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== Overview ==
3 Fonteinen is a lambic brewery and blendery located in Beersel, and Lot Belgium. As of 2019, Armand Debelder is officially retired from the brewery due to severe illness and no longer holds a financial stakethough he still regarded as the father of the 3 Fonteinen family. 3 Fonteinen is currently headed by Werner Van Obberghen and Micahël Micahaël Blanquaert, after a nearly 5 6 year transition. Previously Armand took over the brewing and blending operations of the business from his father Gaston. There is also a cafe attached to the original brewery in Beersel, which is overseen by Armand's brother, Guido and nephew Thomas though it is considered a completely separate entity. In addition to lambics, 3 Fonteinen also produces several other non-lambic beers in small quantities including a blonde, lager, and porter.
== History ==
Gaston was eventually convinced to begin bottling his beer regularly. By all accounts, he was very pleased with the results. The bottles were being stored underneath the building in the caveaus (hand-dug by Gaston), where bottling operations took place as well. The bar experienced vast popularity in the 60s and 70s. Working with his two sons, Armand and Guido, the inn, café, and lambic blending business continued to be successful, though 3 Fonteinen continued to experience the same ups and downs that every lambic brewery experienced in the last half of the twentieth century. Gaston eventually handed the business over to his two sons full-time in 1982. Armand became the head blender (and eventually brewer), while his brother Guido managed the café and restaurant. According to Van den Steen, by the 1990s the lack in popularity of lambic had reduced the number of lambic brewers available on the wholesale market to just three: [[Brouwerij Girardin|Girardin]], [[Brouwerij Lindemans|Lindemans]], and [[Brouwerij Boon|Boon]].<ref name=GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref> Though Girardin is no longer used by 3 Fonteinen, at least part of 3 Fonteinen's blends may contain lambic whose wort originated at Boon or Lindemans. Though lambic and geuze beers lacked the widespread popularity of other beers, Armand’s [[3_Fonteinen_Oude_Geuze|Oude Geuze]] blend won the OBP (Objective Beer Tasters) award in 1993. From then on, the outlook for Belgium's lambic tradition began looking up.
[[File:3 Fonteinen First Lambic Brew.jpg|thumb|right|3 Fonteinen's first brew, December 1998]]
In 1997, Armand became a founding member of [[HORAL|HORAL]], the High Council of Artisanal Lambic Beers, which strives for the protection of traditional lambic beers.<ref name=Horal3F>Horal, - 3 Fonteinen, http://www.horal.be/vereniging/3-fonteinen-beersel</ref> Until 1998, 3 Fonteinen was strictly a blendery. In 1998, Armand leased a computerized brewing system and had it installed, becoming the first new lambic brewery in decades, with his first batch brewed on December 16, 19991998. In the meantime, Armand would save up for his own installation. As this was the first new lambic brewery to be seen in Belgium for nearly eighty years<ref name=LambicLand>Tim Webb, Chris Pollard, Siobhan McGinn, [[Books#LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World|LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World]], 2010</ref>, many banks were unwilling to fund Armand’s venture to buy the necessary equipment. To help facilitate the purchase, Armand and his brother split the business, with Guido taking the restaurant café and Armand forming AD Bieren bvba, the corporate entity under which 3 Fonteinen beers are brewed.<ref name=LambicLand>Tim Webb, Chris Pollard, Siobhan McGinn, [[Books#LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World|LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World]], 2010</ref> Brewing his own lambic, Armand was now able to fully manage his own product.
In the 1999-2000 season, Armand began to make preparations to begin foreign exports. In 2006, 3 Fonteinen Oude Geuze and Oude Kriek received recognition and protection as a traditional Flemish regional product.<ref name=Horal3F>Horal, - 3 Fonteinen, http://www.horal.be/vereniging/3-fonteinen-beersel</ref> As the lambic revival picked up in the early 2000s, 3 Fonteinen continued to be one of the most prolific and traditional producers.
This huge financial loss of a year’s worth of product, coupled with the fact that the ten-year brewing equipment lease was about to run out, caused Armand to rethink the future of 3 Fonteinen. The remaining capital invested in his own brewing system had to be divested to meet other financial obligations of the brewery. Armand’s last official brew of the pre-Thermostat Incident era was in March of 2009.<ref name=GeuzeKriek>Jef Van den Steen, [[Books#Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer|Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer]], 2012</ref>
Not all was lost, however; and the remaining bottles of Oude Geuze that had not been damaged beyond repair were distilled into an eau de vie called Armand’Spirit. This, along with the sale of special blends of Armand's remaining pre-incident lambics, has helped to re-secure 3 Fonteinen’s future. In 2012, the brewery installed a 40-hectoliter brewing system. The question of a successor to Armand is often brought up. Previously, Michael Michaël Blancquaert was working , who had been helping with Armand as an apprentice brewing and blending operations since 2010 stepped in and took over began brewing operations alone in 2013. At the same time, he began selecting which barrels of lambic to blend, and together with Armand started to learn how to blend. In 2015, Michaël's firt solo blends were the [[3_Fonteinen_Cuvée_Armand_&_Gaston|Cuvée Armand & Gaston]] blends.
In the summer of 2015, 3 Fonteinen signed paperwork to purchase a new warehouse facility in the city of Lot, near Beerselwhich consolidated the various locations where barrels were being stored between Beersel and Halle. That same year, barrels, and foeders began to be filled in the Lot facility. On Thursday September 1st, 2016, the 3 Fonteinen Lamik-O-Droom officially opened to the public for [[3_Fonteinen_Open_Beer_Days|3 Fonteinen Open Beer Days]], while the process of moving all of the barrels was finally completed in 2018. This new facility currently houses barrels and foeders of lambic, the bottling and labeling line, as well as all of the conditioning bottles. In addition to the production facility, the Lambik-O-Droom houses a full tasting room including current, vintage, and specialty bottles and a retail shop.
==Production Notes==
* As of 2019, 3 Fonteinen no longer receives wort from Boon after having departed HORAL.
* In 2019, 3 Fonteinen received wort from [[Brouwerij_De_Troch|De Troch]]
* In 2020, 3 Fonteinen received wort from [[Lambiek_Fabriek|Lambiek Fabriek]] as well as [[Brouwerij_De_Troch|De Troch]]
== Beers ==