Nocturne
Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen

 

 

Draught half in Café Beermoth whilst grabbing some lower abv beer for day drinking during the extended Easter weekend
Dark night
Appearance 4.oo
Jet black body with good tan head
Aroma 4.5
Funky yet malty
Flavour 4.5
Cherry like sour bitterness with a charcoal edge
Mouthfeel 4.5
Overall 4.5

 

This is batch 48 in season 21/22 on the bottle label. Is this doesjel in a new package? I guess not, apparently one of the features on this is it is made without wheat.

Seems to stress the darker malt selection, and the dark cola like color appearance substantiates much of the commercial tug job. I never tried that Tilquin lambic stout blend, this might be the closest thing. Seemed to make a slightly denser head than the other lambics sampled the same night, firm 1/3" beige head. Aroma is unique as a lambic, more of a roasted chocolate malt meets oud bruin vinegar aroma.

Unsweetened chocolate meets dry unsweetened dark fruit in the taste. Can a fig be sour? Its dry and gets away from the roasty aromatic notes. Better than expected. I don't know how to describe the sourness, its like a mix of the acetic acid and citric acid giving way to sourness. Splash of the ol' caramel and toffee combo. One of the more enjoyable flanders I've had in recent years, but I wonder if the price tag on these is still similar to their lambics, I would imagine so given the like 4 years of aging average for all of these barrels.

 

A: Pours a darker reddish/brown color. A khaki/tan head fills the glass on first pour. Excellent retention and lace left behind.
S: There is a malty and fruity, yeasty mix here that is intense. This goes from chocolate covered cherries, vanilla, funk and vinegar. Oh I love this.
T: That intensity follows through here. Chocolate covered cherries, figs, dark fruits. Toasted brown bread. Vanilla, and sticky malty caramelized sugars. A big acidic funky bite lingers on.
M/O: A medium body that starts off with spritzy carbonation. Which mellows as this breaths, and becomes ultra smooth after a while. A wonderful version of the style, and I can enjoy this bottle easily.

A style I love, but don't see a lot of. Glad I found 3 Fonteinen's interpretation. There is an intensity here, and huge complex flavors that never get in the way of one another. They all balance perfectly, and its a treat to drink.

 

 

Poured on tap at Moeder Lambic in Brussels. Pours a dark brown with beautiful head. The nose is leather, bitter oak, sour cherries, dusty old books, pomegranate, and slight citrus.

The taste is super smooth. Quite sour, lemon zest, grapefruit peel, salt, earthy. Great beer overall!

Flanders Oud Bruin #109

750 mL bottle with a bottling date of 2022-03-11, purchased from Sovereign in Washington, DC, so I have no concerns about storage conditions. Dark brown with a coppery tinge and a finger and a half of head over an eight-ounce pour. Light residual lacing. Bright vinegar acidity on the nose with tart cherry, fig, lemon verbena and a slight oxidized must. Extremely well balanced on the palate, with complex malted notes that provide a counter to moderately high acidity. Dark stonefruit, mandarin orange, milk chocolate, vanilla, and straw--it's all mixed in, emerging and morphing in different sips. Very enjoyable, worth going back to pick up another bottle or two.

Cellared for a year. Midnight... brown body with a dark tan cap. It is like an oud bruin meeting a meerts level dark fruit lambic, resulting in balsamic vinegar, hay, lacto, mild barnyard funk and a big dark fruits with a touch of sourness splashing into an oaky backing. Smell is more focused on the traditional oud bruin elements, a flex of the traditional where the taste is innovative. Feel has that sour vinegar texture but fuller bodied and sweet with funk to balance, oak anchors with malt base. This was the most I have enjoyed an oud bruin in a long time

 

Poured from 750mL corked & caged bottle into my BeerAdvocate teku. Bottled 3/10/22, this is blend 47 from the 21|22 season.

Appearance: rich, deep, brown-amber hue with a light haze and a thick head of frothy tan foam upon pouring.

Smell: rich and sweet caramel malt with just a touch of tartness. There's also a little bit of a phenolic character, which for me does detract a little bit from the otherwise lovely candylike aroma. Still, it's quite good.

Taste: quite a bit tarter than I would have guessed from the aroma; the tartness hits you first, and then follows through with the more mellow caramel-malt flavors. The phenolic element is present here as well, albeit in a very subdued way.

Mouthfeel: medium-light body with a huge carbonation and a good creaminess, although the tartness does reduce the perception of creaminess a bit. Not perfect, but I like it!

Overall: a nice oud bruin. I think there are some flavors here that don't entirely suit my palate, but I'm certainly going to enjoy drinking this.

 

 

 

Bottle shared by Ben. Thank you!

Audible pop! as the cork is removed. The beer pours a deep russet brown hue with a beige head that hisses as it rapidly dissipates.

Upon first sip, I am confronted with a plethora of carbonation. This beer needs to settle down. Upon returning 15 minutes later, the beer has indeed chilled out and is quite approachable. Prickly carbonation, a hint of cherry. Piquant.

A fun and tasty beer I look forward to trying again.