels): I thought I was never going to find this lambic while in Belgium until I ate dinner my last night there at Le Bier Circus at their new location (quite nice). The lambic was cloudy orange red with a strong smell of raspberries, sour but sweet - perfect blend, fizzy mouthfeel. The bottom 1/8th of the bottle was extra sour. Of the lambics I have tried this has been the best. Too bad it costs so much (25 Euros/bottle).

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.

A 375ml 1999 bottle at the Hop Duvel in Gent; a 750ml 1999 bottle courtesy of a very generous Lord Glouglouburp, and a 750ml 1986 bottle, courtesy of the very gracious JorisPPattyn; I am a lucky man to know such great people and have such great beer:
An authentic, sweet raspberry perfume curtain is galantly raised from the bottleneck upon opening, citrusy velvet, herbal thyme, and musky softness glistening their monachal serenity and muscular splendor for all those who care to enjoy...The spectacle it reveals is an inner-peace-inducing discovery which establishes to prove that fraternity and communion are not just words of religion...Within bustles the most gorgeous interplay of pure raspberry fruitiness and wild, passion-driven lambic yeast...Barnyards of yore sharing their wise soils with adamantly rigid tartness...Funky children of a misunderstood world playing gleefully with upper-class-raised leathery dignitaries, their new brethren...No entity tries to dominate its neighbors...All is expressed with peaceful vigor and sovereign restraint in order to be sure that there is enough room for all populations to shine...And this is the uttermost beauty of this artistic revelation...No agression is necessary when there is such respect between all ingredients of life...Joris and Dany, your donations of this perfect image of the world were, just like the Framboos itself, some of those gestures from beyond...

1986 bottling: hazy gold orange, noisy white head. super funky aroma of raspberries, cheese, leather, pepper and earth. I could not stop nosing this beer. the carbo is still sparkling like a champagne after 18 years, wow. raspberry vinegar, mineral, lemon, sour orange, lactic tartness. such a complex beer. unbelievable. thank you so much to martin and joris!