3 Fonteinen Schaarbeekse Kriek

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

Glass: flute Purchased at: Circle Liquors Super Saver, Pennington, NJ Price: $15.99 Size: 25.4 fl oz ABV: 6% IBU:n/a Estimated Calories: 310C RateBeer Rating: 99 Aural: interesting cork opening, high carbonation, simple pour Aroma 10 out of 10 Intensity: strong Balance: very sharp (incredibly sour) Impression: nice Malt Aroma: roast Hops Aroma: marigolds peppers orange Other Aroma: cherry Notes: what an amazing aroma. overpowering with sour cherry content and context. Appearance 5 out of 5 Color: brown Clarity: deeply cloudy, Head Retention: poor Lace: poor Notes: An absolutely stunning color, depth and presence. No head at all. Flavor 10 out of 10 Intensity: strong Balance: bitter Impression: nice Malt Flavor: roast Hops Flavor: grapefruit Other: cherry Notes: What an amazing, surprising and wholly sour flavor. Knocks you down with intent and determination. A beautiful flavor with dark intent. This beer wants to take a bough of arrows and send each of them deep into your heart, and you still love it so! It is a fruit based flavor that wants to convince you of IPAs. it’s phenomenal. Palate 5 out of 5 Mouthfeel Sensation: drying Body: full Carbonation: medium Finish Length: long Intensity: strong Balance: bitter Notes: what an amazing palate and finish - great depth to the bitterness and sourness of the palate. General Impression: 18 out of 20 Craftmanship: excellent Freshness: quite fresh Personal Taste: loved Notes: It is dominated by sourness and acidity, but it is interesting to no end as a result. It is not sweet or cloying, but you are overwhelmed by the things we associate with sweetness — cherries, grapes, and melons (rinds). So nice. Address : <http://beercritic.wordpress.com/>

750 ml bottle consumed on 6/5/08. I’ve been holding onto this one for quite awhile. A warm spring evening playing horseshoes seemed like the perfect opportunity to open this kriek. Pours reddish pink with a pink soapy head that lingers. The nose is phenomenal. Sour fruit everywhere. Lots of tart cherries and raspberries. Acidic fruit that’s almost gueze like. Acidic and vinegary cherry flavors with cherry skins. There is a slight barnyard character with earthy herbal notes that come out more as it warms up. The slightly sweet cherries, lactic tartness, and earthiness all balance out each other really well. Excellent lambic I could drink more of.

Bottle enjoyed with dessert at Heeren van Liedekerke, Belgium (3/2008); unsure of the vintage. Smells of vinegar and cherry skins, showing the acidity and the fleshiness of the cherries. Immediately after the first sip, there’s a charge of bretty, guezue-like sourness that cuts through the foamy carbonation. The charge subsides just as quickly, to be replaced by a full cherry flavor that is wonderful and puts many other krieks to shame. The cherry lingers into the finish and provides the baseline with which the other flavors interact: a dry yeasty bitter on top of the tongue and on the sides in the beginning, followed by soft lactic sweetness. Dark yeasty things play around throughout, and are a wonderful complement to the main event: the perfect balance between ripe cherry fruitiness and the guezue-sour juiciness. Clear ruby red in the glass, pink fizzy head medium to small, but lasting. Wonderful beer.

My bottle is one of the newer labels, or maybe just the American distributor’s label, but whatever the cause, I simply love this label design. Oh yeah, the beer inside is fantastic too. The head begins the beer on a plain note - a simple layer of coral pink. But from this unassuming gaseous crust comes a tart and tangy vapor, stemming even deeper into the pomegranate seed, crimson core. One deep pull into my olfactory and my teeth begin to chatter with a mix of anticipation and fear of the sweet and tart beer to come. Vinegar, simple and sweet, takes control of my nose, with a side of dry gauze and leather. Simple enough. It is then time to taste, where I am immediately crestfallen by its blandness. A few seconds pass, though, and the beer is reclaimed in the name of good brew with its skillfully composed aftertaste. It begins with a moderate tartness, followed by a slightly more intense tongue scraping astringency, before the storm smoothes over and reveals a glowing but subtle note of dark cherries. Simple, but effective. A bit of warmth does wonders too, giving that initial tart a little more depth and a little less screech, and makes the luscious cherry touch even more luscious. Almost impossible, I say, but it’s done. A fantastic drink at higher degrees of thermal investment.

Bottle. Say that 3 times fast. Pours a ruby blood color. Aromatics is sour cherry funk and wood. Flavor is just that. I had to laugh when VFerg paid $60 at blind tiger for this one because he thought it said 16$ on the board haha. What could i add to this this beer? Its just phenomenal.

Bottle via Beerlando. Ruby red color. Smell of sourness, tart cherries, barnyard and wood. Taste of tart, sour cherries and oak.

2005 vintage.....nose is sour and funky like a indian spice store gone bad, in a good way if that is possible. and the taste is of super tart cherries and finishes witht he awesome cherry indian store funk good stuff

Pours a blood red color with almost no head. Some bubbles that are pink and off white. Nose is sour and funky with sour cherries and a bit of wood. Taste is sour tart and bitter. Not much sweetntess but the mouthfeel is ultra smooth and extremly refreshing. Great lambic.