3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze 1998 (50th Anniversary)

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

This geuze pours a cloudy orange gold color from a 750ml bottle at the 2006 Pizza Port Belgian Fest. Medium sized white small bubbled head. Aroma is tart, vinous and funky. Cobwebs, leather and must. A medium bodied gueze. Malts are fruity, funky, barnyard and leather. Tart as hell, Dry as a bone. Yet, there are nice berry, lemon and apples. Crisp and clean. Nice beer. Ages well. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is crisp and dry. Aftertaste is tart and sour.

Poured a hazy golden color with a large, creamy, white head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of hay, some oak, horseblanket, some tart citrus, with green apples, and brett. Taste is perfectly sour, lemon rind, more apple, with some vanilla, and a very light sweetness that balances the wild yeasts very nicely. Silky mouthfeel.

From Bottle, poured at the 2006 Pizza Port 12 Hour Belgian Beer Party. Slightly hazy, golden peach skin pour with a nice, white foamy head. Light bubble formation floats to the surface, sustaining a delicate, mossy island of snow flake head. Amazing aroma, full of raspberry juice, strawberry jam, under-ripe peach, and grandmother’s perfume. The flavors bombard the tongue - the assault of chokecherry skins and watermelon rind is overwhelming. Finish is long and dripping with a fine, aged, oaky chardonnay.

Dark orange beer with white head. Woody and sour. Some sweet exotic fruit notes are lying under the general taste. Finish is dry and sour. Great brew.

Bottle Opens with a very hard explosion-pof, but no beer splashes out. Clear amber body. Slightly off-white, creamy head, which fastly diminishes almost totally. Very beautiful beer. Complex nose of old wood, apples, white wine, fine liquor, citrus. Moderatelately sour, lightly bitter initial flavour. Moderately sour, moderately bitter finish. Nicely well balanced beer. The typical 3 Fonteinen mark is enormously shining through, but somewhat less sharper (but more softer) than the ’ordinary’ gueuze. Definitely another succes of Armand.

YES. This was just amazing. Opens quite highly carbonated for the age. Poured into chamgane flutes, it has a great head and straight away apples start to come off it. Aroma hits with apples, yeast, bitter orange peel to be honest in was too busy sharing this with my mum of all people to write to many notes down. Taste is similarly complex as the aroma and increadibly drinkable. Dry and a mouth feel like champagne or Deus, but not overly dry so you can taste the beer abou 15 mins after your last drop. This was the best lambic iv ever had and it’ll take quite a bit to beat it. Yes. RERATE: Bottle at the RBESG08, Thanks to the chap that brough them. sTILL GOIGN STRONG AFTER THIS AMOUNT OF TIME. gREAT STUFF, MINDBLOWING COMPLEXITY.

Over a month ago, during my trip to Amsterdam I had the chance of visiting De Bierkoning, a store whose praiseful reputation is genuinely well founded. After gaping at the enormous selection found upstairs, I proceeded to the cramped lambic cellar where two gems caught my eye. On the bottommost shelf were two small sets of dusty bottles whose green glass still emitted a slight twinkle among the wrinkles of time. I grasped one by its neck and gently dusted off the label feeling like an archeologist in an ancient Egyptian tomb. "1998". Ah! What a wonderful year marked by France’s win in the World Cup and as I was about to discover, the creation of an outstanding brew.

Back in Paris, the pour in my Rochefort glass produced an obfuscated crepuscular melon color with no visible carbonation. The head, of an off-white hue, was dynamic, its bubbles of varying sizes creating wondrous patterns. Raspberries emerged at the pop of the cork, filling the nose with a delectable fragrance. Fruits of all kinds flood the aroma, releasing apple, sour cherries, pineapple, passion fruit and with warming some wild strawberries. The incredible complexity is further augmented by the odors of Champagne, brown sugar, soap, vanilla, cider, rose and mint. An exceptional concoction that subtly cools the nasal cavity much like freshly crushed mint. On the tongue apricot dominates initially while sweet peaches deliberately appear with time. A complex Champagne flavor is emphasized while the liquid is still cool but spearmint is quickly revealed along with a citrussy combination of unsweetened grapefruit and lemon that lingers after the swallow. The carbonation is well preserved and feels surprisingly tingling as it complements the body perfectly before flowing into a velvety finish on the back of the tongue. One might compare the aftertaste to New Belgium’s La Folie, though the sourness is further accompanied by fruits, notably apricot. The ascerbity leaves a wide grin on my face, the final mark of a remarkable brew.

Wow. What can I say about this beer...amazing. Sour apples and fruit, tart lemon, bone dry and refreshing. Everything you want in a lambic. Complex. Superb.