Bottle
3 Fonteinen Oude Kriek
Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen, Beersel
The house classic: sour cherries steeped for over six months in young lambic.
Legend has it
Schaerbeek, now part of Brussels, is still called the city of donkeys. From the 12th century, it is told, donkeys walked the Ezelweg into the city's markets laden with produce, often with baskets of small, dark, sour cherries for the Brussels brewers. When their hooves clattered on the cobbles, people would call out: 'Daar zijn de ezels van Schaarbeek!', here come the donkeys of Schaerbeek. The nickname passed to the villagers themselves, and donkeys are still kept in Josaphat Park today.
Beer stories travel from brewery to bar to guest, and rarely shrink on the way.
Interesting facts
- Cherries in Lot
- When 3 Fonteinen announced a major expansion in Lot in 2019, the plans included hundreds of Schaerbeek cherry trees. The idea was to bring local cherries back into kriek, after urban growth north of Brussels had pushed brewers towards imported fruit.
- An inn in 1864
- The house goes back to at least 1864, when Jacobus Vanderlinden and Joanna Brillens opened an inn in Beersel. The name In de 3 Fonteinen was already on the façade when the Debelder family took over in 1953, so they kept it.
- More fruit now
- A kriek recipe from 1907 called for 160 to 200 grams of cherries per litre. 3 Fonteinen's Oude Kriek has about 350 grams, close to twice as much fruit.
Especially good with
Waffle with chocolate, Belgian truffle or goat cheese salad.