2007 Drie Fonteinen Ooude Gueuze

I had the 27/12/2007 a while back and I also thought it was phenomenal! Have you had this bottling?
If so, how does it compare to the 02/10/2007

 

Dec 27 2007 is a 750ml yellow label "Vintage" offering

 

The Feb blend of 2007 3F Oude Geuze Vintage is quite a bit better than Dec. Still searching for 2008 Vintage to taste side by side. Heard that 08 is a very good year for 3F.

 

Is there a difference between the yellow and red label vintages?

 

i thought the "2007 Vintage" is different then a normal bottle of 2007 Oude Gueuze?

 

It's the same in the sense that they are both blends of lambic. The "Vintage" bottles are ones hand selected by Armand as being superior and are held back longer before being released.

The 2007 "Vintages" were bottled on February 14 ("St Valentijn Cuvee") and December 27.

The regular Oude Geuze from 2007 was bottled February 2, 2007 (and possibly January 20th, but I haven't confirmed that yet).

 

To my knowledge, Armand has never acknowledged that there is any specific difference between why one will get a red label and one a yellow label.

 

Ah ok, thanks for the info!

 

Yes, I misread the post, not sure why I thought the OP was referring to the "Vintage bottling"! And I hadn't even had a beer :/

 

Some time ago kappldav123 on Ratebeer asked Armand (scroll down):

(A lot of that thread is specifically about the 2002 vintage, so read with caution.)

I thought the red label said something about being aged 48 months somewhere on it... will check tonight.

 

Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation in that thread. Some people are reading "aged 48 months" to mean that the blend contains four year old lambic, while others are reading it to mean that the beer was blended, and then held back from release for four years. By the end of the thread it gets cleared up and its obvious that the red and yellow labels (from 2002) were the same beer and that the yellow labels had been bottled less than four years before they were labeled and sold and the red labels were bottled more than four years before they were labeled and sold.

 

Ah, that would cause some confusion. My understanding is that it was more of a "brewery-aged" designation as well.

 

Yeah. I think thats the correct interpretation. Unfortunately, the misinformation (or misinterpretation) of this has led to at least a few comments/speculation that the new Oude Geuze Golden Blend is the "same" as the Oude Geuze Vintage - which doesn't seem to be correct.

I think the different products can be explained as such:
Oude Geuze - blend of 1,2,& 3 year old lambic (at times blends of other's lambic, and at times blends of just Drie Fonteinen lambic)
Oude Geuze Vintage - blend of 1,2, & 3 year old lambic that has been held back and given a special designation by Armand because of HIS perception of quality
Oude Geuze Golden Blend - blend of 1, 2, 3 & 4 year old lambic
Armand'4 series - supposedly the last blends of 1,2 & 3 year old Drie Fonteinen lambic from before the thermostat incident
J&J Blauw - blend of 1 year old Lindemans lambic and 4 year old Girardin lambic
J&J Roze - blend of 1 year old Boon lambic and 3 year old Girardin lambic
Millennium - 7% blend (Drie Fonteinen's blends have historically been 5% (earlier) or 6% (more recently)
Akkurats Oude Geuze 50/50 - blend of 1 year old Lindemans lambic and 3 year old Boon lambic