Difference between revisions of "Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen"
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=== Oude Lambiek === | === Oude Lambiek === | ||
− | * [[3 Fonteinen Oude Lambiek|3 | + | * [[3 Fonteinen X Lambic.Info Single Barrel Amontillado Lambic|3 Fonteinen X Lambic.Info Single Barrel Amontillado Lambic]] |
+ | * [[3 Fonteinen Oude Lambiek|3 Fonteinen Oude Lambiek]] | ||
* [[3 Fonteinen Oude Lambiek (4 Year Old)|3 Fonteinen Oude Lambiek (4 Year Old)]] | * [[3 Fonteinen Oude Lambiek (4 Year Old)|3 Fonteinen Oude Lambiek (4 Year Old)]] | ||
* [[3 Fonteinen Zenne y Frontera|3 Fonteinen Zenne y Frontera]] | * [[3 Fonteinen Zenne y Frontera|3 Fonteinen Zenne y Frontera]] | ||
* [[3_Fonteinen_Zenne_y_Frontera#Batch_2_Label|3 Fonteinen Zenne y Frontera (Solera)]] | * [[3_Fonteinen_Zenne_y_Frontera#Batch_2_Label|3 Fonteinen Zenne y Frontera (Solera)]] | ||
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===Speling van het Lot (Twist of Fate) Series=== | ===Speling van het Lot (Twist of Fate) Series=== | ||
− | The Speling van het Lot (Twist of Fate) Series is a series of very small, experimental batch lambic blends bottled by 3 Fonteinen. These are sometimes served during special events as well as during dedicated tastings, the first of which took place in April 2018. These experimental blends will continue in the future and be released (for drink-in) when deemed ready. Starting in 2019, selected bars around the world receive small amounts of the current bottlings to serve in-house. | + | The Speling van het Lot (Twist of Fate) Series is a series of very small, experimental batch lambic blends bottled by 3 Fonteinen. These are sometimes served during special events as well as during dedicated tastings, the first of which took place in April 2018. These experimental blends will continue in the future and be released (for drink-in) when deemed ready. Starting in 2019, selected bars around the world receive small amounts of the current bottlings to serve in-house. By 2020 and 2021 some bottles were being offered for take-away by the brewery. |
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* [[3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot I.i - Nocturne Valavond (Nightfall)]] | * [[3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot I.i - Nocturne Valavond (Nightfall)]] | ||
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* [[3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot X.v - Druif - Dornfelder "Rood Sap" - Raw & Uncut]] | * [[3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot X.v - Druif - Dornfelder "Rood Sap" - Raw & Uncut]] | ||
* [[3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot X.vi - Druif - Dornfelder "Druif" - Raw & Uncut]] | * [[3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot X.vi - Druif - Dornfelder "Druif" - Raw & Uncut]] | ||
+ | * [[3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot X.ix - Druif - Gewürztraminer]] | ||
* [[3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot XI.i - Pruim - Reine Claude d'Oullins "Zonder Pit" - Raw & Uncut]] | * [[3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot XI.i - Pruim - Reine Claude d'Oullins "Zonder Pit" - Raw & Uncut]] | ||
* [[3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot XI.ii - Pruim - Reine Claud d'Oullins "Met Pit" - Raw & Uncut]] | * [[3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot XI.ii - Pruim - Reine Claud d'Oullins "Met Pit" - Raw & Uncut]] |
Latest revision as of 14:11, 7 July 2021
Website (Dutch/French/English): http://www.3fonteinen.be
Lambik-O-Droom contact:
Address: Molenstraat 47, 1651 Lot
Brewery location (not open to public): Hoogstraat 2 a, 1650 Beersel
Contents
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 stake though he still regarded as the father of the 3 Fonteinen family. 3 Fonteinen is currently headed by Michaël Blanquaert and Werner Van Obberghen after a nearly 6 year transition that began in 2014. 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
Like many lambic breweries and blenders, the history of 3 Fonteinen starts well before the official founding of the brewery as we know it today. The founding of 3 Fonteinen dates back to at least 1883 (though possibly as early as 1849) when Jacobus Vanderlinden and his wife Joanna Brillens opened an inn with a beer blending business on the side in the town of Beersel, now Hoogstraat 13, Beersel (currently “De Drie Bronnen”, renamed after Gaston and Raymonde moved out).[1] In Dutch, the name 3 Fonteinen means three fountains and originally referred to the hand pumps that were used to serve the three types of beer at the inn: lambic, faro, and kriek.
The inn and café changed hands several times over the years until finally coming into the possession of Jean-Baptiste Denaeyer Vanderlinden, son of Jacobus, who also became the mayor of the town of Beersel. Vanderlindend was widely considered to be the best lambic blender in the town. In 1953, Gaston Debelder, along with his wife Raymonde, purchased the building and named the business “3 Fonteinen”. In Dutch, the name 3 Fonteinen means three fountains and originally referred to the hand pumps that were used to serve the three types of beer: lambic, faro, and kriek. In 1961 the Debelder family bought property on the Beersel church square. The building was demolished, but the warehouse underneath was preserved. Though Armand (Gaston’s son) refused to put his lambics in kegs today, the original 3 Fonteinen lambics were indeed kegged. In Wild Brews: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition, Sparrow notes that when Gaston and Raymonde took over the brewery, bottled beer was still a niche product. Before the war, “there was only lambic that you bought from brewers. The kegs that were kept in café cellars had to be emptied within 14 days. If the beer was not sold, it was tapped into bottles.” It is important to remember that at this point, the use of the term keg still referred to a small wooden cask rather than the modern, industrial steel kegs.[2]
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 of popularity in lambic had reduced the number of lambic brewers available on the wholesale market to just three: Girardin, Lindemans, and Boon.[1] 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 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.
In 1997, Armand became a founding member of HORAL, the High Council of Artisanal Lambic Beers, which strives for the protection of traditional lambic beers.[3] 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, 1998. In the meantime, Armand saved up for his own installation. As this was the first new lambic brewery to be seen in Belgium for nearly eighty years[4], 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.[4] 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.[3] As the lambic revival picked up in the early 2000s, 3 Fonteinen continued to be one of the most prolific and traditional producers.
This all changed on May 16, 2009. As Armand entered his warehouse in Essenbeek that day, he was met with a blast of hot air that signified a massive failure of the climate control mechanism. The "Thermostat Incident," as it would come to be called, was the result of a faulty thermostat causing the hot air blower to not turn off. As a result, the temperature had risen to as high as 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit) essentially cooking over 80,000 bottles of lambic and causing some of them to explode. Only some bottles of the Oude Kriek were salvageable and today are affectionately known as “Hot Cherry” bottles amongst lambic aficionados.
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.[1]
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, Michaël Blancquaert, who had been helping with brewing and blending operations since 2010 stepped in and began brewing 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 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 Beersel which 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 lambik-O-droom officially opened to the public for 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
Drie Fonteinen follows traditional lambic brewing processes, with the following notable facts:
- Until late 1997, 3 Fonteinen bottles were sealed with a cork and cap.
- Until 2011, some 3 Fonteinen beers were bottled at Boon. Boon's bottling line at the time was faster so larger, overflow packaging jobs were sometimes completed there. Boon corks say "SB" rather than the normal "3 Fonteinen" cork.
- As of 2016, 3 Fonteinen uses two colors of bottles: Green (for blends containing lambic that originated as wort brewed at other breweries), and brown (for blends containing lambic that was brewed only by 3 Fonteinen).
- As of 2019, 3 Fonteinen no longer receives wort from Boon after having departed HORAL.
- In 2019, 3 Fonteinen received wort from De Troch.
- In 2020, 3 Fonteinen received wort from Lambiek Fabriek as well as De Troch.
Beers
Geuze
- Akkurat's Gold Geuze 50/50
- Akkurat's Oude Geuze 50/50
- Armand & Tomme
- Armand'4 Lente
- Armand'4 Zomer
- Armand'4 Herfst
- Armand'4 Winter
- Cuvée Armand & Gaston
- Cuvée Armand & Gaston Vintage
- Doesjel
- Golden Doesjel
- Geuze Cuvée J&J (Joost En Jessie) Blauw (Blue)
- Geuze Cuvée J&J (Jessie En Joost) Roze (Rose)
- Millennium Geuze
- Oude Geuze
- Oude Geuze 1998 (50th Anniversary)
- Oude Geuze Golden Blend
- Oude Geuze Platinum Blend
- Oude Geuze Selectie C
- Oude Geuze Vintage
- Oude Geuze Vintage - Honing
Faro
Fruit
- Aardbei / Kriek
- Blauwe Bosbes (Wild Blueberry)
- Braambes (Blackberry)
- Bramenlambiek (Blackberry)
- Chardonnay Lambic
- Druif - Dornfelder
- Druif - Muscat Bleu
- Druiven Geuze
- Druivenlambik Muscat Bleu
- Framboos
- Frambozenlambik
- Hommage
- Hommage Lambiek
- Intense Red Oude Kriek
- Kriekenlambik
- Kriekenlambik Schaerbeekse
- Malvasia Rosso
- Oude Kriek
- Oude Kriekenlambik (Bottled)
- Oude Kriekenlambik Toast (Bottled)
- Oude Kriek + Schaerbeekse
- Perzik Geel
- Perzik Wit
- Pinot Noir Lambic
- Pruim - Reine Claude d'Oullins
- Pruim - Conducta
- Robijn
- Rode Bosbes (Lingonberry)
- Schaerbeekse Kriek
Jonge Lambiek
Oude Lambiek
- 3 Fonteinen X Lambic.Info Single Barrel Amontillado Lambic
- 3 Fonteinen Oude Lambiek
- 3 Fonteinen Oude Lambiek (4 Year Old)
- 3 Fonteinen Zenne y Frontera
- 3 Fonteinen Zenne y Frontera (Solera)
Speling van het Lot (Twist of Fate) Series
The Speling van het Lot (Twist of Fate) Series is a series of very small, experimental batch lambic blends bottled by 3 Fonteinen. These are sometimes served during special events as well as during dedicated tastings, the first of which took place in April 2018. These experimental blends will continue in the future and be released (for drink-in) when deemed ready. Starting in 2019, selected bars around the world receive small amounts of the current bottlings to serve in-house. By 2020 and 2021 some bottles were being offered for take-away by the brewery.
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot I.i - Nocturne Valavond (Nightfall)
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot I.ii - Nocturne Het Uur Van De Wolf (The Hour of the Wolf)
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot I.iii - Nocturne In't Putteke Van De Nacht (The Darkest Hour)
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot II.i - Robijn Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot II.ii - Robijn Blended & Alive
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot III - Ferme Fraise
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot IV.i - Ferme Braam Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot IV.ii - Ferme Braam Raw & Uncut with Honey
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot V.i - Ferme Framboos Raw & Uncut with Honey
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot V.ii - Ferme Framboos Blended & Alive with Honey
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VI.i - Witte Perzik Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VI.ii - Gele Perzik Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VI.iii - Gele & Witte Perzik Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VI.iv - Gele & Witte Perzik Blended & Alive
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VII.i - Zotte Kadeeën - Braam + Hommage Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VII.ii - Zotte Kadeeën - Bosbes + Hommage Blended & Alive
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VII.iii - Zotte Kadeeën - Braam + Hommage Blended & Alive
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VII.iv - Zotte Kadeeën - Bosbes + Framboos Blended & Alive
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VII.v - Zotte Kadeeën - Aardbei + Kriek Blended & Alive
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VII.vi - Zotte Kadeeën - Trosbes + Kriek Blended & Alive
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VII.vii - Zotte Kadeeën - Aardbei + Kriek Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VII.viii - Zotte Kadeeën - Kriek + Kriek Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VII.ix - Zotte Kadeeën - Framboos + Braam Blended & Alive
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VII.x - Zotte Kadeeën - Pruim Blended & Alive
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VII.xi - Zotte Kadeeën - Cassis Blended & Alive
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VII.xii - Zotte Kadeeën - Zoet Kers (Not So) Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VII.xiii - Zotte Kadeeën - Rabarber Blended & Alive
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VIII.i - Schaarbeekse On a Toast (Medium) Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VIII.ii - Schaarbeekse On a Toast (Medium) Blended & Alive
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot VIII.iii - Schaarbeekse (+Framboos) On a Toast Blended & Alive
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot IX.i - Aardbeiiteraties - Bio Aardbei Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot IX.ii - Aardbeiiteraties - Aardbei Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot IX.iii - Aardbeiiteraties - Bio Aardbei + Kriek Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot IX.iv - Aardbeiiteraties - Aardbei + Kriek - Blended & Alive @3gr/l dosage
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot IX.v - Aardbeiiteraties - Aardbei + Kriek - Blended & Alive @5gr/l dosage
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot IX.vi - Aardbeiiteraties - Aardbei + Kriek - Blended & Alive @4gr/l dosage
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot IX.vii - Aardbeiiteraties - Aardbei + Kriek - Blended & Alive @2gr/l dosage
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot IX.viii - Aardbeiiteraties - Bio Aardbei - Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot X.i - Druif - Muscat Bleu "Most" - Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot X.ii - Druif - Muscat Bleu "Druif - Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot X.iii - Druif - Kerner "Most" - Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot X.iv - Druif - Dornfelder "Wit Sap" - Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot X.v - Druif - Dornfelder "Rood Sap" - Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot X.vi - Druif - Dornfelder "Druif" - Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot X.ix - Druif - Gewürztraminer
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot XI.i - Pruim - Reine Claude d'Oullins "Zonder Pit" - Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot XI.ii - Pruim - Reine Claud d'Oullins "Met Pit" - Raw & Uncut
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot XII.i - Braam on a Toast - Blended & Alive
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot XIII.i - Vin Jaune
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot XIII.ii - Vin Jaune
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot XIV - Wilder
- 3 Fonteinen Speling van het Lot XV.i - Cuvée Armand & Gaston "De Langste Kook"
Breweriana
Photos
Podcast
Belgian Smaak (Breandán Kearney) June 7, 2016 Podcast interview with Armand Debelder and Michaël Blancquaert
The media player is loading...
Videos
- http://www.een.be/programmas/dagelijkse-kost/geuze (Dutch)
- http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/videozone/programmas/terzake/2.29937?video=1.1723181 (Filmed during 3 Fonteinen Open Beer Days 2013. Coverage starts at 1:50)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Jef Van den Steen, Geuze & Kriek: The Secret of Lambic Beer, 2012
- ↑ Jeff Sparrow, Wild Brews: Culture and Craftsmanship in the Belgian Tradition, 2005
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Horal, - 3 Fonteinen, http://www.horal.be/vereniging/3-fonteinen-beersel
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Tim Webb, Chris Pollard, Siobhan McGinn, LambicLand: A Journey Round the Most Unusual Beers in the World, 2010