Fantôme Black Ghost

Brewed by Brasserie Fantôme
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Soy-Erezée, Belgium

This beer reminds me of Rodenbach. Brownish red color. Aroma is fruity and sour. It like most other Fantomes has a funky aroma and flavor too! The cherry fruit flavor is well balanced with the sourness. The wood flavor comes late near the finish. I didn’t pick up much of the nutmeg. Great Beer.

Bottle @ RBSG 04’ Grand Tasting
Thick sediment cumulonimbus cloudy with well retentive head & some good lacing. The aroma is very fruity and creamy. All forms of yeast & bread. The flavor is tart with complexity & full of malts, bacteria, and esters. Damn good Belgian. Tons of caramel!

Major thanks to rater squidget for sending me a few bottles of the Holy Ghost… many, many months ago!

Fantome, GOD I love this brewer! Their beers always evoke the greatest memories of vacations, friends, girls, events, meals, and crazy nights for me. I chose to open this brew on October 31st – Halloween night, after many months of setting it aside. I don’t know what I was waiting for?
Poured a body hued of crimson and a head of tan. The aroma was so rich and fruity, but also in tradition, musty and dank. Apples, pears, plums, dark grapes and raisin sugar, and then later followed by a hint of toffee and chocolate. The brew presented a heap of doughy, yeasty, pumpernickel bready-ness, along with that lovely barnyard stable that I most enjoy from this brewer! Man, I could drink this brewer’s broth almost everyday for eternity!

Brewtopia’04. Brown and heady. Spicy and woody. Lots of choco malts and bell pepper. Thick and chewy. Wonderfully bizarre. This is doesn’t have the acidity that I expected, but still dry and champagney.

As this beer rests in my glass it shows a somewhat hazy, deep garnet color. It is topped by a light brown head that is quite thick & spawned by an aggressive carbonation. As with many of Fantomes beers you can get some variability between batches & even between years. The first bottle I had the aroma is ever so slightly sour, which, is joined by notes of raisin and fig. Surprisingly, to me at least, I get aromatic notes of chocolate and roasted malts, as well as notes of grain husks. The taste, well it is much different than I was expecting, there is a definite dark malt signature here. The finish is of husky roasted malt with a hint of burnt coffee. The roast character is similar to a subtle porter. Of course this is a Belgian brew so the yeast must contribute as well. Fruity notes of raisin, a certain nuttiness, and perhaps a light acidity, though this is fairly subtle. This bottle needs a year or so more age so that the dark malts can mellow and become better integrated, and perhaps gain a bit more in acidity.

The second bottle that I had was much more acidic in the aroma, though the dark/ roast malts were still in the nose. This bottle was like drinking chocolate in some ways. This bottle seems to be a bit more acidic, which really helps to smooth out the dark/ roast malt notes into soft chocolate notes. The extra acidity adds a wonderful balancing element to this beer, and it really starts to sing. The acidity is still fairly light but this beer now has a creamy chocolate middle which is quite tasty.

This is a new experience for me, a Saison with some dark malt character. I definitely like this, it is quite unique.

Aroma: hay, grass, straw, berries, spices, herbs, and a sourness
Appearance: murky brown, cream colored head, some lacing
Flavor: spicy chocolate, dill, apple crisp dessert--ie cinnamon and apple spice, yeast, slight sourness, and kelp
Plate: smooth, very bubbly, spicy chocolate/dessert bite

Deep murky brown with, a thick off white head at first and dissipating quickly. Woody nose with some herbal notes, maybe mint?, light chocolate, muddied citrus, and forest floor. Medium weight on the palate with an initial sweetness that gives way to a lightly bitter, dry finish. Light chocolate with some citrus and rich woody/earthy quality. The citrus quality is not sharp or acidic but more of a flavor. Dirty if anything, with a spice quality that is not immediately apparent.

750ml - Aroma starts in the barnyard and quickly turns into dark fruits and spice. Prune, alcohol and coriander. Pours opaque brown with a medium lasting head and great lacing. Flavor is a wonderful combo of a traditional Belgian quad and Fantome funk. Palate is tart and tangy. Very nice offering from Fantome.