3 Fonteinen Schaarbeekse Kriek

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

Ruby bodied, tiny white head. Acidic lambicy aroma, cherries in the background. Very dry sour flavour leaves the mouth salivating and puckered slightly. Light grassy-hay undertones, fairly prominent funk, and a bit of lemon like tartness. I enjoyed the taste of this much more than I expected based on the aroma which does not do the flavour justice in my opinion.

A beautiful dark-red coloured beer with almost no head. The aroma is just fantastic, the perfect balanced aroma. Very acidic but overwhelming good, almost perfection. The flavour is also good balanced and sour. A really good beer. The only down side is that it is quite expensive. (Corked bottle 75cl 5% alcohol in my version.)

Bottle (750ml). Shared with blankboy, GregClow, jerc and tupalev - my bottle. I’m not certain of the vintage - I suspect 2005 or 2004. Poured slightly hazy ruby with a small white head. Funky, earthy, yeasty aroma with nice fresh tart cherry. Taste - the same, even more sour cherry, truly lovely - I don’t do this justice, it’s funky, yeasty, the usual lambic terms that make non-fans shake their heads - simply put, very very nice. Thick, acidic mouthfeel, just simply wonderful, no matter the upset stomach I’d have the next day, I’d drink a whole one myself.

What I don’t understand is that in only a few ratings the age of the Schaerbeekse kriek is mentioned. My rating is about the 2003 one. When it was still young (in 2003) it was typical geuze, with the taste and smell of soil and barn. Deep inside you could taste and smell the the dry and sour cherrymeat combined with the wood of the stone of the cherry. during 2004 and 2005 the smell and taste of the cherry was evolving into more smooth and more or less overruling the smell and taste of the soil and barn. And now in 2006 it has become a real smooth beer wich even geuze haters will finish a glass from. It has not lost its typical barn and soil smell, nor its acidic taste and cherry stone components, but the smell and tast of the poor cherry’s have changed into a smooth wrapping of the typical geuze components. I still have a dozen of the 2003 to age or to trade, and a lot of the 2004 that will have to wait for a rating until next year.

This bottled brew from Indianapolis, IN poured a small sized head of foamy mostly diminishing bubbles that left behind a hazy purple colored body and no visible carbonation. The aroma was very strong of cherries. The mouth feel was tingly from start to finish and had a strong cherry aftertaste. The bubbly tingly cherry flavor was very unidimensional all cherry.

tasted this for the first time following a sad sampling of new glarus’ belgian red... we’re talking day and night here! schaerbeekse is as delicious as glarus is a glaring mistake in belgian-style brewing. with the cherry firmly in the back of the brew, the tartness comes through bold but not too in-the-face that gets the tasebuds watering in a most pleasant manor. my two belgian friends who tried this with me and had never heard of it back home were impressed as well, in spite of the fact that it’s not their prefered style. a well-earned 99 rating to be sure!

Opaque cherry-red, no head. Cherries, some spices (nice!) and minerals. The cherries do not completely take over the taste as in so many other Krieks. The acidity level is high enough to create a pleasant tartness but not so high that we make funny faces. A very good beer from a style I’m not very found of. How high would I allow myself to rate a very good romantic comedy staring Meg Ryan… 4 out of 5 at most.

Bottle. Red brownish in colour with a pink head. Big taste. Cherries and also a bit oaky and earthy. Maybe a weak hint of vanilla.