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 was previously labeled as 6% ABV, though older labels show that it was once listed at 5% ABV. Currently, the ABV varies from blend to blend.

History / Other Notes

The brewery has been bottling their Oude Kriek 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. A special bottling of Oude Kriek called Oude Kriek Toast is listed here as a variant of the Oude Kriek and at the request of the brewery.

Label Log

Old neck label for kriek
Back of kriek neck label
European label, 37,5cl, pre-screen printing
U.S. label, pre-screen printing
U.S. label, pre-screen printing
Oude Kriek Toast 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
12/06/1996	750ml	Capped and corked, cream label
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
12/19/2006	375ml	Paper label	-
12/14/2007	375ml	Paper 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	4th blend of the 2016-2017 season, screen printed bottle	-
11/03/2016	750ml	5th blend of the 2016-2017 season, screen printed bottle	-
04/20/2017	375ml	31st blend of the 2016-2017 season, screen printed bottle	-
06/14/2017		33rd blend of the 2016-2017 season, screen printed bottle. This particular Oude Kriek has macerated for 6.5 months. 5.70% ABV	-
09/05/2017	750ml	44th blend of the 2016-2017 season, screen printed bottle. 1,240 bottles	-
09/05/2017	750ml	45th blend of the 2016-2017 season, screen printed bottle. 1,266 bottles	-
12/15/2017	375ml	8th blend of the 2017-2018 season, screen printed bottle. This particular Oude Kriek has macerated for 5 months. 5.6% ABV	-
01/17/2018	750ml	Listed as Oude Kriek Toast. 14th blend of the 2017-2018 season, screen printed bottle. This blend was macerated in a freshly toasted 1,000L barrel. 1,150 bottles 6.4% ABV.
05/17/2018	375ml	58th blend of the 2017-2018 season, screen printed bottle. This particular Oude Kriek has macerated for almost 6 months. The final fruit intensity is 370 grams of sour cherries per liter of Oude Kriek (37%). During blending, local honey was added.	-