Speling van het Lot XIV.iii: Langste Nacht 2019 - Karwijzaad op het Koelschip
Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen

A 750ml corked and caged bottle, blend°46, season 20/21, bottled on 13th April 2021, bottle number 1087/1537. Poured into a Tilquin stemmed glass.

Appearance: A hazy golden orange colour with a thin white head that dissipated quickly, while leaving only sparse to no lacing.

Aroma: Herbal, orange, orange peel, caraway, anise, wood, fennel, pine needles, funk.

Taste: Sour, tart, grapefruit, lemon peel, wood, funky, lightly herbal, with hints of caraway and anise.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with soft carbonation.

Overall: The aroma and flavours meshed well together, and the herbal elements were perhaps surprisingly right up my alley. I thought that the lack of carbonation would be an issue, but it actually worked well in this case.

Subtly foggy burnt gold to light amber with a very short but fuzzy off-white head that slowly recedes to a curled ridge.

Instead of distinct caraway, these added seeds seem to have transformed into an almost funky, oaky ginger. Otherwise clean and citrusy, on the nose its unique characteristics persist as herbal potpourri, while on the slick yet bone dry palate it's got more wild pear or stonefruit qualities through a fine yet fuzzily present carbonation. The low acidity further assists in making this ridiculously chuggable.

A fine toast to the longest night.

my favorite of the three from this run that we had in the same session, super cool drinking experience. this seemed to me both the most unique and the most refined, funky lambic done with caraway seeds, not something i have ever seen before this one. cloudy pale orange color, very little head but enough carbonation, a little messy looking but the aroma is super interesting. the caraway is there but its way in the back, heavy wet oak up front, vanilla, dried apricot and even mango fruitiness, pretty hefty acidity out in front of the funk, and a raw wheaty density, a little soupy and sharp at the same time. the caraway is all on the back end in the flavor, and it ramps up with temperature, spicy, german bread notes especially with all the doughy grain in here, deeply earthy and mature and woody too, the acidity seems to highlight the caraway, and this definitely seems autumnal. the seeds add a neat uniqueness to this, but the beer overall doesnt feel as refined as i am used to from them, heavy on the palate, very acidic, lemony and bacterial more than rustic and wild, but the caraway makes this one of a kind and a special drinking experience anyway. i think overall it could take more of it, and maybe a darker or more toasted malty base would match nicely, i hope they revisit this ingredient at some point. across the three bottles this base lambic just doesnt seem like their most compelling to me...