3 Fonteinen Oude Kriek

Description

3 Fonteinen Oude Kriek is a traditional kriek lambic released annually in several batches by the brewery. It is produced by macerating cherries, including the pits, in young lambic. After bottling, it is stored in a warm room for at least four months to help with secondary fermentation in the bottle.^[1] Oude Kriek is released in 375ml and 750ml bottles and is currently labeled as 6% ABV, though older labels show that it was once listed at 5% ABV.

History / Other Notes

3 Fonteinen Oude Kriek is one of two flagship beers in the brewery's portfolio. The brewery has been bottling it since at least the 1990s, with a variety of labels documented below. After the Thermostat Incident, which essentially cooked over 80,000 bottles of lambic causing some of them to explode, an unspecified number of Oude Kriek bottles survived. These were bottled on March 31, 2009, and became known as "Hot Cherry" bottles when they began to circulate in the beer community.

Label Log

Old neck label for kriek
Back of kriek neck label
European label, 37,5cl
U.S. label
U.S. label

Bottle Log

Bottle Date (mm/dd/yyyy)	Bottle Size	Label / Notes	Image Link
12/17/1994		Neck ring label - 5% ABV	-
01/30/1996	750ml	Neck ring label - 5% ABV
03/27/1998	750ml	Cream label	-
03/12/1999	750ml	Cream label
03/14/1999	750ml	Cream label
01/06/2002	375ml	Cream label	-
02/26/2005	750ml	Upside down Shelton label, Dutch date	-
11/28/2006	750ml	12.7oz U.S. label on 750ml bottle, synthetic cork
12/14/2007	375ml	Current label	-
03/31/2009	375ml	"Hot Cherry" bottles that survived thermostat incident	-
04/01/2011	375ml	Paper label
06/06/2013	375ml	Paper label	-
06/11/2013	375ml	Paper label	-
04/14/2014	375ml	Paper label
05/22/2014	375ml	Paper label
01/18/2015	375ml	Paper label	-
01/19/2015	750ml	Paper label	-
01/29/2015	375ml	Paper label
07/14/2015	375ml	Paper label
02/06/2016	750ml	Paper label
05/02/2016	375ml	Paper label	-
10/24/2016	750ml	3rd blend of the 2016-2017 season, screen printed label	-
11/02/2016	750ml	Paper label
11/02/2016	750ml	Blend #4 of the 2016-2017 season, screen printed bottle	-
11/03/2016	750ml	Blend #5 of the 2016-2017 season, screen printed bottle	-
04/20/2017	375ml	Blend #31 of the 2016-2017 season, screen printed bottle	-
06/14/2017		Blend #33 of the 2016-2017 season, screen printed bottle. This particular Oude Kriek has macerated for 6,5 months. 5.70% ABV	-
12/15/2017	375ml	Blend #8 of the 2017-2018 season, screen printed bottle. This particular Oude Kriek has macerated for 5 months. 5.6% ABV