3 Fonteinen Hommage

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

750mL Bottle. 02.14.2007. Flickr(http://www.flickr.com/photos/26049401@N0 Nose is absolutely strong. Tart, dry, funky, and dried cranberries. The merging of fruit and weirdness produces a unique emergence of red currents and vinous black cherries. Flinty. Pours a well clouded dark red and a rosey rim. Flavor is intense. Chewy ghost-like red fruit character. A blood of oranges, fresh cranberries, red currant jelly, plout juice, and some tangy very, very faint acetic nip. Cottony barrel, a bit of white grape juice and some long legs in port-like character. The acids are much, much softer than say a Gueze. Not a huge finish. Pretty quickly heading in to fruit lambic history. But, amazingly delicious with a light nip of almond in the backend.

Hedonically nearly perfect. The aroma is perfectly balanced between real fresh fruit, and framboise. By this I mean the raspberry is so real it transcends the lambicness at times, then just melds with it. A stony, pitty aroma presence, minerally at times, runs around in waves. The color is incredibly gorgeous, with the hints of tan increasing thoughts of leather in the horse barn. Flavors are somewhat acetic, somewhat lactic, sweet and sour and leathery. Incredible back of the throat sourness. Palate lets down just the tiniest bit; first brawny and slippery and thick, then with the feeling of a slight watery hole. A truly great beer. Thanks John.

Slight mercury-red hue, with a pinkyish-white head, but falls quickly, nice barnyard, musty, wet oaky, fruity nose of faint winey, acidic raspberries and cherries tartness, with a leathery, horseblanket funkiness, with some hints of sour rhubarb, and lactose in the aroma follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a very nice wild yeast, brett funkiness, acidic, tart, fruity sourness character, of delicate raspberry and cherry mustiness, with some tannic notes of cherrystone, with a good carbonation, the mouthfeel seems less dry, than a cantillon rosé de gambrinus, but leading towards a fruity, acidic, raspberry tartness, sharp finish.

Pours a hazy red with a small diminishing head. Smells of raspberries. Quite sour with hints of bittereness and sweetness. Aromas of raspberries and black currant. Dry and sour finish. Bit too sour for me, but otherwize good.

Courtesy of kramer17801. Cloudy, hazy ruby red body with a small beige head with a slight pink tint. Sour pie cherry nose with cheese, lactic acid, light berry and horseblanket. The flavor is lightly sweet, moderately sour with an enormous amount of sour pie cherries, lots of raspberry, some yogurt, cheese, melon and lemon. Medium body is soft with moderate carbonation. Finish is very long with a lasting pithiness.

750 ml bottle from Capone’s. Served in a flute. Pours copper amber orange with not much heat at all. The nose smells like raspberry jam with some cherry pits and stems. The lambic character takes over any impression of fruit that may be here. Sure I get a bit, but it is very tart and lactic yogurt flavored. Medium body with high carbonation. Very dry finish. Not really one of my favorite lamics, but still tasty.

Graciously sampled courtesy of the Indy crew, who brought it hard at Footie. 2007 bottle, with a huge vibrant pour, carbonation whipping up the pale pink body and releasing all the wonderfully complex aromas - woody, super dry fruits, champagne. Not much bite to it, as it’s surprisingly easy drinking. Lovely complexity, the kind of thing you could drink forever.

Mucho thanks again to RadioMGB for this treat. Simultaneously ruby, pink and peach with a thin ring of head. Nose is raspberries and cherry juice. Acidity is there but hidden. Some black cherry soda (not sweet - but that kind of richness) is there. Flavor is cherries, acid, lemon, oak. The fruit is incredibly fresh but the acidity is quite aggressive at the same time. Finish is more cherry than raspberry, a solid woodiness contributes to the dryness. Interesting but seems to be missing something to tie it all together - maybe age?