7.8

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

From the bottle at a tasting at Beer Out, Forlì, Italy. Pours amber, like a Georgian wine, with no foam. Aroma is funky, fruity, winey, resinous. Body is average, with no carbonation. Taste is medium-high sour, with a hint of acetic. Final is still rich, but not particularly long.

7.6

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 8

2019/20 bottle. Hazy red color with no head. Aroma is big cherries, lemon. Taste is cherries, cherry stone, almonds, sour finish. A tiny bit of carbonation. On the sour side, but I like the balance! Very nice, but one to share.

7.6

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

750mL bottle, pours a cloudy dark orange with a small white head. Aroma has subtle but complex sherry barrels, gentle funk, and a touch of acidity. Flavour is dominated by the sherry barrels, with moderate tartness emanating from the barrels, gentle funk, citric notes, and a touch of earthy leather. That’s quite the sherry expression. Very good.

8.9

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 9.5 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 9

Draught Utterly clear, still, metallic golden beer, headless. Leather, leatherpolish, dried grapes as in Eiswein, cognac sour. Dried grapes, Botrytis, again Eiswein-like. Very little real acidity, but really dry. Sultanas with half the sugars dissolved in fruitacids. Very slick, oily, almost sticky despite all the drying acids. People told me the alcohol is hidden. Not really, it betrays its force in various ways. But as how they did this, I'm bewildered. Just superb.

8.9

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 9

At last I had the chance to sample this peculiar 3 Fonteinen blend: a tribute to the late Armand Debelder, a man I had several lengthy conversations with in my earlier days of beer exploring: one of the men justly credited with keeping traditional lambic alive during its darkest times, a man of wisdom and kindness, and an eternal source of inspiration. His "Zotte Kadeeën", the new generation operating the Lambik-O-Droom and the rest of the 3 Fonteinen business, wanted to surprise this lambic legend on his 65th birthday by - in a way - reassuring him that the future of the brand is safe in their hands, and of course honouring him as the engaging and inspiring person he was. Especially in hindsight, considering his passing five years after this blend was made in his honour, it is difficult to find a more emotionally charged beer in this country (and beyond) so I was very happy to get the chance to taste it - cheers to Bart and Daniel. Off-white, moussey, medium thick but opening and thinning head, hazy peachy orange blonde robe with lively sparkling. Aroma of dried grapefruit peel, orange pith, young mugwort leaves, rhubarb, unripe peach, dry oak wood, crabapple peel, green gooseberry, lively minerals, dry hay, old cracked dry leather, scorched farmland in high summer, southernwood, gentian leaf. Utterly crisp, full onset, lively and very minerally carbonation that will continue until the end, through impressions of green gooseberry, Granny Smith apple, redcurrant and wood sorrel, moving into a smooth, 'juicy' stage of bread-crusty graininess upon which a drying-fruity lactic acidity, astringent tannic woodiness and restrained yet characterful leathery funkiness are built. Lemon juice- and green apple-like flavours keep refreshing everything even when the layers of flavour are at their deepest - so that in spite of all the 'fullness' and richness this geuze offers, it also remains remarkably juicy (especially in view of its age as well, of course). On a more subtle, detailed level, there is a jasmin tea-like floral or herbal aroma lingering somewhere at the back - adding only elegance and lightness. Technically an obvious masterpiece in that wonderful art of geuze blending: juicy, aromatic, powerful and elegant all at the same time, citric and funky, crisp and radiant - if the intention of the new generation at 3 Fonteinen was to prove to then-retiring Armand that he could 'sleep on his two ears', as the Flemish saying goes, then I think the mission was convincingly accomplished (and one of those young staff members vividly described to me how satisfied and fulfilled Armand reacted to this blend when he was first presented with it). Above all, however, this blend, actually not intended for sale but originally shared by Armand himself with those worthy sharing it with, is a noble and lasting tribute to one of the giants in lambic culture. It brought me back to pre-craft-hype times when he told me how he had created a grape lambic (the famed Malvassia Rosso) but did not really believe in the idea and abandoned it - or to that other time, many years later, when he guided me in private trough his (then) new Lambik-O-Droom, pondering about geuze bottles still lurking around there that were made by his famous father Gaston, describing how young lambic behaves after brewing or giving me his unvarnished opinion on the exorbitant prices one encountered for rare bottles back then (prompting me to admit I had bought a bottle of Millennium Geuze from a private collector in Halle that very same day)... Those moments belong to my most cherished memories in the three decades during which 'beer' has been my hobby, so to speak, so I am sincerely happy that I finally had the chance to taste this formidable tribute.

8

From bottle at Remko's Bierproefavond november 2025. Didn't take notes, just enjoyed the beers and good company. What I do remember: Nice amount of grape, grape must. Lovely Meerts.

6.5

Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 5.5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Pours dark pinkred, very small, pinkwhite head. Scent is loads of chery pits. Taste is fairly acetic, bit rubbery as well. Obviously cherry, but not as intense as expected. mild on wood and brett and such. Bit overpowered by les positive aroma's I'm afraid. Very low, nearly no carbo. Certainly not one of their better batches, but no drainpour either.

7.9

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

Bottle shared. Slight hazy deep yellow golden. Floral peach, wheat, funk, light lactic, vanilla. Very sour, light sweet. Solid medium bodied. Very gasty, but it's also really sour which I don't love that much.