3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze Vintage (all from 2002-*)

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

Bottle from Bierkoning, Amsterdam. Dated 12/04/2005. Murky orange body with almost no head. Aroma is very sour and tart. Taste of apples, wood and soured fruits. Watery mouthfeel, dries up at the end.

21st May 2008. Nice Geuze for me (a non sour lover). Not too sharp or dry but not much fruit either. A Pleasant puckerer! Goes down very easily with a lip smack at the end!

Sample #27 at 1st CST, thanks to ?, bottled dated 3.7.03. Sampled just after the 04 regular 3F oude geuze, aroma is a bit of a mess comparatively, sweet and sugary, some caramel, funky, corse, nostril stinging. Flavor is pool water, fizzy, some acidity, lightly sweet, oddly abrasive. Fizzy frothy fluffy mouthful, sugary feeling. Surely not the best bottle.

Nice stuff! Orangish/gold pour. Fluffy head. Aroma is nice and tart with sour apple, minerals, wet earth, sour stone fruits and wood. Flavor is sour and fruity. Funky with wet earth, sour apples, sour apricots...mmmmmm.

Oude geuze 3f vintage 2005 Bottle @ brasserie420 Wonderful cork-pop, good carbonation! Incredible complex nose, everything ranging from dust to honey, green apples, grapefruit. Really the copy of the scent of the 3F cellars. The taste is just great. Honey, apple juice. Not acetic at all. Clean, crisp and mineral. So elegant!! The acidity is perfect, not overdone, just perfectly balanced with the hops. Great! The Ferrari of Lambics.

Bottle from Bierkoning. Dated 12/04/2005. Murky orange body with almost no head. Really prickly and carbonated. Very sour and tart. Taste of apples, wood and soured fruits. Nice blend. (Still can’t warm to the style though.)

Bottle, dated 2005/12/04 and consumed in September 2009. The pour yields a progressively more hazy, brassy, golden-amber colored body. A moderate head of foamy, off-white foam settles slowly to a think, lasting blanket, wet lacing mostly rejoining the body. The aroma approaches perfection, enticingly tart and fruity with notes of peach, lemon, soured apricot, and big, funky, buggy wood. Barnyard must, horseblanket, and hints of wild grasses impart earthy depth, enhancing the citric acidity beautifully on the nose. The flavor proves to be the perfect counterpart, initially shockingly tart, but settling in quickly to deliciously balanced and juicy. Peach, apricot, nectarine, and lemon again rule the day, with spicy, musty, saturated oak lending it’s signature funk. Bright and vibrant in the mouth, the palate is zesty and refreshing, acidic and puckering, yet even keeled and semi-dry. This is simply a masterful creation. Absolutely one of the best beers on planet Earth.

I also had a bottle from 2003/07/03 at De Heeren van Liedekercke within a few days of the above rating. Slightly less impressive, this vintage maintained the same general direction yet fell short in terms of intense focus of both flavor and mouthfeel. Still astoundingly delicious, this older bottle only served to solidify my opinion of the 2005 vintage as being one of the finest beers I have ever had.

2002 Vintage. Pours copper golden, topped with a modest sized white head. Aroma of Dry, somewhat tart aroma, with lots of wood, lactic acid, barnyard, and overripe fruit. Dry, very tart on the palate, and very woody, with lemon, green apple, and some herbal notes. Flavor is more tart than the aroma. Dry, citric finish. Nice Gueuze.