Zenne y Frontera (Batch 2 - Solera)

Batch 20. #3. Bottle @ Baller Tuesday, Ratebeer Odense, Autumn 2019. Pours hazy Golden with bubbles on top. Major funk, Wood and overripe fruity notes. Vinous and mature. Barnyard. Funky!

Hazy, orange-amber colored, small non lasting white head. Medium sweet, fruity, moderate funky, earthy notes, wood, grapes, bit vinous, medium sourness, dry finish. Medium bodied, soft carbonation, oily.

750ml bottles @ 3 Fonteinen, Lot. Batch 5: More fresh barrel notes, sherry, oak, earthy notes and funky yeastiness than in batches 3 and 4. Complex. Batch 6: Most acidic and sour, some earthiness and musty farmyard, some tart notes and funkiness. Overall 3 and 5 were quite similar in the fresh barrel notes, while 4 and 6 are more lambicy and sour.

Bottle thanks to Dan. Pours a hazy gold with small white head that diminishes quickly. The aroma is strong funk, sherry, oak. Thin body, light funk, oak, nice sweetness, sharp, enjoyed this.

Bottle courtesy of Carl. Thank you very much! Have been looking to try this for quite some time. Burnt orange pour in to decanter. Frothy offwhite head with solid retention. Classic lambic nose with grapefruit, apples and mellow funk. Opens up beautifully after about 30 minutes of decanting and you get prominent notes of oak, cobwebs and sherry. Mellow sour taste with light lingering astringency. Solid suiting mouthfeel. While I remember batch 1 as even better this is a sublime lambic!

Edwin Z. is drinking a 3 Fonteinen Zenne y Frontera Solera (season 17 - 18) Blend No. 21 by Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen at Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen & lambik-O-droom Funkier and cheesier aroma as the 3, slightly more sour flavors as 3, barnyard, very sweet/smooth, stale and a bit tart. 4.4

The second batch of this sherry barrel aged lambic by 3F, made according to the solera method as is tradition in sherry. Thanks to Bart Vanpoucke for sharing. Concise and provisional rating from memory as I did not have the opportunity to take notes, but a more detailed rating will follow after I visited the Lambik-o-Droom (the only place where this is available) to sample a full bottle. Lightly hazy orange-hued golden blonde colour, loose bubbly off-white head, unstable. Astonishingly beautiful aroma with lots of nuttiness from the sherry, blending perfectly with the funky and estery properties of the lambic, with moldy old orange, hay, cellary and leathery notes. Starts with a soft tartness, lactic acidity, dry and typically lambic-estery (sour apples, gooseberries) but mellowed and sweetened by the hazelnutty character of the sherry, which is emphatically present; smooth, refinedly carbonated body, lovely rounded bready backbone, dry and very complex finish with woodiness and remaining sherry effects as well as bright lambic funkiness, sour but relatively mildly so. Less sherry in the nose, but more nuttiness and sweetness in the flavour than the first batch (consisting of one single lambic if I am well-informed and being sharper, more sour and more subtle in actual sherry taste), yet every bit as elegant, refined and complex - to say that both Zenne y Frontera editions are world class, is an understatement. We are once again at the top of lambic complexity, beauty and nobility here and therefore at the top of what beer in general is capable of. Perhaps this one even tops the first one, but this is obviously tough to decide without having had the chance to taste them side by side...

750 ml bottle, many thanks to Werckmeister for organising this! Orange, medium hazy body, with a low, yellowish head. Lovely aroma of cheesy funk, stone fruits, sherry, grapes, moderate curry-like spice, citrus, green apple. Tastes similar, with a bit more vinegar. Medium, slick mouthfeel, with a moderate carbonation. Finishes medium dry, medium sour, with green apple skin, some cheese, slight sherry, citrus, wood. Very tasty! The sherry is quite subtle, while it leads to some vinous and curry-like notes. Otherwise deep funk and crisp fruits, very well balanced and smooth. Score: 9 / 4 / 8 / 4 / 17

Bottle 750ml. @ USWWT19 🐳🐋 [ Ulfborg Semi White Whale Tasting 2019 ] - fonefan & Brugmansia House, 🇩🇰 Denmark.

[ As 3 Fonteinen Zenne y Frontera Solera ].
ABV: 7.0%. Cloudy medium orange yellow colour with a small, fizzy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, wheat, horse blanket, barnyard, leather, funk, oak, sherry - vinous, barrel - wood. Flavor is moderate sweet and light acidic with a long duration, tart, funky, barnyard, leather, barrel, oak, farmyard, sour grapes, sherry - vinous. IMO: (big time typical 3F aroma and flavor). Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is soft. [20190615]
9-4-8-4-18