3 Fonteinen Intense Red Oude Kriek

This is a 5.0% ABV kriek, or cherry, beer from the Brouwerij Drie (3) Fonteinen of Beersel, Belgium. The owner, Armand Debelder worked for many years as a blender mixing the young and old lambics and geuzes (spontaneously fermented beers using wild yeasts) from other brewers before starting his own brewery. This was bottled on November 13, 2012 and is good for at least ten years after the bottling date.

The beer pours a dark ruby red, so dark it is almost like grape juice. There is a short and short lived head of pink foam. The aroma is funky, earthy/dusty, woody, old wool, leather, all over dark cherry. The taste is full dark cherry, fruity, sweet, and quite tart, all at once. The cherry oozes over all the different funky, earthy notes of the aroma. INTENSE is the right word for this, but so is excellent.